The Bureau of Economic Analysis confirmed on Thursday that the United States has officially entered a recession under the leadership of the Biden administration.
The first estimate of the second quarter’s GDP came in at -0.930%, a number far shorter than the consensus forecast prediction of 0.5%.
While the negative U.S. economic growth appears to have improved from the first quarter’s -1.6%, the Bureau’s latest data marks the American economy’s second quarter of negative GDP.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been scrambling to redefine the term “recession” this week after previously ignoring concerns of economists who accurately predicted the unfavorable economic outcome earlier this year.
Biden: "We're not gonna be in a recession in my view" pic.twitter.com/A9Y8TaQRhu
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 25, 2022
When asked in April about the GDP report showing a contraction, Joe Biden told reporters “well, I’m not concerned about a recession,” and added that “I mean, you’re always concerned about recession, but the GDP, you know, fell to 1.4%.”
Biden continued, “But here’s the deal; we also had last quarter had consumer spending and business investment and residential investment increased at significant rates, both for leisure as well as hard product. Number one number two. Unemployment is at the lowest rate since 1970.”
Reporter: "How concerned are you about a recession, given the GDP report today?"
President Biden: "I'm not concerned about a recession. I mean, you're always concerned about recession, but the GDP, you know, fell to 1.4%." https://t.co/7ZREZVdqqQ pic.twitter.com/cJvsg1xmMC
— The Hill (@thehill) April 28, 2022
By June, 70% of leading economists expected the country to fall into a recession as inflation worsened, according to a Financial Times survey that was conducted with the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Biden denied this as well.
“Not the majority of them aren’t saying that,” Biden claimed falsely during four-day weekend vacation in Delaware in response to the news. “Come on, don’t make things up, OK?”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed the president’s statements and dismissed recession concerns the following day and falsely claimed that the U.S. was instead in a place of “stable and steady growth.”
Jean-Pierre: "Right now we don't see a recession … We are not in a recession right now." pic.twitter.com/P0uEvLWhZN
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 21, 2022
“Right now, we don’t see a recession right now. We’re not in a recession right now,” she said.
“Right now we’re in a transition where we are going to go into a place of stable and steady growth.”
