Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycle Research Institute says the U.S. economy is in recession. Achuthan, who had been forecasting a recession by mid-2012 for the past several months, tells Bloomberg that industrial production, manufacturing and trade sales, and personal income growth data is all indicating that a recession has begun. Achuthan says that a recession doesn’t have to involve a fall off an economic cliff, but is simply when the economy has peaked and is contracting. He also talks about the labor market, and his longer-term outlook for the economy.