Biden: The Economy's "On the Right Track," "That Doesn't Sound Like a Recession to Me"

The gruesome gaslighter announced that America is "on the right path," because he's on hardcore drugs and doesn't have any idea what the f*** he's saying any more:

Coming off of last year's historic economic growth -- and regaining all the private sector jobs lost during the pandemic crisis -- it's no surprise that the economy is slowing down as the Federal Reserve acts to bring down inflation. But even as we face historic global challenges, we are on the right path and we will come through this transition stronger and more secure. Our job market remains historically strong, with unemployment at 3.6% and more than 1 million jobs created in the second quarter alone. Consumer spending is continuing to grow. Earlier this week, I met with the Chairman of SK Group from Korea, just one of the companies investing more than $200 billion in American manufacturing since I took office, powering a historic recovery in American manufacturing.

My economic plan is focused on bringing inflation down, without giving up all the economic gains we have made. Congress has an historic chance to do that by passing the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act without delay.

We did not, in fact, regain all the jobs lost during the pandemic. And they were lost due to the demands of Biden's leftwing government cronies, to which Trump reluctantly bowed.

The Sage of Scranton, the Pride of NeverTrump.

Joe Mannix had this briefing for us, mostly drawn from his Morning Report:

From what I put on the MR based on a really cursory read:

Personal consumption expenditure is up 1.0%, but goods (physical stuff) are down 4.4% and private investment is down a staggering 13.5%. The only increases were in services spending (read: things like medical and child care, education, etc.) and intellectual property investment (probably mostly in big tech). Exports were up slightly. Gross all-in private investment is down by 2.73% and the inventory draw-down after the gigantic build-up in Q4 of last year (that pushed the entire GDP print positive due to its scale) continues, with inventories posting -2.01%. Investment in non-residential structures (stores, factories, office buildings, etc.) fell by 11.7% and residential structures (houses, apartment buildings, etc.) fell by 14%.

Declining real spending in the physical economy, declining investment, declining inventories and reduced construction and fixed asset investment while inflation continues and the average joe's credit cards are nearly maxed out isn't exactly a rosy "things are better than the top-line GDP print indicates" story.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

This WaPo "journalist" seems to agree there's no hidden good news here:

Heather Long @byHeatherLong

The most worrying part of the GDP report today is the slowdown in consumer & biz spending.

* Big drop in consumer spending on goods that was barely offset by a modest rise in services spending.

* Big drop in business investment

I saw a market analyst say on Twitter that Wall Streeters aren't waiting for the NEBR to officially declare a recession -- they're pulling their money out.

Of course, the honest, decent man promised to us by NeverTrump then spoke to the public and lied some more:

The Wall Street Journal was one of the few media outlets which retained any credibility today:

Two straight records of declining output is a common definition of a recession. U.S. GDP shrank at a 1.6% rate in the first quarter.

Even if AP, Bloomberg, CNBC, and all the rest want to carry Biden's water and argue about the Exciting New Definition of a recession, they could, at least, report the common definition of a recession, as the Wall Street Journal did.

But they did not. It has now, 1984-style, been purged from all prior news archives.

An AP "journalist" argued that if you ignore the 9.1% inflation, which meaninglessly inflated the number of dollars in the economy, hey, you know, the economy actually grew.

I mean, it grew in inflated, debased dollar terms.

Josh Boak @joshboak

Inflation matters a lot when thinking about GDP--exclude it from the Q2 figures and the economy grew at a 7.8% annual rate.

The fact that nominal growth was wiped out entirely by inflation helps to explain why voters are so angry and unhappy.

Remember, "journalists" do not take sides, wing-nuts!

Biden's go-to economic spinner told us yesterday that we should be grateful for the economic wonders Biden hath given us, for, unlike in some other countries, at least we're not facing a famine.

Yet.

"Well, look, I think that our -- our economy is more resilient to the -- to the types of challenges that we've faced. For example, you know, with respect to food, we're a net exporter of agricultural commodities. And, obviously, the high prices are hitting Americans very hard, but...in a way, that is different from some places that are facing famine, for example."

Yes, he actually said that.

Suggested by a commenter.

posted by Ace at 05:28 PM

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