{"id":1569882,"date":"2022-07-25T13:05:29","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T17:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1569882"},"modified":"2022-07-25T13:05:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T17:05:36","slug":"recession-no-problem-just-pretend-it-doesnt-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/recession-no-problem-just-pretend-it-doesnt-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"Recession? No Problem. Just Pretend It Doesn\u2019t Exist"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frecession-no-problem-just-pretend-it-doesnt-exist%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1569882&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In 2009, mired in the slowest recovery in American history, the Obama administration decided to dispense with antiquated economic metrics and cook up a new, non-falsifiable number that would better accommodate the president. And so, we were introduced to jobs, \u201csaved and created.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every month, an administration economist, under the veneer of expertise, would trot out this fake statistic \u2014 one that had never been used by the Labor Department or Treasury Department or the Bureau of Labor Statistics or anyone else. And every month, the political media would dutifully report on it without much skepticism. Obama claimed his recovery plan would \u201csave or create three to four million jobs over the next two years.\u201d But once the \u201csaved\u201d part of \u201ccreated and saved\u201d was removed, we found out the economy had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atr.org\/point-million-jobs-lost-under-obama-a3342\/\">lost<\/a> 2 million jobs, with unemployment reaching 9.4 percent. Our fortunes only turned around after Democrats lost Congress and gridlock hampered Washington\u2019s ability to inflict any more damage.<\/p>\n<p>All of it was transparently stupid, yet it was flat-out genius compared to the scheming of the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no scientific definition for a recession because economics isn\u2019t an exact science. Yet, for decades, the media, government, economic textbooks, and dictionaries have defined one as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. (Though, when a Republican is president, it\u2019s called a \u201cgreat\u201d recession.) But now, with the prospects of this week\u2019s GDP report being in the red \u2014 the Atlanta Fed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantafed.org\/cqer\/research\/gdpnow\">estimates<\/a> GDP will contract 1.6 percent \u2014 the administration and media are engaged in a pedantic debate over the <em>real<\/em> meaning of a recession.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is a recession?\u201d the White House Council of Economic Advisers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/cea\/written-materials\/2022\/07\/21\/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession\/\">ponders<\/a>. \u201cWhile 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t? It is true that on rare occasions, as the National Bureau of Economic Research did in the early \u201990s, experts will declare a recession when there are non-consecutive quarters of negative growth, but not once has the media covered two consecutive quarters of contraction as anything but a recession.<\/p>\n<p>When Keynesian economic policy failed during the Obama years, every fresh report of bad news was treated as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/articles\/pro-obama-media-always-shocked-by-bad-economic-news\/\">unexpected<\/a>.\u201d When the same policy fails during the Biden years, the media treat the economy as weird and unknowable. This week, we\u2019re going to see a new consumer confidence number. It will likely be bad. Interest rates will likely rise, as will inflation numbers. And perhaps the best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/simonmoore\/2022\/07\/22\/recession-risks-rise-as-yield-curve-flashes-major-warning\/?sh=39fc41b92454\">predictor<\/a> of a recession, the yield curve inversion, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/07\/15\/yield-curve-bonds-economy-recession\">already with us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The administration argues we aren\u2019t technically in a recession because of the low unemployment rate. But simply because the Biden administration says we\u2019re experiencing historic job growth doesn\u2019t mean anyone has to play along. Indeed, the private sector hasn\u2019t even regained the jobs lost due to the \u201cman-made\u201d downturn that was caused by needless government-compelled Covid shutdowns. The Chamber of Commerce says 3.25 million <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/workforce\/understanding-americas-labor-shortage\">fewer<\/a> Americans are working today than were in February of 2020.\u00a0(In 2019, presidential candidate Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenvilleonline.com\/story\/news\/local\/2019\/08\/28\/joe-biden-sc-campaign-visit-spartanburg\/2131656001\/\">argued<\/a> the economy was \u201cteetering on recession\u201d when there were zero quarters of negative growth and the unemployment rate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenvilleonline.com\/story\/news\/local\/2019\/08\/28\/joe-biden-sc-campaign-visit-spartanburg\/2131656001\/\">was at<\/a> 3.7 percent. Today <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=u.s.+employment+rate&#038;rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS913US913&#038;sxsrf=ALiCzsZXIG0yLLm-hJS9MW9tsbPAx7tCtw%3A1658751418310&#038;ei=uoneYtG6EsKj5NoP3d6VoAo&#038;oq=employment+rate&#038;gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQsAMQQzIHCAAQsAMQQ0oECEEYAEoECEYYAFAAWABg7wpoAXABeACAAQCIAQCSAQCYAQDIAQrAAQE&#038;sclient=gws-wiz\">it\u2019s at<\/a> 3.6 percent.)<\/p>\n<p>Biden has been assaulting voters with juvenile economic messaging from the start. It was a year ago that the president <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/11\/11\/biden-faces-inflation-fiasco-but-wont-admit-he-caused-it\/\">claimed<\/a> \u201cnobody\u201d was \u201csuggesting there\u2019s unchecked inflation on the way \u2014 no serious economist,\u201d even as many were. Biden\u2019s National Economic Council deputy director Brian Deese <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/faster-than-expected-inflation-is-actually-a-good-sign-bharat-ramamurti-152149910.html\">said<\/a> inflation was \u201cactually a good sign\u201d for the economy. Then, the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1457815262036643845\">administration<\/a> and its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/07\/21\/biden-infrastructure-job-aplan-inflation-republicans\/\">allies<\/a> argued that the best method to alleviate inflation would be to shove through a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/blogs\/true-cost-budget-plan-could-exceed-5-trillion\">$5.5 trillion<\/a> welfare state expansion bill. The president claimed Build Back Better actually cost \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/POTUS\/status\/1441924106765602819\">zero<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is the same administration that kept sending checks, created energy scarcity, passed a massive infrastructure bill (with the help of Republicans), but then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/04\/the-putins-price-hike-canard\/\">blamed<\/a> Vladimir Putin for inflation. It\u2019s the same president who <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/POTUS\/status\/1543263229006254080?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\">demands<\/a> \u201ccompanies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump\u201d bring down \u201cthe price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you\u2019re paying for the product,\u201d as if gas station attendants are controlling the price of a worldwide fungible commodity. Mayor Pete <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/19\/pete-buttigieg-wants-you-to-pay-higher-gas-prices-to-lower-the-price-of-his-electric-car\/\">recommends<\/a> everyone go out and buy an electric car.<\/p>\n<p>And suddenly a \u201crecession\u201d is an unknowable concept. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist. Harsanyi is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of five books\u2014the most recent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Eurotrash-America-Reject-Failed-Continent\/dp\/0063066017\/\">Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent<\/a>. His work has appeared in National Review, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reason, New York Post, and numerous other publications. Follow him on Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidharsanyi\/\">@davidharsanyi<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2009, mired in the slowest recovery in American history, the Obama administration decided to dispense with antiquated economic metrics and cook up a new, non-falsifiable number that would better<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":1897804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1569882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/25\/recession-no-problem-just-pretend-it-doesnt-exist\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recession-no-problem-just-pretend-it-doesnt-exist","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1569882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1569882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1569882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1569882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}