It is undeniable that the state of the US economy has been a pressing topic within headlines across the country. Americans have been feeling it at the gas pump, grocery stores, and everywhere else they spend money. It has been the growing conversation at dinner tables, and a never ceasing anxiety on many people and families over the past couple of months. 

Gross Domestic Product, or GDP for short, identifies a recession as, “a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced,” which endures for at least two successive quarters. By this definition, America and its people are in the midst of a recession. 

Despite this clear outline for how to define a recession, many commentators, government officials, and everything else continually debate the status of the US economy. While, “80% [of people] say the nation’s economy is poor or not so good; 47% see it getting even worse over the next year.” As reported by the New York Post. Showing that to many Americans who experience the shortcomings of the economy every day, do not have high hopes. 

As reported by Business Insider, “in a note published on Friday — two days after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 75 basis points — analysts said the Fed was too slow to aggressively tackle inflation, which is running at a 40-year high, and abruptly scrambling to get on top of it.” 

The causes of this recession remain unclear. “Ever since President Joe Biden took office, he and his allies have at every turn adopted policies designed to wreck the economic lives of average Americans,” the New York post says. 

Within such circumstances, President Biden has somewhat of a positive outlook on the situation, “for the sixth month in a row inflation rates have come down.” That is 2.16 percent, down, he said on January sixth. 

Then, a month ago in a press conference briefing President Biden stated, “America is going to have confidence that the American Banking System is safe.” He said this in regards to the situation with the Silicon Valley Bank which has now collapsed. 

However NBC news, and other sources report a different perspective saying that they’re the, “highest interest rates in four decades.” Who suffers with this inflation? The people, many of which feel pinched paycheck to paycheck. As they watch the numbers hike further and further as they fill their cars, and as they pay for their necessities which seem more expensive than ever. 

To combat this, Biden explains that, while he was Vice President within the Obama Administration, that there were more rules put in place so that the economy could remain intact. He claimed that during the Trump Administration that they had taken a more hands off approach to the economy. In other words, the administration had left the wares of the economy to supply and demand. In order to change the tides on the current situation. Whether these actions will improve the economy significantly, or on the other hand sink more into a recession, is unknown for both his administration and the awaiting American people.