DeSantis Says Biden is Trying to ‘Redefine’ What a Recession Means
July 27, 2022 Updated 3:34 P.M. ET
TAMPA (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday the Biden Administration is redefining what a recession is as Americans brace for the next GDP report Thursday.
“We’re going to get the GDP report but it’s basically been textbook that if you have two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, you’re in a recession,” DeSantis said.
The technical definition of a recession has been two consecutive quarters of negative growth as reported by CNN in 2015 and other online education sites.
The economy shrank 1.6% in the January-March quarter and some experts expect there will be a contraction for the second quarter, therefore, indicating the United States is in a recession. However, the Biden Administration has said the U.S. is not heading into a recession.
“Two negative quarters of GDP growth is not the technical definition of recession,” National Economic adviser Brian Deese insisted during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. He added that “the most important question economically is, whether working people, and middle class families, have more breathing room.”
The Biden Administration is telling people not to judge the economy by GDP or inflation alone.
“We’re not going to be in a recession, in my view,” President Biden said Monday. “My hope is we go from this rapid growth to steady growth.”
DeSantis has been a long-time critic of Biden’s handling of the economy and economic policies leading to gas prices and inflation.
“Well, now they’re trying to redefine what a recession is,” DeSantis said. “And they’re getting help from people in the media saying ‘oh it’s not really a recession.'”
The National Bureau of Economic Research said that a “recession involves a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.”
Forbes reported in 2016 that two consecutive quarters of declining GDP is a “common-rule-of-thumb” but not the actual definition. A Naples-based private wealth management company said in 2019 that the textbook definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative real adjusted GDP.
“While that may be the case, the Government uses a different yardstick. An organization called the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has become the official arbiter of recessions,” the group said.
A most recent report showed inflation hit another 40-year-record high at 9.1% in June. That rate was influenced by higher food and gas prices.
Florida’s gas prices jumped to $4.64 and were even higher in individual counties. Even though the prices have begun declining, they are still above $4.00. Florida’s average price for gas is $4.03 per gallon in Florida.
