Read PIMCO's Bill Gross with his latest investment outlook on the financial crisis

Bond guru Bill Gross of PIMCO has released his latest Investment Outlook, for March, entitled "Hairy Lips Sink Ships".

As to whether this is a recession or a depression, Bill says:

We don't know yet... Recessions are cyclical downturns of a relatively brief time frame, characterized by inventory corrections and addressed by low interest rates and mild doses of fiscal stimulus. Depressions are more extreme with double-digit levels of unemployment but defined more importantly by credit contraction and debt liquidation. The deflation that normally accompanies a depression is dangerous not because prices are going down, but because the "for sale" sign goes up on the credit markets which have always made capitalism possible. At the moment, ... policymakers are attempting to prevent that. We shall see.

-- Jack Krupansky