Gaslighting: Economist Paul Krugman Dismisses US Recession, Says Term Doesn’t Matter Anymore

via Infowars

Mainstream Democrat economist Paul Krugman appeared on CNN to gaslight the American people about the economy, claiming it’s not in a recession, and that even the term “recession” itself no longer has meaning.

Krugman was asked by CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter on Sunday whether the U.S. is in a recession and if the term even matters at this point.

“No we aren’t, and no it doesn’t,” Krugman stated matter-of-factly. “None of the criteria that real experts use says we are in a recession right now. And what does it matter? The state of the economy is what it is.”

CNN’s @brianstelter: “Can we dispense with the recession debate? Are we in a recession, and does the term matter?

Former Enron adviser @PaulKrugman: “No, we aren’t and no, it doesn’t.” pic.twitter.com/jgioebaJZO

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 31, 2022

“Jobs are abundant although maybe the job market is weakening. Inflation is high though maybe inflation is coming down. What does it matter whether you use the R-word or not?”

With no pushback from Stelter, Krugman went on to argue that the real problem in America is the debate about recession itself, which he claimed is “above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve been in this business for a couple decades, and I get lots of hate mail, I’ve never seen anything as bad as this,” Krugman said. “The determination of a lot of people to say it’s a recession is above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

That’s right, according to Krugman, the debate about the recession is worse than the recession itself.

Krugman then struggled to comprehend why Americans aren’t happy about the economy considering how low unemployment numbers were, seemingly unaware that that metric provides no relief to workers struggling with inflation and skyrocketing gas, food, and rent prices.

“There’s a lot of polling that indicates that people- it’s one thing for people to say ‘look, the inflation means more to me than the job gains,’ but a plurality of voters appear to not be aware that we’ve been gaining jobs. People just don’t know,” he said.

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

Notably, the increase in jobs is likely due to Americans who are already employed taking on a second or third job just to make ends meet.

Up until about last week, recession has been explicitly defined by both Republican and Democrat administrations as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

But in the face of a second quarterly contraction, the Biden administration instead decided to redefine the term altogether.

Krugman, who initially dismissed inflation last year, has since apologized for his bogus prediction, blaming the Ukraine conflict and Biden’s inflationary $1.9 trillion spending package – ironically named the American Rescue Plan.

“Some warned that the package would be dangerously inflationary; others were fairly relaxed. I was Team Relaxed. As it turned out, of course, that was a very bad call,” he wrote in the New York Times last week.

.@paulkrugman on getting inflation wrong: “Partly it’s that there is stuff that I didn’t — that nobody saw coming. Nobody saw Putin invading Ukraine. I think nobody thought about logistic supply chains or any of that stuff until suddenly it became a big problem.” pic.twitter.com/F4nprqImlu

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 21, 2022

Why is any serious person still listening to this guy anymore?