Media companies are owned by billionaires. They're protecting their investments. The "News" has operated this way for decades.
this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024
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"Growth is no longer economic; increasing GDP does not necessarily increase human welfare." — In Defense of Degrowth by Giorgos Kallis
A recession is a word with a specific economic definition and measurement.
It sounds like you're saying that if people feel like there's a recession, it should be called one. That's not a good idea.
If a majority of your population feels like they're in a recession then you have economic problems and dictionary definitions make no difference.
When the media talks about recession (same as your papers, your favourite news site, it's the media in general), they mean "shit's bad and you're struggling". Same in school, when you learn about a recession, you learn about the simplified definition. That's fine. I don't care what your economics book is saying, I deal with real science, not imaginary shit.
So when people start complaining because their living conditions are getting worse, the same media and the people who suck up to them for some reason (wink wink) come back with "akshully, I think you'll find things aren't that bad because technically, this is not a recession".
The same thing happens when a government counts "unemployment". They define it in such ridiculously restrictive ways that every time they report on it, it magically goes down.
"Oh, you've gotten out of bed at least once in the past 12 hours? Well, that's a job, buddy! Well done, you're now self-employed and can't be counted as unemployed." Telling me "unemployment" is down is meaningless and I couldn't care less. Telling me "it's not a recession so everything is fine, trust me bro" is just as meaningless.
Last I checked the media has said that we were on the very edge of a recession every day for the past 5 years. I guess if you say it long enough, some people will believe you and eventually you'll be right.