Worst Economy Since the Great Depression?

Free Market Politics with no words (or 6,000 if you think a picture is worth a thousand words) debunks the oft-stated rhetoric that we are facing the "worst economic crisis since the Great Depression".

Using job and output (GDP) data it would be tough to argue that this is the worst recession since 1981 (output declines were much higher in the 1990 and 2001 recession), and it would be negligent reporting to suggest the current recession was worse than those beginning in 1948, 1953, 1957, 1960, or 1981.

In fact, it would be more accurate to describe this recession as somewhere between a "mild" and "average" recession. None of that should be seen as good news, but certainly not the catastrophic circumstances politicians are using to justify a massive expansion of government (on top of the massive expansion we've had in recent years)