The economy: How bad is it?

Gross domestic product - or GDP - is the broadest measure of the nation's economic growth and the government takes its pulse every three months.

In the last quarter of 2007, GDP growth slowed considerably, to less than 1%. Even so, the economy has not actually contracted since a short period in 2001 and there is still a debate about whether it will this year.

In a recent survey of 51 economists by the Wall Street Journal, 53% of respondents said GDP would decline in the first three months of 2008.

According to the Anderson Forecast by the University of California at Los Angeles, released last week, overall growth in 2008 will be 1.5%.

NEXT: Jobs: Labor pains