politics @lemmy.world return2ozma @lemmy.world 12mo ago

Biden tries to turn the tables on Trump’s use of a classic political attack line, asks 'are you better off today'

www.cnn.com Biden tries to turn the tables on Trump’s use of a classic political attack line | CNN Politics

President Joe Biden is opening a new line of attack against former President Donald Trump this week, flipping the script on the classic Reagan-era “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” question to remind voters of life during his predecessor’s tenure.

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It was rhetorical, I know you're not a history guy.
- Paywalled, so I can't read it. And I can't get to via webarchive. You're hiding your evidence, probably because you realize you are wrong.
  
  But let's see if you're a learning guy.*
  
  From an IMF paper in 2009:
  
  There is no official definition of recession, but there is general recognition that the term refers to a period of decline in economic activity. Very short periods of decline are not considered recessions. Most commentators and analysts use, as a practical definition of recession, two consecutive quarters of decline in a country’s real (inflation adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP)—the value of all goods and services a country produces (see “Back to Basics,” F&D, December 2008). Although this definition is a useful rule of thumb, it has drawbacks
  
  *lol we both know you won't learn.
  
  I'm not here for the argument. I just want to point out that I was able to get to the text of the article you said couldn't be read in one try. https://archive.ph/boO6q. You're welcome.
  
  I didn't even realize that archive.today was another archive site. Thanks for that.
  
  Wait, first he didn't know the official definition. Now there is no official definition. And your source here confirms the WSJ article that you refused to read. (The salient point is above the paywall line)
  
  Dude.
  
  Probably would have been more accurate to say how they determine how we are in a recession, rather than how they define it. But this seems pedantic nit picking to make me wrong, so you can ignore the fact that the definition didn't change. Which is, of course, ultimately the point.
  
  Lmao, are you joking?
  
  Now you're just not saying anything. Thanks for demonstrating that you won't learn.
  
  Lol watching you is like watching kids argue in the playground
  
  You come in with this empty childish comment, acting like you're above it. Hilarious.
  
  I'm proud to be the only kid on this playground who can actually make a point.
  
  I'm proud to be the only kid on this playground
  
  I can tell. Lol
  
  The fact that you have to blatantly misrepresent what I said to make your insults just exposes that even you realize how far out of your league you are right now.
  
  It never ceases to amaze me how often people project their own shortcomings onto others.
  
  And you keep answering. Lol
  
  I was wondering when the inevitable "I am just trolling!" backtracking was coming. Impressively much more quickly than I expected. You really do realize how outmatched you are.
  
  Woosh
  
  No, I'm legitimately asking if you're joking or not.
  
  Economists have long defined a recession as “a period in which real GDP declines for at least two consecutive quarters,” to quote the popular economics textbook by Nobel laureates Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus. This definition isn’t perfect, but it describes almost every downturn since World War II. With expectations of low or even negative growth for the first two quarters of 2022, President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers has been trying to blunt the news by disavowing this textbook definition. It is “neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” reads a post on the White House website. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen endorsed the claim on NBC over the weekend. In place of the standard economic definition of a recession, administration officials point to the business-cycle dating committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research as the “official recession scorekeeper.” It’s a highly convenient move for them. While the nonpartisan NBER employs a robust set of indicators to pinpoint recessions, it does so retrospectively.
  
  You're citing an opinion piece, that vaguely references what yellen says. I just gave you a paper from the IMF, from over a decade before the definition "changed," that says the definition you use is not the definition.
  
  You also have to realize that if they had claimed it was a recession, it would have bucked the trends of almost every (if not actually every) recession before it as well. Like employment was going up during the supposed recession. So the argue this person cuts both ways.
  
  Yeah I guess you're right, the economy is doing better than ever. I have to choose between food and gas but thank fuck the dems are telling us we're not in a recession.
  
  Yes, clearly by pointing out that the definition didn't change, im saying the economy is better than ever. You're truly a genius. Lol
  
  Anything to avoid learning, as I predicted. Not that it was hard to predict.
  
  🙄

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