After people have accused bureaucrats and government agencies
of changing definitions during the last few years, Joe Biden’s
administration now claims that a second consecutive quarter of negative
gross domestic product (GDP) does not indicate the U.S. is in a
recession. This is despite the fact that two negative GDPs have always
been considered a recession in the eyes of economists worldwide for
years. Furthermore, U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen now insists
that two declining GDPs is “not the technical definition.”
White House Claims Two Consecutive Quarters of Falling GDP Does Not Constitute a Recession
This week market analysts, news outlets, and economists are accusing
the White House of “Soviet-level propaganda” after the Biden
administration redefined the technical definition of a recession. On
July 21, 2022, the Biden administration published a blog post called “How do economists determine whether the economy is in 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,” the White
House report says.
Furthermore, a few days later, the White House published another blog post
that says U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen also claims that two
declining GDPs in a row is not the correct definition. Yellen appeared
on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd and when he asked: “If the
technical definition is two-quarters of contraction, you’re saying
that’s not a recession?”
“That’s not the technical definition,” Yellen replied. “There is an
organization called the National Bureau of Economic Research that looks
at a broad range of data in deciding whether or not there is a
recession. And most of the data that they look at right now continues to
be strong. I would be amazed if they would declare this period to be a
recession, even if it happens to have two-quarters of negative growth.
We have a very strong labor market. when you are creating almost 400,000
jobs a month, that is not a recession.”
Yellen and the Biden administration’s recession arguments are not
being taken too kindly, as many people have said that two declining GDPs
equals a recession and have said so for decades. Investopedia defines a recession
as “two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by
a country’s gross domestic product.” Many other economic resources and
textbooks declare that it is the technical definition of a recession,
despite the bureaucrats’ comments.
Gold bug and economist Peter Schiff mocked
Yellen’s definition on Twitter when he said: “According to Treasury
Sec. Janet Yellen, even if the U.S. economy experiences two consecutive
quarters of negative GDP, the economy won’t be in recession. Bust is the
new boom. Will she be singing the same tune after GDP drops more in Q3
than either of the first two quarters?”
Redefining Vaccination to Economic Definitions Showcases Similarities to Orwell’s 1984
Northman Trader’s Sven Henrich predicted
that politicians would change the definition on July 6, and the Trends
Journal trends forecaster Gerald Celente said the same thing when
Bitcoin.com News interviewed him on July 9.
Will O’Grady, a Republican National Committee spokesperson explained on Monday that “redefining” the definition of a recession showcases how “out of touch” Biden’s team is with Americans.
“Joe Biden turned a recovery into a likely recession. Redefining the
word will not fix the fact that Democrats wasted $1.9 trillion,
resulting in skyrocketing costs for Americans. This further underscores
how out of touch Biden and Democrats are with the pain families are
feeling,” O’Grady stressed.
Republican Thomas Massie has also criticized the White House for
attempting to change the technical definition of a recession and
compared it to how bureaucrats worldwide changed the definition of a vaccine. “When the vaccines failed to prevent infection, they redefined vaccination,” Massie said on Monday. “When the economy fails to grow, they redefine recession.”
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