Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The sum of national unemployment and inflation rates, used unofficially to assess a nation's economic health.

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  • The combination of the inflation rate and the unemployment rate. Hit a high of 22% in June of 1980, a low of 3% in July of 1953, and is currently around 7.5% (miseryindex.us).

    A friend of mine used to say the unit of measure for this was "griefs".

    October 27, 2007