2009. I began that year still hurting and stressing due to this entity named The Great Recession. 2008 wiped out any financial momentum I had, but I got through the year. (Which, if you remember, began with The Great Recession, then we got knocked upside the head by the financial crisis in September.) At the beginning of 2009, there were signs that things were easing. I had tightened the belt to a point where I didn’t know a belt could be tightened and I was working nights to make ends meet while my little business weathered the storm.

But I was optimistic as anything. The recession happened because we defied the laws of economic physics for too long. Okay. Point taken. Time to rethink how I live and that’s what I did.

And for a while, in 2009, things were rolling along nicely until a whole new entity showed up.

The Recession®.

I’ve blogged about The Recession® before, and will again in the future, but long story short:

A recession is “a period of economic contraction.” (dictionary.reference.com),

The Recession® is a negative economic situation manufactured by a narrow group of interests to help them create artificial justifications for their agenda.

When I saw the news story that prompted my promotional giveaway idea, it was obvious that some people want to bring back The Recession® in 2013.

Just like after the first time Obama got elected, some want The Recession® to happen. They have the financial resources to weather The Recession®, unlike many of us.

What are some other differences between a recession and The Recession®? For starters, The Recession®—unlike a true recession—doesn’t rely on economic forces to exist. The Recession® thrives on hysteria, uncertainty, paranoia, panic and fear mongering instead.

Listen, if Europe goes haywire or China collapses and this-that-or-the-other-thing happens and we have another recession, so be it. Another recession I’ll deal with. All of us will.

But The Recession® is an entirely different animal.

I don’t know about anybody else, but The Recession® of 2009 was no fun.

Let’s not have The Recession® return, what do you all say?