May 11, 2009
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Recession Language
Isn’t it odd how the media plays with the word “recession” as if we are supposed to care?
I mean we’d been a recession for almost a YEAR before a group of obscure individuals re-examined the data and decided posthumously to declare that not only were we in a recession but that we already had been for the entire year. Even as the media and the white house battled back and forth about whether what we economic trouble we were experienced could “really” be called a recession. In the mean time many people I know were already complaining about how bad things were and saying it’s one of the worst “recessions” they’ve seen in their lifetime. It just took forever for the rhetoric to match the reality.
Absurd.
It’s happening again too. Now we here that “economists” are predicting an end of to the recession starting with 3rd quarter 2009. But, even in the same breathe they acknowledge that unemployment rates will continue to rise through first quarter 2010! That’s a HUGE time difference. And they said the reason for that is that growth will be less than the growth in unemployment. So if growth continues to be mediocre we could see unemployment grow or remain constant.
So if you think about this, with an unemployment rate as high as 10% can we really say this is a good thing? Can we really celebrate the fact that it’s NOT technically a recession because growth has met some obscure meaningless definition? I think not. It’s a matter of interest to economists, but in terms of what matters to real people that 10% unemployment rate sucks ass. It’s horrible. That’s deserving of some kind of horrible word like “recession” or “depression” all by itself. Not to mention declining wages, shorter hours worked, increasing homelessness, and increasing wealth gaps.
Really I think the language we use needs to change so that it has some sort of meaningful connection to the life and experiences of real people.
Comments (3)
I think the media just likes to throw words around to create a panic. Once they’ve done so, they try to retract out of what they’ve created. (i.e: Swine Flu)
you’re completely right.
I actually think that this administration wants the media to convince the general public that things aren’t as bad as they are, which is why all of these overly optimistic forecasts are coming out. Also, there have been a lot of distracting and pointless stories run on the news lately to divert attention from the economy. Like, the swine flu was completely overdramatized. It’s all so the government can operate without criticism while the people are worried about less important things.
<3
The economy is a meaningless concept anyway that just represents faith in the financial system. As such, unless you have the ability to read minds, you can never tell what the true state of the economy is – All you can see are the results. I , for one, would like to rally a bunch of people together that represent at least 25% of the nation, and NOT spend anything for just one day. Withdraw all the funds at all banks, sit at home and agree to not pay bills, not buy anything at the store, not go to work – just for one day. And watch how fast the economists say that the economy is collapsing.