Biden White House talking points redefining recession quickly embraced by media outlets
Biden White House talking points redefining recession quickly embraced by media outlets
New York Times, AP, CNN among those pushing White House spin that shifts definition of a recession
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
White House officials won’t describe the economy as being in a recession
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Some liberal media outlets are beginning to fall in line with the Biden administration’s spin on redefining what a recession is ahead of the release of potentially devastating economic stats.
Economic data to be revealed on Thursday may show two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which has long been the measure that determines whether the U.S. is in a recession.
However, there’s been a major push by the White House to preemptively declare that even if the U.S. economy has shrunk in two consecutive quarters, that doesn’t necessarily mean the economy is in a recession.
Jared Bernstein of the White House Council of Economic Advisers insisted that neither President Biden nor the White House was going to “sugarcoat” the incoming GDP numbers, telling CNN on Saturday that only the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee can determine whether the U.S. economy is in a recession. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asserted on Sunday that two quarters of negative GDP growth is not the “technical definition” of a recession despite acknowledging that it is the “common” definition, defining it on NBC as a “broad-based contraction in the economy” based on a wide range of data.
RECESSION WATCH: MORE AMERICANS STRUGGLING TO PAY THEIR BILLS, CENSUS BUREAU REPORTS
