By Thomas Röper
These days we are witnessing an absurd show. The US Treasury Secretary denies that the US is in a recession.
Of course, the economic development in the U.S. was worth Russian television a correspondent report, which sounds completely different from the reports in Western media.
The German author, journalist and publisher of anti-spiegel.ru, Thomas Röper, who lives in Russia, translated the Russian report.
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THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS TRYING TO COVER UP THE CRASHING OF THE ECONOMY
In the United States, economic problems must now be addressed as quickly as possible. Consumer price indexes have hit a 17-year anti-record, U.S. government spending is double revenues, and the dollar has fallen against world currencies, hitting a three-week low. There is talk of a recession in the business community, but the U.S. government avoids that word at all costs.
Joe Biden and his “Bidenomics” have been an issue since day one of his presidency. After less than two years, America has found itself in the middle of a recession.
Down 0.9 percent in GDP from April to June. Down 1.6 percent in GDP from January through March. The U.S. Commerce Department reports a decline in federal government spending and investment in private manufacturing. It’s all textbook. But the U.S. president pretends he never read it.
“There will be a lot of talk on Wall Street and among pundits about whether we’re in a recession. But if you look at the labor market, consumer spending and business investment, we will continue to see signs of economic progress in the second quarter.
Of course, there is no doubt that we expect a slowdown in growth compared to last year, when we had a high growth rate. But it is consistent with a transition to stable, uninterrupted growth and lower inflation,” Biden said.
He could have sprinkled in something about negative growth or looked at the U.S. economy from a gender theory perspective: A recession that identifies as a recovery. Too bold? But it looks like it could soon be.
“The White House is trying to deal with these numbers by telling us that a recession is not a recession. But we all know what it is. It’s a number that economists have relied on for as long as I’ve been on this subject – 30 years. Two quarters of economic contraction is a recession,” says Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.
The final diagnosis is made by the National Bureau of Economic Research. But there, as always, they are cautious. They’re procrastinating. So it was in 2008, and now Biden and the Democrats are counting every month that remains until the midterm elections. First, the decision was made to have Janet Yellen appear.
“Most economists and Americans define a recession similarly: noticeable job losses and massive layoffs, business closures, slowing private sector activity, family budgets under pressure, a broad-based weakening of the economy. That’s not what we’re seeing in the economy right now,” Yellen said.
The U.S. economy is entering a new transition phase, Yellen added. Apparently, from nowhere to nowhere.
By the way, the Treasury secretary was cautiously silent about the nine percent inflation, a record high in forty years. It’s up to her successor at the Fed, Jerome Powell, to put out that fire by raising the federal funds rate three times already. They have no good choice. Either sacrifice growth to lower inflation or vice versa.
“The dual threat posed by the economy, which is visibly slowing while struggling with skyrocketing prices, has divided the administration’s allies. Senator Elizabeth Warren and many left-leaning economists fear that raising interest rates could lead to job losses and undo gains made under the Biden administration.
At the same time, others say the White House should hold off as the Fed takes radical steps to lower skyrocketing inflation,” writes the Washington Post.
In fact, one has no choice but to scoff at the wording.
“If everything is so good, why are White House officials trying to rewrite the definition of a recession?” Biden’s spokeswoman was asked.
“No, we’re not going to change the definition of recession,” Carine Jean-Pierre replied without a shadow of a doubt.
Go to Wikipedia, she might have added. There was a full-blown edit war there. The page on recession was changed 47 times in one day. In the end, the site froze the article and said it was vandalism. The latest version of the article called what was going on Bidenomics.
However, those looking a little further ahead are convinced that the recession is just an initial wake-up call.
“The data for the second quarter suggest that we are not in a recession. In fact, they say we are already in a depression. Virtually every economic indicator did not meet the consensus of Wall Street forecasts. They were off by a mile. Flooding the problems with money is what led to this in the first place. Democrats need to stop trying to make political gains before the midterm elections and finally take care of Americans,” says Fox Business host Charles Payne.
But Democrats seem determined to gobble up everything they have. Stormy Senator Joe Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have agreed on the tax and climate package. Another US$369 billion will go to the green agenda and affordable health insurance.
Republicans say their opponents are putting out the fire with gasoline.
“This is a completely absurd bill that they also call inflation fighting. It’s definitely going to increase inflation. I mean, if you raise taxes on those who create jobs and change how their taxes are set, it will increase inflation. I think that’s absurd,” says Senator Kevin Kramer.
However, some of Biden’s party colleagues are already beginning to get the message. The mayor of New York, for example. “I’m turning to you as a city and saying, ‘We’re in a financial crisis you can’t even imagine. Wall Street is collapsing; we are in a recession.'”
However, Eric Adams was only bold for ten minutes. When reporters approached him after the speech, he began to agree with Biden. He said he knew better. Only Zelensky doesn’t seem to understand how sensitive this issue is for Biden’s clientele.
“Saving democracy in Ukraine is much more important than inflation and your silly fears about the economy,” he said.
Zelensky, our new George Washington, has decided not to even pretend that he cares about the United States. He was asked, Can America afford to spend US$60 billion on your corrupt dictatorship to make such dramatic pictures for magazines like Vogue?
Of course, Zelensky replied. Inflation? Who cares about this inflation! We are fighting for common values here. What? Whose values?! We have nothing in common with you. You are in charge of a corrupt little Eastern European country. And we have to think about our country,” TV host Tucker Carlson told Zelensky.
Zelensky refuses to believe that anyone else in Washington will soon be thinking about America and Ukraine either. That’s a mistake.
Only 18 percent of Americans believe the economy is doing more or less well. Seventy-nine percent believe it is getting worse. The numbers are practically the same as in 2008, a crisis that was called the Great Recession in the United States.
And even Biden can’t rename it.
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