In a recent article penned by yours truly, I made the argument that the U.S. economy is already in a recession...even if the powers that be don't want to see it. My argument was fairly simple - unemployment is up, capacity utilization is down, inflation is up, and the Fed is still pushing rates lower. Even if all of those trends were halted right now, the damage has still been done.

I want to add another layer of recession evidence today. More importantly, I want to give you a few ideas so you can defend your portfolio just in case any recession cuts deep.