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> From the end of 2019 to the end of 2023, U.S. GDP grew by 8.2 percent... This is a masterclass in deception. Here's the actual, plain English translation: "

> From the end of 2019 to the end of 2023, U.S. GDP grew by 8.2 percent... This is a masterclass in deception. Here's the actual, plain English translation: "U.S. GDP growth averaged 2.05% during the four year period beginning in 2020." But 2% GDP growth per year is subpar, and we're trying to make it sound great! Well, folks are familiar with annual GDP stats, so giving them annualized stats makes comparison easy. To prevent this easy comparison, we won't annualize it! Instead we'll say: "U.S. GDP grew by 8.2% during the four year period beginning in 2020." But there's still a problem! 8/2 makes for easy mental math. The reader can still easily realize that we're talking about a paltry 2% growth. How do we handle this? Easy! More obfuscation! "From the end of 2019 to the end of 2023, U.S. GDP grew by 8.2 percent." Now the readers is two operations away from being able to compare the data! The greatest trick of all, of course, is that this odd formulation invites misinterpretation. Since we almost always talk about GDP growth in annualized terms, this sentence can easily be misread as saying "U.S. GDP grew at a rate of 8.2 percent from 2019-2023". In my opinion, this misinterpretation is practically demanded by context, as the actual (2%) figure does not fit into the glowing narrative at all.

ARandomerDude 2y ago
That's because this isn't really an article about the economy – it's a Biden campaign message. Trump's message will be "you may not like me personally but the economy was better when I was president." The shills in the corporate media are already trying to offer a rebuttal.
- mindslight 2y ago
  I don't disagree but I still cannot fathom why the Democratic party is so ham fisted with their arguments. So much of the price inflation we experienced over the past four years is due to monetary inflation that was created under Trump. The ongoing income tax increases were baked into law by the Trump administration in 2017. The Republican party's strategy has basically become to wreck things, fiscally and socially, and then blame the Democrats when the delayed results become apparent. Personally I'm a libertarian who doesn't buy into the dogma of either duopoly party, but I'm voting conservative (which means Democrat these days) until the Trumpism death spiral has finished running its course.
- lispisok 2y ago
  You're gonna be seeing articles like this more and more the closer we get to the election. The economy is the top issue this election because despite the image the current administration is trying to paint, people are hurting. I dont know how effective telling people GDP and average wealth is up is going to be when they see they have less money leftover after paying more and more for housing and groceries.
mindslight 2y ago
nit: 8.2% over 4 years is 1.99% per year (multiplicative, not additive). I think the ultimate problem is that regardless of the system-legible numbers looking great, it's ultimately just a paperclip optimizer that doesn't reflect people's day to day experiences. There's another article on the front page about "economic termites" and I think that doesn't even capture the full extent of the problem because it's still narrowly focused on prices. Whereas what is happening is that every business with a captive market (which is basically every business these days, after decades of mergers running amok and regulatory capture red tape) is spreadsheet-optimizing into an ever-worse customer experience.
wumeow 2y ago
> But 2% GDP growth per year is subpar, and we're trying to make it sound great! Yea, because it is compared to other countries. See the graph immediately after the section you quoted.
- marcusverus 2y ago
  Don't motte-and-bailey me, dude. They're not saying "it's bad but everyone is doing bad", they're saying "we're killing it!" It is intentionally deceptive. > If the United States’ economy were an athlete, right now it would be peak LeBron James. If it were a pop star, it would be peak Taylor Swift. Four years ago, the pandemic temporarily brought much of the world economy to a halt. Since then, America’s economic performance has left other countries in the dust and even broken some of its own records.
HWR_14 2y ago
Is 2% GDP growth during a world-wide pandemic subpar? That seems to be a pretty good growth rate!
- marcusverus 2y ago
  > If the United States’ economy were an athlete, right now it would be peak LeBron James. They're not saying it's "pretty good during a pandemic", they're literally saying it's the GOAT.

ARandomerDude 2y ago

That's because this isn't really an article about the economy – it's a Biden campaign message. Trump's message will be "you may not like me personally but the economy was better when I was president." The shills in the corporate media are already trying to offer a rebuttal.

mindslight 2y ago
I don't disagree but I still cannot fathom why the Democratic party is so ham fisted with their arguments. So much of the price inflation we experienced over the past four years is due to monetary inflation that was created under Trump. The ongoing income tax increases were baked into law by the Trump administration in 2017. The Republican party's strategy has basically become to wreck things, fiscally and socially, and then blame the Democrats when the delayed results become apparent. Personally I'm a libertarian who doesn't buy into the dogma of either duopoly party, but I'm voting conservative (which means Democrat these days) until the Trumpism death spiral has finished running its course.
lispisok 2y ago
You're gonna be seeing articles like this more and more the closer we get to the election. The economy is the top issue this election because despite the image the current administration is trying to paint, people are hurting. I dont know how effective telling people GDP and average wealth is up is going to be when they see they have less money leftover after paying more and more for housing and groceries.

mindslight 2y ago

nit: 8.2% over 4 years is 1.99% per year (multiplicative, not additive). I think the ultimate problem is that regardless of the system-legible numbers looking great, it's ultimately just a paperclip optimizer that doesn't reflect people's day to day experiences. There's another article on the front page about "economic termites" and I think that doesn't even capture the full extent of the problem because it's still narrowly focused on prices. Whereas what is happening is that every business with a captive market (which is basically every business these days, after decades of mergers running amok and regulatory capture red tape) is spreadsheet-optimizing into an ever-worse customer experience.

wumeow 2y ago

> But 2% GDP growth per year is subpar, and we're trying to make it sound great! Yea, because it is compared to other countries. See the graph immediately after the section you quoted.

marcusverus 2y ago
Don't motte-and-bailey me, dude. They're not saying "it's bad but everyone is doing bad", they're saying "we're killing it!" It is intentionally deceptive. > If the United States’ economy were an athlete, right now it would be peak LeBron James. If it were a pop star, it would be peak Taylor Swift. Four years ago, the pandemic temporarily brought much of the world economy to a halt. Since then, America’s economic performance has left other countries in the dust and even broken some of its own records.

HWR_14 2y ago

Is 2% GDP growth during a world-wide pandemic subpar? That seems to be a pretty good growth rate!

marcusverus 2y ago
> If the United States’ economy were an athlete, right now it would be peak LeBron James. They're not saying it's "pretty good during a pandemic", they're literally saying it's the GOAT.