[SantalBlush]

>this recession

HN needs to stop repeating this nonsense to one another. We are not in a recession. The latest GDP figures came out yesterday, and growth beat expectations by 12%. Service industries are hiring. The tech sector can no longer make billions by using AI to draw cat faces on selfie pics, but that has little bearing on the rest of the economy.

People on this site have willfully changed the definition of recession to "layoffs are happening in my industry". That's not what it means, at all.

[MisterBastahrd]

Of course we aren't in a recession. It's why the business class has been losing their goddamned minds. They keep attempting to force us into one so that they can slow down the economy and get a Republican in the White House again, but companies are having so much fun gobbling up record profits via record markups that interest rates aren't mattering as much as they should. We have an entire new generation of C-suite executives who have no clue how to play along. When else in recent television history has a well-functioning economy been met with consternation by the hosts and guests?

[Dylan16807]

Unless you think inflation doesn't matter, the economy has only been well-functioning for the last couple months, and was in big trouble for the previous year and a half.

[MisterBastahrd]

Inflation is the tool that the Fed was attempting to use to slow down the economy. Q1 and Q2 only look bad because they kept raising rates nonstop. Hell, Q4 of 2021 saw 7% growth.

[Dylan16807]

You're saying they're not trying to slow down the economy to lower inflation, but rather inflation is the tool to slow down the economy with???

[MisterBastahrd]

What exactly do you think raising interest rates contribute to? Yes, prices are going higher, but they're trying to use the tools available to force hiring to slow down because it's impacting the market with increased wages.

[Dylan16807]

> What exactly do you think raising interest rates contribute to?

Not inflation... the whole point of this is to make inflation go down.

If raising interest rates would cause inflation, why did they start after inflation spiked? Why did inflation go back down after they raised rates? Why are they saying everything they're saying?

If inflation slows down the economy, and they want to slow the economy and openly admit that, why are they claiming to fight inflation?

Am I completely misunderstanding your argument? I'm so confused.

[mardifoufs]

What a completely weird conspiracy theory. Are you saying big tech execs are republicans? This is literally just blue maga qanon rhetoric. They said the exact same about "the elite" sabotaging trump back in 2020 by tanking the economy since it was doing too well for him to lose.

[SantalBlush]

The GP is correct. Executives have been warning about a so-called recession since spring 2022, and it's naive to think they're doing it to keep the public informed--that's not really their thing.

They've been trying to induce a slowdown because the unemployment rate is too low, and they don't want to raise salaries. Unionization is gaining traction across the country, and executives need to exert their bargaining power however they can. This has nothing to do with conspiracy, it's a part of the day-to-day business.

Look at the actual data. The economy is doing fine.

[mardifoufs]

I'm not saying the economy isn't correct. I actually agree that it's doing just fine, regardless of all the doomerposting about it that has been so popular lately. I'm just saying that the "exec conspiring to elect the GOP" part is completely insane imo.

[berkeleyjunk]

Something along these lines:

“It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It’s a depression when you lose your own.”

― Harry S. Truman