'What Does It Matter?' Paul Krugman Shrugs Off Concerns About Whether US Is in a Recession

Leah Barkoukis | August 01, 2022 9:50 AM

Economist Paul Krugman argued on Sunday the United States is not in a recession and it doesn’t matter anyway.

“None of the criteria that real experts use says we’re in a recession right now, and what does it matter?” he dismissively told CNN’s Brian Stelter. “The state of the economy is what it is. Jobs are abundant, although maybe the job market is weakening. Inflation is high, although maybe inflation is coming down. What does it matter whether you use the “r” word or not?”

The Left has been fiercely pushing back on the definition of a recession, commonly accepted as two quarters of negative GDP growth, since the Bureau of Economic Analysis report last week showed the GDP contracting .9 percent in the second quarter of 2022.

Krugman: "If you ask people, 'How are you doing?', they’re pretty upbeat ... If you ask people 'How is your financial situation?', it’s favorable. If you ask them, 'How is the economy?,' 'Oh, it’s terrible.' That’s a media failing." pic.twitter.com/90LLYpjZKT
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 31, 2022

Watching them so brazenly re-define how they have always used "recession," and then Paul Krugman adding it doesn't matter if we're in one or not (it doesn't matter for him), all to protect the Biden WH, is a new level of audacity no matter how low your opinion of them already is: https://t.co/G7UMBgU7Ix
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 31, 2022

“The determination of some people to say ‘We’re in a recession!’ is above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen," Krugman continued, noting the politics surrounding the debate has been "especially vitriolic."

Ahead of the GDP report, the White House published a blog changing the definition of a recession. It pointed to how The National Bureau of Economic Research, “the official recession scorekeeper,” defines a recession, but as Spencer reported, those “experts” are, not surprisingly, Democrat megadonors.