"Is the US in recession or depression?"

It is not that simple.

What we had was a collapse in the price of houses. When a 4 bedroom / 2 bath house in LA's San Frenando Valley sold for $800 thousand, something had to give.

The yuppies, real estate speculators, along with massive immigration, pushed house prices well past the amount that working people could afford. When your product has no buyers, the price falls.

Much California real estate is worth 1/2 what it was in 2005. If owed $500K on a house that is worth only $350K. I would walk away from it too.

Banks are stuck with "bad paper" and construction worker are not working. Since they have no jobs, they cannot buy the new cars, and because...ad infinitum