The technical definition of a recession is when the economy experiences two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. This happened in 2022, and the Biden administration preemptively changed the definition of "recession." It was a crazy strategy, but since leftists dominate the mainstream media, they colluded with the White House to push the idea that the long-accepted way recessions have been defined wasn't accurate.
“That’s not how recessions are defined," claimed left-wing economist Paul Krugman. "More important, it’s not how they should be defined."
I know, I know, Krugman is a joke, but if it had only been him, it wouldn't have mattered. However, Krugman wasn't the only person in the media pushing the narrative that a recession is whatever the Biden White House says it is.
Flashback: The Media Is Colluding With the Biden Administration to Redefine Recession
Let's face it, for all the controversy surrounding the Biden administration's Orwellian efforts to redefine "recession," it doesn't matter what the technical definition is. Think about it: most people don't dive into the economic reports or follow the nuanced definitions that economists or the Bureau of Economic Analysis set. They feel the impact directly in their wallets. If you ask the average American whether we're in a recession, many will say yes, regardless of what the White House says or how the stock market is performing.
Perception matters more than official definitions. And that's exactly the problem that Joe Biden has. He spent the majority of his presidency telling people the economy was great, thinking that branding the economy "Bidenomics" and telling people how wonderful everything is would work.
It didn't. Today, regardless of the fact that, by definition, we're not actually in a recession (yet), most Americans believe that the U.S. is currently in an economic recession, and the majority blames this on Joe Biden.
According to a Harris poll released on Wednesday, nearly three in five Americans believe the U.S. is in an economic recession. The poll also found that 58% of respondents attribute the economic malaise to Joe Biden's mismanagement of the economy.
These views are not solely based on political partisanship. While Republicans are more likely to say we’re in a recession, nearly half of Democrats agree. The poll found that 67% of Republicans, 49% of Democrats, and 53% of independents believe the U.S. is in a recession.
A quick search online for articles about the poll shows that all of them have varying versions of the same headline, highlighting that Americans "wrongly believe" that the economy is in recession — as if the real story is that Americans are too stupid to appreciate how wonderful Bidenomics is.
Related: Joe Biden Tells His Biggest Whopper About Inflation Yet
“What Americans are saying in this data is: ‘Economists may say things are getting better, but we’re not feeling it where I live.’ Unwinding four years of uncertainty takes time. Leaders have to understand this and bring the public along,” Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema told the Guardian.
If you're struggling to make ends meet and experience sticker shock at the grocery store, the gas station, or when you get your utility bills, the textbook definition of a recession is irrelevant. Prices are up, and wages aren't keeping up with that. That's what the public is experiencing. And that's why pointing to the stock market or other random indicators that bear no reflection on the day-to-day struggle of average Americans to afford the necessities of life is meaningless.
