The Ghost Recession: A Brief Economic History of Now
Optimist Economy
Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi
4.9 • 829 Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The economic pain that Americans experienced in 2022-23 was dubbed the “vibesession,” suggesting that negative public sentiment was out of sync with a healthy economy. But what we were truly experiencing was more like a “ghost recession.” As the Fed squeezed the economy by raising interest rates from zero to above 5% to get inflation under control, only the extraordinary circumstances of the post-pandemic economy kept unemployment low and the economy growing. But if we had a ghost recession, that also means that the nascent 2024 “ghost recovery” screeched to a halt with the radical changes to economic policy this year. Also in this episode: What it means that 911,000 fewer jobs were created from spring 2024-2025, and many metaphor try-outs.
Revenge of the Vibecession | The New Yorker Birth-Death Model FAQ
THE THIN END OF THE WEDGE definition in American English | Collins English Dictionary
Economists’ models of inflation are letting them down [The Economist 2019]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay. Are we ready? |
| 0:03.2 | We're ready. |
| 0:04.2 | The first line is yours, my friend. |
| 0:09.2 | Then give me one damn second. |
| 0:13.7 | Hello and welcome to Optimist Economy. |
| 0:23.6 | I'm Catherine. |
| 0:24.6 | I'm Robin. |
| 0:25.6 | On this show, we believe the U.S. economy can be better, and we talk about how to get there, |
| 0:29.2 | one problem and solution at a time. |
| 0:34.5 | At the top of our show, we like to make a few announcements. |
| 0:41.4 | First, I want to say that as of today, we have 517 ratings on Apple Podcasts, |
| 0:46.6 | which puts us extremely close to that 1% goal that we're after. |
| 0:50.4 | Also, I want to say about 25 people have joined Optimist Economy as spiritual sponsors this season. |
| 0:55.5 | We're so grateful for all of you. |
| 0:57.5 | This week, in particular, to Christy Barnes in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Tim S. in Silver Spring, Maryland. |
| 1:03.3 | And he says, thanks for helping me stay practically optimistic at a time when it's very hard. |
| 1:08.4 | It's real hard. |
| 1:09.4 | It's hard for us, too. |
| 1:11.5 | We had some great contributions to my executive order of things you're not allowed to say to a pregnant woman |
| 1:17.1 | that I just want to read here at the top, including any day now when, in fact, you're three months out. |
| 1:24.3 | Are you sure you aren't having twins? |
| 1:26.9 | So that person belongs in jail. |
... |
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