I swear I had Econ in college, but I don’t remember anyone saying this so succinctly. It’s from a weird place too, but this quote hits home. It’s like population decline, but for money.
It was a truly baffling thing for an American president to say. And University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers explained on MSNBC that things could get very bad as Trump’s scheme becomes reality. Wolfers ntoed that the idea of how much you can afford to buy with your income is called “real income.” And if real income falls, that’s called a recession. Wolfers went on to explain that if things decline as badly as Trump’s example, where someone who bought 30 dolls could only afford to buy two dolls, that’s called a depression.
Video from MSNBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAZxLm6M_V0
…that isn’t what a recession means. I mean decreasing buying power is concerning but there are lots of times when that can happen when the economy is hot. In fact, a weakening economy can lead to deflation which increases buying power.
You can’t say all that and not tell us what you think it is. Also, I think they’re talking overall, not the top 10% buying power.
Well, the official definition is when GDP contracts for 2 straight quarters (although apparently the fed can fudge that a little bit if the decline is negligible and unemployment goes up, like what happened under Biden)
That’s not actually the official definition. It’s more complicated than that, and it’s not the Fed but the National Bureau of Economic Research: https://www.nber.org/research/business-cycle-dating/business-cycle-dating-procedure-frequently-asked-questions
I edited this in, but you might have missed it. He’s saying real income is equal to the GDP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAZxLm6M_V0
Its usually the opposite, for wage earners buying power increases during a recession and falls during a boom.
But economists aren’t concerned with that, they looks at all incomes in aggregate, and during a recession fewer people are employed and work less hours so the aggregate fiscal demand from incomes is lower.
So something like when d[income*(1-unemployment)]/dt < inflation, that’s a recession?