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Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
It is almost comical how much work the Biden administration is putting into denying that the U.S. economy has entered a recession.
Here is what is not in dispute:
One, real GDP is contracting and appears to have been for half a year now. Two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction is the commonly accepted definition of a recession when there is a Republican incumbent facing reelection; when Democrats are in danger of a midterm wipeout, “recession” becomes a term of art. The Biden administration has really been trying to work the National Bureau of Economic Research, who are the guys who will decide whether to call the recession a recession. Meanwhile, Janet Yellen is out there like Baghdad Bob, insisting that this can’t be a recession because the labor market is strong and because “household finances remain strong.”