The United States is in a recession after the economy shrank for a second straight quarter by an annualized rate of 0.9%.
On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) first estimate of the nation’s gross domestic product was worse than the predicted expansion of 0.5%, FXStreet noted. Economists widely define a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
“The decrease in real GDP reflected decreases in private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, federal government spending, state and local government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by increases in exports and personal consumption expenditures (PCE),” the BEA explained. “Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.”
White House economic advisor Brian Deese has claimed that a recession is not universally defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.
“It’s not the definition that economists have traditionally relied on,” Deese recently said regarding the aforementioned definition.
In 2008, Deese told the media, “Economists have a technical definition of recession, which is two consecutive quarters of negative growth.”
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also denied that the U.S. was heading toward a recession and instead claimed that the economy was in a “transition” with growth that is “slowing.”
“This is not an economy that’s in recession,” she told NBC News’ Chuck Todd. “But we’re in a period of transition in which growth is slowing and that’s necessary and appropriate and we need to be growing at a steady and sustainable pace. So there is a slowdown and businesses can see that and that’s appropriate, given that people now have jobs and we have a strong labor market.”
EJ Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, also told The Daily Wire in an email that despite the Biden administration’s attempt to change the definition of recession, the U.S. is in one for several reasons.
“Over the last 18 months, Congress, President Biden, and the Federal Reserve set our nation up for disaster. The consequence is that we are now in a recession,” Antoni said.
“The current economic situation is the consequence of profligate federal spending financed by printed money. Now, instead of acknowledging responsibility for their failed policies, the Biden administration chooses to play word games, just like they did with inflation,” he added. “The latest of their verbal gymnastics is an attempt to redefine a ‘recession’ and deny the reality of the current moment. It adds insult to injury for hundreds of American families when the Biden administration engages in this Orwellian doublespeak. Make no mistake—while Biden officials debate the meaning of ‘recession,’ working and middle-class Americans have been living in one for months.”
Regardless of the alleged word games, Antoni noted that Americans feel the economic woes under the administration.
“Unlike the bureaucrats here in Washington, those American families have been feeling the economic pain and were well aware of the reality of this recession long before today’s numbers were released, Antoni remarked. “By denying it’s even happening, the Biden administration is demonstrating just how out of touch they are.”
This is a developing story; please check back for updates.