3-26-23 A recession by any other name

Daily Jot: A recession by any other name - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com The White House, the rest of the Biden Administration, and Democratic Party leaders are all scrambling to redefine the word “recession” because they don’t want to admit their policies have run the titanic American economy into an economic iceberg. On July 28, Biden responded to the worst economic news in a generation by saying the economy is “consistent with the transition to a stable, steady growth and lower inflation…There are going to be a lot of chatter today on Wall Street and among pundits about whether we are in a recession, but if you look at our job market, consumer spending, business investment, we see signs of economic progress in the second quarter as well.” This is delusional. The worst inflation since Jimmy Carter. The highest gasoline prices since Barack Obama. The worst economic growth. The lowest consumer confidence. And Biden continues to repeat with a straight face: “we are on the right path and we will come through this transition stronger and more secure.” This is typical of Biden and his administration. He nominated a Supreme Court Justice that wouldn’t give a definition for a woman. He is supporting the LGBTQ+ effort to teach school children that they are the gender that they identify with, not necessarily the gender of their birth. And now, when the classic definition of a recession is obvious, how can we expect a guy who doesn’t know where he is when he lands in Israel, to understand his policies have thrown the USA into a recession? But that’s probably not the worst of it. During a rally in Arizona, former President Donald Trump warned: “Recession’s a nice word. We’re going to have a much bigger problem than recession. We’ll have a depression.” Founder of the Brownstone Institute and economic columnist for The Epoch Times, Jeffrey A. Tucker, says, “In short, if this were merely a conventional recession, we would be very fortunate. What’s happening in the trendlines of every important metric is shocking. But the real devastation is in the realm of the invisible: the progress and freedom of which we were robbed. We know who did this to us. It’s the very people who made the desolation and now call it transition.” Tucker continues: “We can argue all day about the definition of recession, but it doesn’t take us to the intellectual place we need to be. The bottom line is that what we are experiencing now includes anomalies from previous downturns precisely because it is much worse. Only a few months ago, many worried that we were going back to the 1970s. That box has been checked. Then, we worried we were going back to the 1930s. My fear is that we might wish that were true.” He says it’s “worse than anyone wants to admit.” As 1 Peter 1:13 exhorts, “Therefore prepare your minds for action.” It’s likely going to get worse before it gets better. May the Lord be our refuge and strength.