Contracted. Last year was stupendous growth, this year, things of pullback. You have to look at the overall economy not in the context of two straight quarters of negative economic growth. You have to look on other data such as jobs, with 2. 7 million jobs being added to the rolls just this year. This year is only seven months over, that is not typical for a recession where you have the creation of good paying jobs. Wages have gone up. This is not a typical feature of a recession. The schoolbook definition may indicate there is a recession, there really are not the hallmarks of recession a place right now. Host our previous guest said that democrats are trying to redefine this idea of a recession to avoid taking responsibility for it. What do you think about those criticisms . Guest republicans are famous for criticizing, they dont offer solutions that are practical for the men and women of this country. They are here to support the wealthy corporations and the wealthy individuals who operate globally. When you gave them the keys to the car, the only thing they accomplished was a 5. 8 trillion tax cut, 83 of which went to the top 1 in this country. That was their only accomplishment. This trickle down economic theory that has been deployed by them over the last halfcentury has resulted in mass numbers of people without adequate housing. The numbers of Homeless People caused by republican trickle down economic theories is greater that it any time in the modern history of this country. We are for the people, we are for passing legislation that lowers costs for families. Better paying jobs, that is undeniable. The only thing on the agenda that the republicans have is to criminalize Womens Health care. They have put politics over people. Democratic policies put people over politics. Host our guest is with us until 9 00. The numbers are 202 7488000 for democrats, 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488002 for independents. Host republicans would say it is spending that has caused inflation. I will play this from representative mccarthy. [video clip] you will spend more dollars chasing goods all during a recession. You are going to say, its ok because you change the definition of a recession. Einstein once said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. What you should really do, just change the definition. Maybe people wont hear you or understand it. We all know across this country what caused inflation. Democrats winning the house, senate and the presidency. And now you are doubling down on the same failed policies. With the worst inflation in 40 years not enough . Are they trying to see how high they can get it . All while forcing the American People to pay the bills for your failures. Democrats can help themselves. They simply dont care about the consequences. Host he was referring in part to the inflation reduction act. What do you think . Guest coming from a man who is accusing democrats of changing the definition of recession, coming from a man who has changed his position on january 6 within a matter of weeks. He went to the floor on january 7 and set it like it was. He told the truth about the fact that donald trump instigated the insurrection on january 6 was responsible for it. He even talked on the telephone and recorded calls, he talked about the 25th amendment and the need for President Trump to come clean. In fact, he said President Trump told him that he had some responsibility for january 6. And then, to go down to the maralago and kiss the ring of the king. It is clear that he has no agenda other than politics. Republicans put corporations and wealthy individuals above the working people of this country. They did not create jobs and whatever jobs they created were jobs that caused people to have to work two jobs to make ends meet. Democrats are establishing wellpaying jobs in the industries of the future. Clean energy, you talked about the schumer mansion deal. That deal is going to produce tens of thousands of good, highpaying jobs that will keep families in a position to take care of themselves and create an economy that the children will be able to grow into and find good paying jobs within. Kevin mccarthy is damaged goods when it comes to telling the truth. Host before we take calls, on the Supreme Courts side, you introduce legislation taking a look at the way Supreme Court justices get a pointed. What are you trying to do with this . Guest we would place an 18 year time limit on the service of Supreme Court justices and after 18 years they would go into senior status. A new justice would be appointed to replace them. This infuses fresh blood, fresh thinking and it creates a situation where our courts are protected from being politicized impact as this current Supreme Court has been. It has been packed by republicans with right wing extremists. They want to criminalize Womens Health care. They want to end Social Security and they are supporters of the attack on our democracy and continue efforts to attack our democracy and deprive people of basic freedoms. That is what will happen if you give the keys to congress to these extremist republicans. Their agenda is very simple. One of the things they have done in carrying out their agenda over the years is to pack the court. President trump got three appointments to the United StatesSupreme Court in these justices are doing what the legislative branch in the executive branch, both of which are electable and accountable to the people, these branches cannot put in place of 50 state ban on abortion as republicans will do if they take control. They have not been able to do that in the Supreme Court has done it for them. Things like getting the Environmental Protection agency to prescribe regulations to cut the rate of Greenhouse Gases going into our missions. That is the very soul and purpose of the epa and the Supreme Court has taken that ability away. Host i want get in a couple of calls with you. This is philip on the republican line. You are on with representative hank johnson. Caller thank you for taking my call. You cant define what a recession is. For me, i am in a depression because last thursday all the people on our plant floor was laid off. Two, you just made the best case for why we need term limits in congress in congress and the senate. Six years is more than enough time to do good or bad things. 