Team Biden denies we’re in a recession — Americans don’t trust government

Note this week s effort to redefine recession before Thursday s bad gross-domestic-product announcement. Previously, as investment expert Jeffrey Carter notes, a recession meant two consecutive quarters (six months) of economic decline. Now it means . . . something else. 

What else? Whatever is convenient. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen went on TV and said that even if this quarter s numbers print negative (they did), it s not a recession because . . . well, just because. As Carter says, She s wrong. She knows it. Plus, she told a pretty big fib for a political spin and didn t do it convincingly.

When asked to define a recession, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn t be specific but said we re not in one. Or even in a pre-recession, whatever that is.

via nypost.com

This redefinition of recession is a new one on me. Yeah, I get it — it would not be a recession if the rest of the economy were doing great. But it ain’t. So it’s just an indication of a recession. But the underlying reality is — it’s a recession. It’s like saying, “just because it has a bill for a nose doesn’t mean it’s a duck. It could be a platypus!” But in this case, it’s a duck. But under current rules of engagement, I guess Team Biden will just say, “we always said this was a recession!” When you control the media, lots of things become possible. Pretty soon, twitter will figure out how to root out financial dissidents.

What are they going to say if we get three quarters worth of contraction in the next print? “Well, maybe it’s working up to a recession, but maybe not. The stock market is up, after all!” Meanwhile, inflation rages. Even harder to deny that I guess, when it costs $107 to fill up a Subaru Outback in sunny San Diego.

Those low unemployment numbers? Someone should come up with an index that factors in labor participation. If only two fellas are looking for work anymore and only one of them found a job as a waitperson, while the other eight have given up — that doesn’t give you a robust employment picture. Also, if it’s so hard to find workers, why don’t businesses offer higher wages? Because they can’t afford to! They’d quickly go out of business if they did. That looks pretty recessionish to me.