The economic indicators were updated this week, and we're getting a good look at where the policies of the Democrats have taken us.  Inflation is going up so fast our ears are starting to pop.  It's at 9.1 percent — a 40+ year high.  Fuel prices have risen a massive 42 percent in one year.  The consumer confidence index is collapsing, and the supply chain can't even keep babies fed.  Eighty-eight percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.

What is the Democrat plan?  Do more of the same and fix it with messaging.  We're being told that all these indicators are simply expected mileposts on the road to an equitable, green, and hate-free America.  I believe that fits the classic definition of "gaslighting."

In this week's installment of "how big of a lie can we sell to the American people," the Biden team and their propaganda ministry are redefining what a recession is.  The threshold for declaring a recession has historically been accepted as two consecutive quarters in which the gross domestic product (GDP) has declined.  Our GDP declined 1.6 percent in the first quarter and 0.9 percent in the second quarter.  Normally, that would meet the criteria for a few bad news cycles.  But Democrat leadership is telling us that "no, it's not really a RECESSION recession."

Nobel Prize laureate (economics) and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman tweeted, "Ignore the two-quarter rule. We might have a recession, but we aren't in one now."

That loosely translates to, "We're not actually in a recession until it can be blamed on Republicans."  I'm guessing that once Republicans have taken over Congress, Krugman will decide that it's time to declare the worst recession in modern history — along with biting analysis about why we need more multi-trillion-dollar spending bills to fix it.  This proves that one doesn't have to be honest, or know anything about economics, to win a Nobel in economics.

But the semantic games being played by the "experts" are meaningless to the rest of us.  Talking about economic indicators and the explanations behind them may help the experts sound smart on the news, but that's more satisfying to their egos than comforting to their viewers.

Their viewers have a much more reliable way to gauge the economy than the musings of government bureaucrats and newspaper hacks who discredited themselves decades ago.  For actual working Americans, it's simple.  At the end of the month, if we have prospered, the economy is good.  If we have fallen into debt, the economy is bad.  Do we have enough in our paychecks to pay our family's living expenses and have a little left over to save?  Or have we been forced to tap our savings to pay our bills?  It's really that simple, and there's nothing President Gremlin, Nancy Pelosi, Karine Jean-Pierre, Paul Krugman, or the Tooth Fairy can say to change it.

So how is the only measurement that matters doing?  According to Northwestern Mutual's recent 2022 Planning & Progress Study, personal savings have dropped 15 percent from 2021 to 2022 — the period in which Democrats have set and implemented our country's economic policy.  That works out to an average of $9,000 per family in lost savings.  It's enough for six months of average house payments or a decent used car.  Of course, it's not even in the ballpark for that electric car that Gropey Joe insists we buy to switch from oil- to coal-fueled transportation.

People are burning through their savings to survive and the Krugmans of the world think they can hide reality from Americans with a few rosy tweets?  Good luck with that.

We are approaching the point where:

• Parents will need to choose between gas to commute to work or new school clothes for the kids.
• Families will face the dilemma of not having enough money to pay the rent and utilities.
• Mothers will be forced to serve spaghetti without meat, because the meat is too expensive.

That's the reality that average Americans see approaching.  It won't matter whether the experts call it a recession, depression, transitory economic event, or the most vibrant economy in history.  It will be time for a change, and the only means to effect that change becomes available to us on November 8 — for one day only.  The Dems can expect us to line up before dawn for that black Tuesday clearance.

So go ahead.  Play your word games.  In a few months, we're going to have a few words of our own: hasta la vista.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho.  He has written for American Thinker, American Free News Network, and The Blue State Conservative.  He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: Shannon Kringen.