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Peter D. Schiff (born 1964) is the president of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a brokerage firm based in Darien, Connecticut. Schiff is an Austrian school economist and supporter of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Schiff frequently appears as a guest on CNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg Television and is quoted in major financial publications.

Schiff points to the low savings rate of the United States as its worst malady, citing the transformation from being the world's largest creditor nation in the 1970s to the largest debtor nation by the year 2000. His extremely bearish views on the U.S. Dollar, the United States stock market, bond market, and the United States economy have earned him the nickname "Dr. Doom."

Schiff is widely known for predicting the economic crisis of 2008. He was also an economic adviser for the Ron Paul campaign in the 2008 Republican Party primaries. Schiff also hosts a live Internet/shortwave radio show called "Wall Street Unspun."

I have compiled some of the factors and statistics that define the inherent differences between a depression and a recession. How bad are things? Check out the following and draw your own conclusion.

Real GDP

A depression is an economic decline where real GDP dives by more than 10 percent. A recession is a decline which is anything less than this. The graph demonstrates the current decline in US Real GDP. (-.5% 3rd quarter 2008)

Real GDP declined 33% during the great depression. The chart indicates that we are not in a similar situation with respect to the third quarter results of 2008.



Unemployment

A recession is also generally defined as a period of higher unemployment that is sustained for months. Unemployment can rise as high as 8,9 or even 10 percent. The third quarter 2008 unemployment rate is at 6.7%.

During the great depression the unemployment rate nearly hit 25%. Again, we are not anywhere near that level with respect to the third quarter 2008 statistics.