Technically-- technically they might be right.
Unfortunately in every real sense, not only is the recession not ending, it is actually likely going to get worse.
See, the problem is, as Paul Krugman notes, is that since 1990, we've faced a remarkable phenomena-- the recovery that adds no jobs. in his most recent post he makes the point that:
And the current situation is no better — actually, worse — that I thought it would be when arguing that the Obama economic plan was inadequate. Read this, and bear in mind that the unemployment rate is now 9.4%.
The stimulus has helped, and the conventional recession is over. But the economy is not recovering in the most crucial area, job creation, and the stimulus won’t be enough to restore prosperity.
However there are two points that I feel he has failed to fully explore. The first is the fact that any governmental stimulas plan is, by definition, finite. Cash for Clunkers has ended, and absent increased consumer spending, that means that the economic gains are both transitory and to some degree illusory. In absense of a restoration of employment, no stimulus plan will in the long run, be effective.
The second issue is much more serious, and one that requires more analysis, but fundamentally the mortgage bubble has insured that this recession-- in real, not academic terms will be closer to the Japanese "Lost Decade" than a traditional image of a recession, simply due to the tremendous amount of "spending power" that the US and indeed world economy got used to over the last ten years, which now quite simply no longer exists.
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