It's all bad news on the economic front. The government reported yesterday that the U.S. economy suffered its biggest decline in 26 years in the last quarter of 2008. According to the Department of Commerce, gross domestic product (GDP) fell at an annual rate of 3.8 percentthe largest drop since the first quarter of 1982. Spending was down across the board, especially in the critical area of big-ticket durable goods (down 22 percent). Economists are worried that the plunge in spending will continue, pushing the U.S. economy into another recession.

How much output would the economy have gained if the decline had instead been growth?