The Biden administration’s preemptive pushback on ‘recession’

It’s quite possible that, by the end of this week, we could be having yet another hugely important political debate over the definition of a word: “recession.”

The Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday is set to release the second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers. And if they’re negative, that will mark two consecutive quarters in which the economy has contracted — something that is generally understood to mean a recession.

How real and politically sensitive is that possibility? Real enough that the Biden administration is seeking to preempt it.