Obama, McCain agree it's a recession

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Democrat Barack Obama and his presidential rival, Republican John McCain, both say the United States is in a recession.

Both candidates expressed their assessment of the U.S. economy in a segment of CBS's "60 Minutes" broadcast Sunday. For the special 40th edition of the program, Obama was interviewed Wednesday in Nevada and McCain was interviewed Thursday in Wisconsin.

"Oh, I think there's no doubt that … when the numbers come out, that we are officially in recession," Obama said. "I think, for a lot of people, they've been feeling like we've been in a recession for years now. When their wages and incomes don't go up, and the cost of gas and groceries and home heating oil and prescription drugs are all going up, that feels awfully like a recession to them."

When asked whether the country is in a recession, McCain said, "Sure," but "technically, I don't know … Americans today don't care about what the, quote, 'technical term' is. Unemployment is up. Wages are down. Home foreclosures are incredibly high, the worst in many, many, many years. All of the indicators that affect the American family, unemployment being up -- those people, they don't care whether technically we're in a recession or not. Fact is they're hurting and they are hurting very, very badly," he says.

Obama and McCain are to face each other head-on in their first debate Friday.