Despite back-to-back contractions in GDP, President Joe Biden, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and all of their supporters in the corporate media insist the US economy isn’t in a recession. But the only data they ever point to in order to back up their assertion is the “strong” labor market.
The problem with this spin is the labor market is a lagging indicator and it’s starting to show cracks.
GDP fell 0.9% in the second quarter. This followed on the heels of a -1.6 GDP print in Q1. Back-to-back contractions in GDP have historically been defined as a recession, but the Biden administration and their apologists insist we aren’t in a recession. Peter Schiff appeared on the Megyn Kelly show to talk about the White House recession spin. He said this recession is just getting started.
This week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates another 75 basis points despite a second straight quarter of negative GDP growth. Meanwhile, Congress is debating a big government spending bill to “reduce inflation.” In this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey tries to unspin all of the spin and government propaganda to make some sense of what’s going on.
Rapidly rising prices put the squeeze on everybody’s wallets. A recent study showed that inflation is hitting rural Americans particularly hard. According to the Iowa State University report, people in rural areas now spend 91% of their income on expenses alone. Peter Schiff recently appeared on Rob Schmitt Tonight to talk about the pain of the inflation tax.
The Federal Reserve delivered another 75 basis point interest rate hike at its July FOMC meeting. This pushes the federal funds rate over the 2% threshold to between 2.25% and 2.5%.
The mainstream media emphasized the size of the hike. One headline called it “a second super-sized hike,” with many other mainstream pundits noting that it matched a June hike was the biggest since 1994. But it wasn’t as big as the full 1% hike everybody thought was on the table after we got June’s flaming hot Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.
Here’s the question: has the Fed reached the end of its rope? Will this be the last hike in this cycle?
The White House is desperately trying to convince everybody there isn’t a recession, but the average American doesn’t seem to be buying the narrative.
Consumer confidence plunged to the lowest level since February 2021 in July, according to the latest survey by the Conference Board.
The economic data indicates that the US economy is already in a recession. The Biden administration wants you to think otherwise, and the White House has come up with an interesting way to deny the recession reality. Just change the definition of a recession.
Peter Schiff appeared on the Ingraham Angle with Lauren Ingraham to talk about this White House spin.
You don’t have to worry about that recession anymore. The White House fixed it.
And by “fixed it” I mean it just changed the commonly held definition of a recession.
It’s getting harder and harder for recession deniers to justify their optimism. And some people seem to be waking up to that reality.
Late last week, we got more economic data and corporate earning news that proves the economic optimism that’s been bandied about for months is unfounded.
Retail sales rose 1% in June after a 0.1% decline in May. Mainstream media breathlessly reported that the jump in retail spending “eases” recession fears.
Does it though?
