Dear bitcoiners,
What is a recession? Why is the White House trying to change its definition?
What can we do about it?
More in my latest article.
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Ras Vasilisin
The White House Changes the Definition of Recession, Taking Gaslighting to Another Level
You may have noticed the White House published a blog post late last week titled
“How Do Economists Determine Whether the Economy Is in a Recession?”
But despite the Orwellian spin, the US economy has been in a recession all year.
What is a recession?
The Oxford dictionary defines a recession as “a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.”
However, the White House tries to combat a recession with a different definition.
The blog post starts with a wild opening paragraph:
What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle. Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.
Why are they doing it?
They are doing it to avoid accountability.
It all started with the covid crisis. To impose draconian lockdowns on us, politicians had to ensure they had sufficient resources to pull it off. So they printed trillions of dollars into circulation, which triggered record high inflation around the globe.
To mitigate the devastation caused by inflation, central bankers launched a demand distraction strategy, which subsequently crashed all asset markets.
The central planners realized that inflation is tied up in the stock market. If the stock market goes down, our ability to spend money will also decrease. When we stop spending, inflation cools off.
The problem is that, by cooling off inflation, the world ended up in a recession, which is unacceptable during the election year in the US. So instead of being accountable for the economic slump, they changed the definition of a recession.
Takeaway
One of the big takeaways from the White House’s attempt to change the definition of a recession is that we are starting to see a gaslighting pattern.
If politicians don’t like certain outcomes begin to change definitions to fit their narrative.
What matters is not the way things actually are, but what matters are the words we use to describe things. Now we can change reality merely by calling it something else.
Remember when the CDC changed the definition of “vaccine” on their website to remove the immunity criteria?
Or when they “improved” the CPI methodology after the official inflation numbers started skyrocketing?
In short, most politicians have an insatiable lust for power. They are capable of doing anything to get reelected, if that means crushing the economy and changing the definition of inflation.
So, what can you do about it?
Stop and think about things every once in a while. Stop paying too much attention to the media. Stop listening to every word the government says like it’s the gospel truth.
And start giving a shit about your future before it’s too late.
