HT – thinkprogress
The GDP grew by .6% last quarter. That’s right, it grew! You know what that means, of course. It means we cannot be in a recession.
From investorwords.com:
recession
Definition
A period of general economic decline; specifically, a decline in GDP for two or more consecutive quarters.
Now, mind you, part of this “growth” in Gross Domestic Product came from…increases in inventories!
“Strength in earnings from foreign affiliates and a boost to inventory values from higher commodity prices likely led to a solid rise in overall profits.”
“Our current tracking — which incorporates the revisions to the fourth quarter monthly data — shows downward revisions to personal consumption expenditures, residential and non-residential construction, capex, and government spending — totaling a $5.1 billion slice to real headline GDP. This is expected to be almost entirely offset by upward revisions to net trade and inventories, which are adding back about $4.8 billion.”
Translation: the GDP growth is due to inflation, and the fact that companies are making more goods than they are selling. So, while things are going in the tank for the common man, by juggling the books, the powers that be can avoid calling the current economic situation a “recession.” As long as inflation keeps up, boosting the “value” of unsold goods, the GDP can keep rising forever!
Won’t it be nice to know, no matter how many people are unemployed, no matter how many people are without homes, no matter how many people incur “food insecurity” (the official term for “hunger” now), America is not, and will not be, in a recession.
~Mission Accomplished~
TheZoo 
Very interesting how corporations consider themselves to be making money.
I recently had the experience of renting a car.
For an actual cost of about $100.00, the rental company put a “hold” in the amount of $450.00 on the credit card for the duration of the rental.
My guess is that they used that “money” to inflate their balance sheet for those days, increasing the “value” of their stock.
Looks like cow dung, smells like cow dung, geez, do we have to taste it to tell if it’s cow dung?
And you’ll pay the interest on that $450 while you ahve the car to the bank…… they’ve all got their hands in your pocket.