• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 18, 2008

All three opening commentators â€" MediaPost’s Ken Fadner, Social Vibe’s Joe Marchese and eMarketer’s Geoff Ramsey â€" referenced the “fear” and panic surrounding financial markets, and the implications for the online industry.

Ramsey, who’s dad was an economist, instructed the audience that even if the U.S. and global economies are heading into a recession, it doesn’t necessarily warrant wholesale concern.

“There’s a difference between a recession and a depression,” Ramsey noted, adding, “Let’s hope we’re not heading into the Grapes of Wrath days.” Not that he was seeking to stir up a dust bowl, but Ramsey was referencing the great John Steinback novel about displaced Oklahoma migrant workers trying to make it during the Great Depression in California’s farm country. (Where’s Tom Joad when you need him.)

Actually, I know another definition for recessions and depressions that is popular among economists.

“A recession,” they say, “is when YOU are out of work. “A depression is when I’M out of work.”

So it’s all a matter of perspective.

Right now, I’m working the OMMA conference as blogger-in-chief, so I’m not so depressed. Let’s talk during OMMA Hollywood next spring.