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Plain English with Derek Thompson

Why the Question "Are We in a Recession?" Is Impossible to Answer

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.72.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that GDP dropped for the second consecutive quarter, fueling fears that the economy is in a recession. Today's guest is Austan Goolsbee, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama. In today’s episode, we talk about the most important details from the GDP report, investigate the curious case of America’s plummeting productivity, and talk about why the question "Are we in a recession?" is so annoyingly hard to answer.If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. You can find us on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@plainenglish_ Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Austan Goolsbee Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

What's up everybody? Are you tuning in to the Challenge USA on CBS?

0:04.2

Well tune in to me, Tyson Apostle, as I break down each and every episode with my co-host,

0:10.2

Amelia Wedamire. I'm also a contestant on the show, which gives you all the insider scoop.

0:15.2

Amelia, how stoked are you to do this? Tyson, I'm freaking excited. I cannot wait to

0:19.9

sit my butt down every single week to watch the show, then come here and recap it with you on

0:25.3

The Ringer Reality TV Podcast.

0:30.4

The best thing I got on Deepa. That's a good question. This really nice

0:33.8

80s Adidas jumper. The quarter rates which I'm wearing. This pink mini skirt. This

0:38.8

Jessica Torheri. Probably my unif choke boots. This pair of jeans, I wear them all the time.

0:43.0

The main one I'm quite into the moment is extreme layering. Ranch. Why it's okay. Relax

0:48.6

grandpa. Part-time punk, part-time polypocket. I think co-cat is the word. Baggy relaxed and

0:54.0

a bit out there. I got it on Deepa. Alex met Sam at nursery. They were first loves.

1:04.4

They built thoughts together, shared sandwiches in high school and with each other's first kiss.

1:12.4

They were the dream couple until Sam got into EDM music.

1:17.8

While Alex enjoyed folk, first loves a kind of like your current account. If they aren't working

1:26.0

for you anymore, maybe it's time to switch with the current account switch service.

1:31.2

Today, the weirdest economy ever takes a new weird turn. Plus a huge week for economic news.

1:39.3

We'll start with a huge week. By my count, there were five big economic stories that would

1:45.2

otherwise define a normal week and they all have happened in the last like 72 hours.

1:50.2

Number one, the Federal Reserve announced its decision to raise a key interest rate by 0.75

1:55.2

percentage points. Again, this is a huge move to destroy aggregate demand and bring down inflation.

2:01.2

Number two, the House and Senate approved the Chips and Science Act which injects billions of

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