JC again

Hahahahaha! It worked so well for covid that they’re trying it again. The White House just redefined the word “recession,” so that the U.S. is NOT in a recession after all. Not anymore. Not after they redefined it. Shazam! You’re welcome.

Fox News ran a story yesterday headlined, “Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen Acknowledges Economic ‘Slowdown’ but Downplays Recession Fears.” The sub-headline said, “Yellen insists U.S. economy is ‘not an economy that’s in recession’.”

Yellen admitted to Fox that the “common” definition for a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, and allowed that economists DO expect to see negative growth again this quarter following last quarter’s -1.4% drop, but still, Yellen insisted that does NOT mean the U.S. is in a recession.

Why not? Because, borrowing a play from the CDC, the White House just updated its website to reflect the new, improved definition of the word:

So. The definition USED TO be two consecutive quarters of falling GDP. Now, under the new, improved definition, a recession can’t really be defined at all; it’s “holistic.” Intangible. Squishy. In other words, they’ll let us know when it’s a recession, don’t bother trying to figure it out for yourself.

Of course, it’s just political nonsense. The money people know what a recession is, and they’ll act appropriately regardless of whatever Yellen and Biden say. In that sense, their silly wordplay is meaningless. But what it DOES signal to markets is that Treasury Secretary Yellen is about to do the exact opposite of whatever a treasury secretary SHOULD do in the face of a recessionary economy.

What would we do without these experts?