A recession is generally defined as two successive quarters of negative economic growth. By that definition, the U.S. is halfway to plunging back into recession.
As the Washington Examiner’s Joseph Lawler has reported, the U.S. economy contracted by a 0.7% annual rate in the first quarter, according to a report released Friday by the Commerce Department.
That’s a stark change from the final quarter of 2014, when the economy grew at 2.2%. Economists are blaming the poor numbers on the bad winter weather and the consequent decline in consumer spending, among other “transitory” factors. Many experts predict that the economy will recover in the second quarter, as it did last year.
The economy has contracted three times since it technically emerged from recession in 2009. But nobody would argue that the economy has been strong since then. In fact, it’s been very historically weak. And it’s no coincidence that it has happened under a president whose term has been defined by the pursuit of job-killing healthcare mandates and environmental regulations.
Remember “Recovery Summer”? That was what the Obama administration labeled the summer of 2010, when its economic policies were supposed to have kicked in and put the U.S. economy back on firm ground.
That didn’t happen, and Obama has spent much of the last five years urging Americans to be patient when it comes to economic recovery. A new recession would likely exhaust what patience Americans have left.
Daniel Allott is the Washington Examiner’s Deputy Commentary Editor
