[Scary_Tiger]

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recession - a period of general economic decline

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Basically, people in the middle class and below are making less money and their savings are being made less valuable. Since inflation is outstripping the economic growth, people are making less and less money.

Say between now and some arbitrary time period, the economy grows 5% and the middle class get a similar 5% increase in pay. But during this time, the government prints a bunch of money and fights a war and the currency is now worth 90% what it did before. The economy is growing, but the middle class are making less money and getting wiped out.