Econopocalypse Goes From Bad to Worse

Anyone else getting that "bottom's gonna fall out of the tilt-a-whirl" feeling about the economy, too? It's an ugly day of news on the economic front:

-- Calculated Risk says consensus predictions are a 5.4% drop in GDP for the last quarter. Numbers are due today. There's a lot of money in short-selling in this market, so I'm always suspicious of analyst motive: how can you tell self-interest driven analysis from honesty? But it still looks bleak. Bloomberg says economy tanked faster than any time since 1982. Ouch.

-- The spot of good news? The Senate passed SCHIP last night. Boo yah!

-- Via LATimes:

On Thursday, three milestones showing the depths of the downturn were reached: The number of workers filing unemployment claims hit an all-time high, sales of new homes fell to an all-time low, and production of durable goods dropped for the fifth straight month, boosting inventories to their highest level since at least 1992....

Calculated Risk has a series of indicator charts on the credit crisis that are equally grim.