Paul Volcker says we are in a "great recession"

It's interesting the differences in those who feel that the economy will start to rebound and those who feel it's going to be "a 'long slog'" as was reported by CNN.

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) -- Paul Volcker, senior economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said Saturday that the U.S. economic recovery will be a "long slog" but that the rate of decline "is going to slow."

The United States may not be in a Great Depression but it is "in a great recession for sure," following the economy's unprecedented tumble in late 2008, Volcker said at a financial markets conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Volcker, a former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, did not give a time-frame on his expectations for when the United States will pull out of the recession that started in December 2007.

Compare that to This:

Speaking to business leaders in Ohio, Sandra Pinalto, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank president, suggested that Barack Obama's fiscal stimulus package will ensure that the North American country's economy will improve next year.

Specifically, the policy-maker forecast that increasing liquidity into key credit markets will ensure that loans are available to small and medium-sized businesses, which could boost recruitment initiatives, Reuters reported.

"I expect the economy to begin to recover next year as the fiscal stimulus boosts spending and as we work off excess inventories," Pinalto explained.