The 'Progress Recession' Has Been Here for Decades

One of the sillier arguments you’ll read about in the coming weeks and months is over whether the US has technically entered a recession.

Most Americans, according to a recent CNN poll, think it has.

The White House and the Treasury Department point to low unemployment to argue there is not yet a recession.

One of the major indicators of a recession has long been two straight quarters of negative growth as marked by the gross domestic product, or GDP. The US registered its second straight quarter of contraction per government data released on Thursday.

There’s a valid argument that GDP is a flawed way to view the economy since it only charts growth and does not include any of the costs of that growth.

There’s a more holistic approach, the genuine progress indicator, or GPI, which accounts for the costs as well as benefits of growth.