{"id":17420,"date":"2022-07-25T19:03:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T23:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=17420"},"modified":"2022-07-25T19:09:05","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T23:09:05","slug":"new-york-post-biden-plays-orwell-and-redefines-recession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/25\/new-york-post-biden-plays-orwell-and-redefines-recession\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Post: Biden Plays Orwell and Redefines “Recession”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>New York Post, July 25, 2022<\/h3>\n

Biden plays Orwell, tries to redefine what \u2018recession\u2019 means<\/a><\/h1>\n
\n
By\u00a0 James Bovard<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAll rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers,\u201d George Orwell wrote in \u201c1984.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the federal government is expected to release statistics revealing that the economy contracted in the second quarter. Since this will be the second quarter in a row that the economy shrank, that fits the established definition of a recession.<\/a><\/p>\n

So true to Orwell, Team Biden is going to change the meaning of words.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s Council of Economic Advisors launched a preemptive strike against bad news with a blog post on the theme<\/a>: \u201cWhat is a recession?\u201d Despite decades of top economists concurring on a definition, Biden\u2019s appointees treat the topic like an arcane metaphysical dispute that requires a \u201cholistic look at the data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of admitting the economy is shrinking<\/a>, Team Biden touts a test indicating that a recession is not underway unless \u201cthe three-month moving average of the unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point (50 basis points) relative to its lowest point in the previous 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving average\u201d is an apt phrase that evokes the circus shell game the Biden folks use to define away their failures.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s economic advisers stress that judgments on recession depend on \u201cgovernment statistics that are reported at various lags.\u201d Remember that Biden and his appointees denigrate reports with negative data as \u201cold news\u201d while whooping up any positive data as if it was handed down from Mount Sinai. The first-quarter economic data are ancient history no longer relevant in our glorious era of Biden Benevolence. The second-quarter data, if as bad as expected, will be labeled a fluke.<\/p>\n

The only certainty is that it will be impossible to confirm a recession until November 9, the day after the midterm congressional elections.<\/a> And by that point, all the earlier data will be \u201cspilled milk\u201d that only proves the need for national unity and rallying around Joe Biden. And between now and Election Day, Biden is willing to force Americans to pay any price to create the illusion of prosperity.<\/p>\n