US economy sending 'strange signals'
There's been a lot of hand-wringing over whether or not America is in a recession, despite meeting a key benchmark — two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Yet, The New York Times' Ben Casselman maintains that if the U.S. is in a recession, it's "unlike any previous one." He notes similarities with Williston, N.D.'s 2010 oil boom, saying "businesses want to hire, but can’t find the workers," and people are willing to spend but supply is weak. In each case, Casselman argues, inflation resulted.
- Casselman notes that typically employers don’t want to hire and shoppers don’t want to spend during a recession. Neither of those is happening in the U.S.
- July's unexpectedly strong jobs report is also playing into the economy's "strange signals," NYT reports.