Jeffery Tucker thinks so, writing at the Mises Economics blog.
Looking at the New York Times headlines this morning, Recovery Slows With Weak Job Creation in June and Recovery is Losing Steam, I’m finally beginning to understand the strange change of language that has occurred in the last 18 months or so. The word recovery is a euphemism of some sort. It actually means a depression.
This is not difficult to understand. Think of how we label poor countries. They used to be part of the “Third World.” Now that term is considered impolite or something. Then it was the “less developed” countries. Then one day that was no longer suitable. They were renamed “developing countries.” Soon someone will realize that this is patronizing too because it implies that the only hope is for “them” to be like “us.”
Something similar has happened to the way we refer to the downturn after the boom. It used to be a “panic” (19th century). Then, as Rothbard noted, the term changed to “depression” since that sounds less alarming. But after the New Deal failed to fix that problem and actually prolonged it for 10 years, the word depression had to go. After WW2, it was changed to become a mere “recession.” Now it seems that this term is no longer suitable. We must call the economy in downturn a “recovering economy” or simply “the recovery” for short.
Think of it this way and the business page headlines for the last 18 months begin to make some sense. In this way, we can abolish the business cycle merely by changing the words we use. Macroeconomic planning then becomes very easy. Instead of seeking results, we need merely to change our language.
This explains some of my concerns, I kept hearing President Obama tell us that we are recovering, but I could not see the signs of a recovery, especially here in California. California has led the nation's economic recoveries in past, and I am not sensing that California is up to the challenge this time.
The Governor and Legislators have used band-aid solutions on our budget deficit, and now they have run out of accounting tricks and places to borrow money. Cities and Counties are being crushed under mounting pension liabilities and are struggling to just pay the police, firefighters and keep the sewer plant functioning. And, businesses are being challenged by the implementation of the AB32 Scoping Plan which will raise the cost of energy and reduce California's ability to compete.
If we are in a depression, we need to own up to the facts and start preparing for a declining quality of life. Maybe the sustainability folks in Nevada City were right, we need to be planting our own gardens and brushing up on our canning skills. Of course many citizens now have freezers in the basement, or garage. But, the cost of ownership of those appliances are going to go up, up and up, whereas canning jars need little attention or little electrical power to remain viable, just a cool place under the basement stairs.
During WWII I grew up on my grandparents lot in Nevada City, off of Nile Street behind Pioneer Park. Every year my grand parents planted a large garden, potato, corn, beans, squash (multiple varieties), tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, beats and chard, plowing the ground with a horse drawn plow. There were apple and pear trees and, rows and rows of berry vines and a Concord grape arbor for making jelly. We also picked blackberries from the roadside, for winter jam. All the garden produce was canned or stored in the root cellar under the house.
Grandmother even had 24 hens and one rooster, in the lower yard. We had eggs, and a roasted hen should one stop laying. Surplus eggs were pickled in a big brine crock in the basement.
This was a survival pattern developed during the Great Depression, and continued at her house off Banner Lava Cap until grandmother could no longer attend her garden. She just knew that one day the Great Depression would return and she would be ready. She died in 1987. If she were alive today, she would be ready for the next Great Depression which appears to be on its way. We just need to stop pretending it is a recovering economy and own up to the facts.
