If you can’t win the argument with the facts, Save Jerseyans?
Change the terms!
Last week, in anticipation of a forthcoming announcement that the U.S. GDP shrunk in the 2nd Quarter of 2022, the White House put out a positively Orwellian press release challenging the definition of a recession.
Not whether we’re in one per the classic definition, mind you! But whether the classic definition itself – two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth – is accurate and appropriate.
“What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” reads the official White House blog post. “Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.”
Contrary to what Team Biden wants you to believe, the definition of a “recession” is standard. It’s even in the dictionary:
All of this is happening in the context of a time when a January 6th Committee is actively accusing the prior president of undermining our democratic system.
Do you remember Donald Trump changing the definition of fundamental economic terms to save his own bacon in act worthy of a dystopian novel or streaming series?
