Add “noted” economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to the list of left-wingers desperately trying to convince tens of millions of hardworking everyday Americans that the economy isn’t as bad as they know it is and that they aren’t suffering nearly as much as they know they are.
As frustrating as life in Biden’s America™ has become for some, and devastating for others, it’s still humorous at times, watching Joe and Democrats — always aided by their useful idiots in the liberal lapdog media — blame everyone and everything else for crises they alone have foisted on the American people.
Their desperate attempt to change the long-accepted definition of “recession” is one such example.
The standard definition of recession for decades has been “a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in two successive quarters.” Per that accepted definition, the U.S. officially entered a recession on August 1. Or did it? Not so fast, say Biden and Democrats, backed by their know-nothing sock puppets in the media and various left-wing economists. (Think: “Paul Krugman” — but we’ll get to him in a minute.)
As reported by The Hill on Saturday, under what amounted to a Biden-supporting headline — Is there a recession? Only the National Bureau of Economic Research gets to decide — only the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee is “in charge” of making an official call on whether the country is in a recession.
Why so? It gets worse:
Commerce Department data this week found the U.S. economy shrank for a second quarter in a row, sparking a new debate about whether the nation is in a recession. Negative growth in two consecutive quarters fulfills a common definition for a recession — and it’s the official way of making such a call in some countries. But it’s not in the U.S., where a relatively under-the-radar group — the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee — is in charge of making an official call on whether the country is in a recession.
So what is this group, and how does it make its proclamations?
My exact question. And, “some countries”? Those “some countries” included the U.S. for years — until the frantic efforts to declare the Biden Recession™ a “non-recession” began. Check it out:
The group within the NBER that actually makes the call on the recession is the Business Cycle Dating Committee. It has eight members, who are among the foremost economists in the nation, [all of whom] work at top academic institutions across the country.
The NBER’s formal definition of a recession is broad. According to its frequently asked questions page, the NBER’s traditional definition is “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.
The only thing “broad” in that definition over the decades-long standard definition is the shell-game switch from “two consecutive quarters” to “more than a few months.”
How convenient for Joe Biden and his recession, huh? Anyway, now let’s go to Paul Krugman — along with an extra bonus, CNN’s Mr. Potato Head Brian Stelter, who was also all over it, gleefully getting himself more and more worked up the longer Krugman sang the song the pretend-journalist wanted to hear.
As we continue, keep in mind the mindnumbing fact that Krugman is a Nobel Laureate. Wait. Now that I think about it, that might have a “tiny bit” to do with the unabashed hypocrisy and complete lack of professional integrity this Mr. Know-it-All has demonstrated over the years.
As reported by CNN Business on Sunday, Krugman not only declared that the U.S. economy is not in a recession; he said the distinction doesn’t even matter. See what I mean? Here’s more:
Jobs are abundant, although maybe the job market is weakening. Inflation is high, though maybe inflation is coming down. What does it matter whether you use the R-word or not?
Great question, Mr. Krugman. How ’bout you ask Biden and the Democrats, and get back to us?
The “noted” economist continued, observing that in today’s “divisive environment,” the debate over whether or not to use the word recession by some members of the media has become “especially vitriolic.” (In case you missed it, there was the set-up: It’s the media’s fault, America.)
I’ve never seen anything as bad as the determination of a lot of people to say it’s a recession. It’s above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Negative news stories often get the most attention, but when it comes to the economy, a plurality of voters appear to not be aware of its underlying strength.
I think that what’s happening now is that there’s been a kind of a negativity bias in coverage.
And there you have it, folks: a left-wing economist blaming the left-wing-dominated news media for convincing a strong majority of rational Americans that Biden’s disastrous policies have led to economic cutbacks and hardships for tens of millions of hardworking families. The problem for Krugman and Democrats? That is exactly what happened; Biden’s disastrous policies are to blame.
Yet Krugman insists on blaming a “media failing” when in reality a majority of the media — finally — are accurately covering the realities of what most Americans are experiencing in Biden’s America. That said, Krugman began to sound even more foolish:
If you ask people how’s your financial situation, it’s pretty favorable. You ask them how’s the economy, they say, ‘Oh, it’s terrible.’
Does anyone have the world’s tiniest violin I can borrow for a minute?
“If you ask people ‘How is your financial situation?’ it’s pretty favorable,” @paulkrugman says. “If you ask them ‘How is the economy?’ they say ‘Oh, it’s terrible.’ That’s a media failing.” https://t.co/gwA6vs31PM
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 1, 2022
Finally, Krugman got to the real issue at hand — by inadvertently playing his hand.
They want their Biden recession. They’re going to have it, nevermind [sic] the fact that … there’s not a recession in any technical sense.
Translation: “The Republicans want to hang the traditional definition of recession around Biden’s neck and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give it to them, so there.”
“We’re recovering from a pandemic,” Krugman said. “You’d expect a lot of things to look kind of weird right now.” The only thing that looks weird right now, as we close, is Paul Krugman.