It's par for the course. The Washington Post may have a few good articles every now and then—a broken clock is right twice a day—but this is just hilarity right here. NBC’s Chuck Todd said there was no such thing as liberal media bias. Right, Chuck—and John Wayne Gacy wasn’t a killer clown serial killer. The jobs growth sucks. Yes, Americans had saved a ton of money during the pandemic due to the irrational lockdowns, but those savings are depreciated by the day as inflation is through the roof. It’s going to stay there for the foreseeable future as well. So, how does the publication deflect? Declare that under Biden the second quarter growth marks the “full recovery from the pandemic” (via WaPo) [emphasis mine]:
The U.S. economy was officially back and fully recovered from the coronavirus pandemic as of June, although a recent surge in cases could bring new uncertainty.
The economy grew at an annual rate of 6.5 percent in the quarter that ended in June — below forecasts of at least 8 percent — as vaccinations and unleashed consumer spending added momentum to the recovery. The lower-than-expected figures reflect an economy struggling with supply-chain backlogs that have hamstrung business productivity by reducing inventories of basic goods and materials and pushing prices higher, economists say.
For the first time since the pandemic took hold, economic output eclipsed its pre-pandemic high, after adjusting for inflation. However, that doesn’t mean the economy is back to the level it would have attained had the pandemic not happened, because about a year of continued economic growth is missing.
Remember that Biden didn’t create the jobs he’s touting. They were resumed. People’s employment was put on hold. With states reopening, though we’re now undergoing a new period of mask mandates over Delta, people are returning to their previous employment—mostly. They were never fired. There’s still a ton of folks not working due to unemployment benefits. Also, there’s the fact that the projection was off by 25 percent, but that’s another matter. But first shoot over to CNBC who wrote, “ECONOMY
U.S. GDP rose 6.5% last quarter, well below expectations.”
In this piece, there is zero mention that we’ve fully recovered from the economic woes of the pandemic. They do say it’s a high point, but merely on paper [emphasis mine]:
The U.S. economy rose at a disappointing rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in a sign that the U.S. has escaped the shackles of the Covid-19 pandemic but still has more work to do.
Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced during the April-to-June period, accelerated 6.5% on an annualized basis. That was slightly better than the 6.3% gain in the first quarter, which was revised down narrowly.
[…]
However, the second quarter is likely to be the high point of the pandemic recovery.
“The good news is that the economy has now surpassed its pre-pandemic level,” wrote Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics. “But with the impact from the fiscal stimulus waning, surging prices weakening purchasing power, the delta variant running amok in the south and the saving rate lower than we thought, we expect GDP growth to slow to 3.5% annualized in the second half of this year.”
Still, areas of the economy remain underwater as the labor market in particular has struggled to get back to normal.
“Actually missing the mark by 25% is good” - Journos and other Dems
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) July 29, 2021
Then again it’s about the same miss from Bidens vaccine goal https://t.co/EUIBMJsVfK
The Washington Post is 100% Democrat propaganda... pic.twitter.com/MQl2Ge0GG4
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 29, 2021
But the American economy is “officially back,” huh?
