From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

What's all this talk about a recession?

Hello again, I'm Aron Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

The New York Times,

the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times are headlining stories about a coming recession.

Back in August, the economist asked, does America need one? On to the point, the subprime mortgage

crisis and the end of easy credit are putting a damper on consumer spending.

It's been driving the economy.

Does that mean recessions inevitable?

Could it be stopped or at least postponed?

Would there be benefits to getting it over sooner rather than later?

On reporter's notebook later on, why do women convicts face the lash in Sudan and Saudi Arabia? First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Mormon Alney, back with To the Point. After the dot-com bubble burst, America's economy took a tumble.

But the results of the subprime mortgage crisis could be a full-on recession. On To the Point,

what would that mean for U.S. consumers? Not to mention the global economy. If it's inevitable,

should it happen now rather than later.

On reporter's notebook in Sudan, 40 lashes for insulting religion. In Saudi Arabia, 200 lashes

for a victim of rape. Are such sentences true reflections of Islamic law? First, this news update.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said today that the army has been like a family

to me.

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