In a Wall Street Journal column published Wednesday, Feldstein argues that as bad as some headline economic numbers such as gross domestic product have become in recent months, "the picture is even gloomier if we look in more detail."
Feldstein is an economics professor at Harvard University. He's also the retired president of the National Bureau of Economic Analysis, the well-regarded organization that determines when the economy falls into recession, as well as when recessions come to an end.
He was one of the first top economists to call the start of what became the Great Recession, telling CNNMoney in early January 2008 that a recession was "likely." The recession was later determined to have begun in December 2007.