Politico's Ben White explains how he actually wasn't lying to us when he totally contradicted himself on what makes a recession

Earlier this week, Politico chief economic correspondent Ben White boldly proclaimed that two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage does not constitute a recession, per se.

The White House is pretty obviously right that even two quarters of shrinking GDP would not show the economy is currently in recession.

Getting people to understand that and the nuances of our strange, vexing, economic moment is just really hard. By me.https://t.co/SWyuSG2IMS

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) July 27, 2022

As a number of people pointed out, this contradicted what White had previously said regarding recessions:

It’s hard because it’s a non-intuitive argument that flies in the face of both public experience and dozens of examples of the accepted standard within the field, including *your own*, and is very obviously being done at the behest of the party in power for political purposes. https://t.co/hxjplwOl1S pic.twitter.com/lsQFqJPUHM

— The End Times (@TheAgeofShoddy) July 27, 2022

You wrote this in June pic.twitter.com/PfIKPv1Eio

— Jeff Billman (@imjustabillman) July 27, 2022

That, friends, is what hackery looks like.

Well, that … and also this:

Yeah I did a bad tweet a while ago referring to two negative q’s in a row as a recession. Should have known better at the time but it had been a while since I’d studied recession criteria and that’s not it. Nothing to do with giving Biden any kind of break. Just accurate now https://t.co/1LwloeKA8L

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) July 29, 2022

Oh, is that what happened?

Yeah that was definitely it. pic.twitter.com/XE0Sro5ZiZ

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 29, 2022

Wouldn’t matter if it were Trump, Obama, Lincoln or FDR I’d strive as always to get it right. And already said I goofed the old tweet and one line in a column where I should have elaborated on what makes for official recession (NBER and lots of data points beyond GDP)

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) July 29, 2022

Sure, Jan.

No excuses you are playing politics like so many others that have been caught saying the same. https://t.co/tcOfkR4n4C

— Deep Whispers (@Onslaug78093541) July 29, 2022

He thinks we’re as stupid as he claims he is.

Clownery upon clownery.

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 29, 2022

Upon clownery upon clownery …

"I did a bad tweet" https://t.co/itFAAEr4oK pic.twitter.com/rlvU0ClZf1

— David Edward™ (@_David_Edward) July 29, 2022

Ben would’ve been better off just disappearing from Twitter for a little while. Just sorta fade away into the background until we’d all forgotten about him. Instead, he’s only managed to make himself look like an even bigger jackass. And we weren’t sure that was possible.

Dude you’re the CHIEF ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT for a business network. If you haven’t looked at recession criteria lately you should quit your job.

— 🦩rockmom 💃🏻 (@rockmom) July 29, 2022

His defense is “I get paid to know what I’m talking about, but I don’t actually know what I’m talking about?” It’s not every day a journalist busts out the incompetence card to acquit himself. What a time to be alive, huh?

To be clear, we don’t actually believe that White just wasn’t staying up to date on his economic terminology. We have no doubt that he was and is fully aware of what constitutes a recession but just doesn’t want to admit it because it would make the current administration look bad.

"I fully admit as a paid journalist here to inform people that I didn't know what I was talking about then, but suddenly just last week that I do now." pic.twitter.com/UHRk9g5Rh2

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 29, 2022

the real time gaslighting is insane https://t.co/eTYiYbVMwk

— Laura (@laurakbarr) July 29, 2022

It really, really is.

Exactly lol. This guy is gaslighting- “no no this isn’t about my political views, it’s because of ME, I didn’t do my job”. What a clown.

— Pat (@patm1787) July 29, 2022