Bloomberg News' editor in chief Matthew Winkler made a proclamation today to the staff writers at the wire service: calling the economic crisis what it really is — a recession.

"But wait," you're thinking, "haven't we been referring to this as a recession since last Spring?" Sure, and the broadcast news pundits have no problem throwing that word around liberally. But in print, it's a little harder to find. Sure, there are obtuse references to "appearing" to be in an economic downturn, but trying to pin that phrase on a journalist is harder than catching a greased up pig in lipstick. Remember how pissed everyone got when Sarah Palin mentioned that we might be moving towards a Depression?

But don't worry! Washington Post and New York Times have no problems using the four-letter R word. of course, not referring to our own country, but Japan is in a recession! And the Euro is certainly in a recession! When it comes to America though, recession is still a dirty word that's treated like the pivotal character in Beatlejuice: Say the word three times, and it will come true.

At least Bloomberg's people have the right idea: once you properly name something, you can go about fixing it. As long as we keep the D and R words out of the public consciousness, we can't hope the problem will just magically solve itself. That's what The New Deal was about right? It's when Roosevelt used his sorcerer spells and saved the economy?