Newsflash Dumbasses: This Is Not A Recession
At least not yet. Even if the economy had receded last quarter, it still would not have qualified as a recession. That’s because in order to be a recession, there has to be two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
I am reminded of this excellent post I wrote at Music City Bloggers last October that caused a whole bunch of liberals to wet their pants and demand I be silenced.
I don’t know if it is due to misinformation presented by the media, or if it is has to do with people not knowing the definition of a recession, but something is definitely wrong with the average American.
I hate to be condescending, but for all of you who do not know, a recession is two or more successive quarters of negative economic growth. We haven’t seen negative economic growth in the United States in more than six years.
You know it really scares me to think that 46 out of every 100 Americans do not know the definition of a recession. It especially scares me knowing that these people have the right to vote. I am surprised that they are able to feed themselves, much less drive an automobile or go to the grocery story. I hate to sound like an asshole, but good grief, A RECESSION!
Now after reading it, I am sure I am about to get lots of anecdotal “evidence” and sad stories. But it doesn’t matter. Words have meanings and this isn’t a recession.
Glen knows. He’s very intelligent.
Thankyou for the optimistic news in that article:
Here was badass comment on that post from don_t_ask:
Hmm. I think I got a little misunderstood up there. I didn’t claim we were in a recession, just that the “dang hole sho’nuff looks pretty big from up in heah,” to paraphrase a leading economist I respect.
However…
Hasn’t it always been the case that recessions are a bit clearer to see once they’ve passed? Kinda like,
“Hey, we sure have it better at this point than we did last year. Why I couldn’t even afford to buy milk for the baby!”
“You don’t think…”
“What, a recession?”
“It had all the hallmarks: people adjusting to lower standards of living, borrowing heavily against assets in order to float by, stockbrokers jumping from windows…”
“You’re thinking of a depression on that last one.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, all I know is that I was downsized due to my company being unable to carry so many domestic employees — outsourced the whole shooting match. Lost my house. I felt pretty depressed…”
“That’s not an _economic_ depression.”
“Well, sure. But it hurt all the same. Something about the dollar not performing well against Asian currencies? Or maybe it was the skyrocketing bill for health care. I forget. When you’re sucking longer on your toothbrush in the morning for the extra nutrition, it’s hard to remember. I was so miserable living hand-to-mouth.”
“Me too. Had to go get one of those high-rate mortgages just to pay for some dental work. I’ll be paying it off until the next recession.”
“Recession? Was _that_ what that was? Why, I was too busy trying to make grits out of Elmer’s glue to notice at the time…”
“Weird.”
The President is technically right, too, and America loves his assessments so much, they might just audit his Administration’s flat line reports and find what they knew all along: that George W. Bush belongs on the $10 bill.
I don’t know who wrote that back in October on MCB, but wasn’t it excellent, Glenn?
If I didn’t read your blog posts over the past year, you could have counted me among the many Americans duped into believing the economy sucked and that the realestate market is in the toilet. Thanks for bucking reality’s well-known liberal bias.
Thanks HB for the anecdotes I predicted in my post. You guys never let me down.
Christian, all of that is true. But to use the word recession, there has to be two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Words have meaning Christian. If you want to call this “hard times”, then go ahead. But it isn’t a recession, not yet. Six months from now, if we have two quarters of negative growth, then call it a recession. But it isn’t a recession at this time. And another thing, all real estate is local. Middle Tennessee is okay, not great, but okay.
Gosh, and can you beat fictional anecdotes for rebuttal evidence?
Ned:
I know you are not talking about the comment I pasted (because that would make you look ridiculous, and a man in your position can not afford to be made to look ridiculous) because don_t_ask specified, in clear declarative language, that the comment was NOT being presented as rebuttal evidence.
I don’t put a lot of faith in the numbers; I know how easily the books cook. Economics is far from an exact science.
I’m afraid that our economy is losing it’s wheels. Because, as I’ve said before, we are on an unsustainable run.
Oil is a diminishing commodity; that’s easily quantified. The stuff is becoming liquid gold. We are using, worldwide, some 60 MILLION barrels a day; that is projected to increase to over 100 M bbl/day in 12 years, if worldwide consumption continues to grow. That won’t happen I don’t think, because some western-style economies will implode because of the costs of that oil. The Chinese and Indians are ramping up their desire for oil. I think the Chinese could care less really; they are increasing their oil consumption to drive the price up and force European-style economies to bankruptcy. The Chinese could revert to their centuries-practiced near-feudal living styles with ease, when oil is unavailable in cheap quantities. A nice ploy and tactic, that.
We are also on an unsustainable population growth curve. Because (again, as I’ve said before) we have 300 million people in the US, and 6.8 or so Billion in the world, and we’re much overpopulated. This planet could sustain, with ease, some 2 Billion souls (or soulless atheists with their cats).
So, IMHO, hang on, we’re in for some corrections.
Yes I was talking about your comment or “don’t ask’s” comment. I missed the “declarative statement” somewhere . . . and I’m having trouble discerning what makes it the “badass comment” if not to somehow rebut an assertion that we are not in a recession . . . help me out if I’m missing something.
It may have been funny fiction, and “don’t ask” may not believe that we’re in a recession, and “don’t ask” may believe that anecdotal evidence is fallacious . . . but somehow I’m thinking that’s not the case.
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