The White House spent days prepping for negative news on the economy and trying to push back on one of the unofficial definitions of a recession. When that news inevitably arrived on Thursday morning, the panic continued, with administration officials doubling down on their declaration that the U.S. is not currently in a recession.
Thursday’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report indicated that the economy shrank 0.9%, marking a second straight quarter of decline and meeting one of the most common, though not the only, definitions of a recession.
In the days leading up to the report, White House officials sprang into action, going on networks and telling the nation that the economy is still strong and there’s no indication of a recession.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, for one, spent the week fielding questions on the topic from the press. Throughout the week, she repeatedly declared that a second straight quarter of decline is “not the definition” of a recession. At the same time, she declined to detail the administration’s official definition, only noting that they rely on “indicators” used by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
