The Biden administration is claiming the traditional definition of a recession doesn’t apply to soften the blow of expected poor economic reports due later this week.
Summary
Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. The Biden administration is claiming the traditional definition of a recession doesn’t apply when they’re in charge to soften the blow of expected poor economic reports due later this week.
- POLITICO reported senior Biden officials are “arm-twisting reporters in private, imploring anyone who will listen that the economy is healthy.”
- Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein claimed, “I don’t think any of us are trying to convince anyone that their feelings about the economy are wrong. What we are trying to do is explain things in a much more nuanced way than most people are getting from the daily news flow.”
- The Biden administration’s desperate spin comes ahead of Thursday’s second-quarter GDP report, which could show the U.S. has experienced two consecutive negative quarters, the “rule-of-thumb” definition of a recession.
- Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen attempted her best Frank Drebin impression on the Sunday shows, insisting, “This is not an economy that’s in recession” but admitted the economy is “in a period of transition in which growth is slowing.”
- Biden economic adviser Brian Deese said with a straight face, “Two negative quarters of GDP growth is not the technical definition of recession,” and instead claimed, “the most important question economically is, whether working people and middle-class families have more breathing room.” Conveniently, economic data does not track “breathing room.”
- The Federal Reserve is expected to “deploy another supersized interest rate hike later Wednesday. The Fed’s moves, while necessary to grip inflation, are already starting to slow down business activity and “sparking fears that the U.S. is tipping into recession just two years after it emerged from the last one.”
- The New York Times said it is “hard to say” whether the U.S. is in a recession and downplayed the widely-accepted definition of a recession as just “one benchmark” and insisted that “won’t be the last word” on U.S. economic conditions.
- CNN reported US stocks posted gains this morning ahead of the Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate decision at 2:00 Wednesday afternoon. The Fed is expected to increase interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point.
- POLITICO predicted the Biden administration would face a “Category 5 economic storm” this week, with the Fed’s interest rate hike due later Wednesday, the GDP report due Thursday, and the latest inflation numbers coming on Friday.
- National Review mocked the Biden administration for going into “recession denial.” Author Jim Geraghty predicts, “Between now and the midterms, Yellin, Biden, and the rest of the Democrats will be trying to convince Americans that they’re more prosperous than they feel. I suspect you would have an easier time convincing Americans that they’re taller than they feel.”
- Breitbart picked up comments from White House economic adviser Cecilia Rouse. Rouse tried to insist the economic slowdown has been in a “gentle way that we would hope.”
- The Ruthless Podcast crew discussed “Democratic delusion on the economy” and the administration’s desperate attempts to put lipstick on a pig.
Return to Freespoke 
© Dominic Moore, 2022