20 years, people just come out of their filthy rich. Thank you for taking my call. Host representative johnson . Guest any time a person loses their job it is a shock to their families. It is a shock to them and hurts. The good news is that this economy continues to produce new jobs and so i believe there are shortages in many employment categories throughout this country. He sounds like someone who was not going to lay down and play dead because he had a setback. I think that gentleman will get out and find another job. The Unemployment Rate is at historic lows in most states. There are situations where the private sector goes out of business. Some business has to shutter its windows and doors and goes out of business. There are other jobs out there. I encourage the gentleman when he gets over the shock of losing his job. When you look up, you will see a great opportunity. 9. 7 Million People will tell you they are working a new job, a great job and i want to keep it moving like this. If you put republicans in charge, jobs will go offshore. We wont be creating jobs here in america. We will be creating jobs in china. Host from nate in wisconsin on the democrats line. Caller thank you very much for having me. I was going to point out a couple of things. First, if you stick with the old definition of a recession that gives even less of an excuse for the republicans to complain about spending because one of the ways you deal with the recession is that the government does spend money to boost the economy back out. The republicans should be ashamed of themselves talking about the debt when they cut taxes when the government was roaring. That is the worst time to do that especially when you are worried about the debt. Also on mobile warming, what of the things we need to talk seriously about because it is not stopping is putting some sort of fee or charge on all the fossil fuel companies that will specifically go to preventing damages that could happen and deal with the damages that already have. If you have someone who runs their car into their house, you can see them and they pay to fix her house. The fossil View Companies fuel companies have wrecked entire towns and they are not paying to fix that like everybody else. Host ok, thank you nate. Guest i could not agree more with that collar. That 5. 8 trillion dollar tax code was at a time when the economy was not in recession. The economy was doing decently at that time, although regular people were still being underpaid and overworked. Production was up, jobs were being created but not at the clip that has taken place during the return of the economy during the biden administration. When President Biden took office we were in the greatest recession then even the Great Recession of 10 years ago, 12 years ago. We had lost millions of jobs due to the pandemic and because we came right in and within three months, we had passed the 1. 9 trillion injection into the economy known as the American Rescue plan. That bill put money in peoples pockets. Dont forget those stimulus checks. Dont forget the help for businesses, Small Businesses and Large Businesses as well. The payroll Protection Plan that pumped tens and hundreds of millions of dollars into this economy it started creating jobs in this year alone 2. 7 8 million jobs created. The work we did to pass the bipartisan infrastructure deal known as the investment and jobs act. That was 1. 1 trillion pumped into this economy and that is why we have been able to spring back with record growth last year. It is why our economy is not an atypical recession right now as we speak. Our economy has been affected by global inflation. Inflation is a global issue. Countries across the world are experiencing high rates of oil and gas prices and that is due to the fact that russia started a war in ukraine and now they have been hit with sanctions. They produce oil and gas. And being the producer along with saudi arabia, they control prices at the pump. They are making record profits as are the oil companies. We have market power concentration in Key Industries like meatpacking, like Prescription Drugs and oil and gas. These sectors, there is a concentration, there has been corporate profiteering taking place and that is a big reason why we have such high inflation rates right now. These rates are coming down and democrats in congress are doing things to lower costs for the people. We have just gotten word of this deal was senator manchin, this will enable the Drug Companies to negotiate with the federal government on Prescription Drug prices. At least 800 a year of savings over to people who have these drugs, have these Prescription Drug needs. We are doing things to lower costs for families. Host joe is in new jersey on the independent line. Caller i want to congratulate the congressman focusing on developing an economic message because i dont really have one. He is onto the two big issues. Inflation and gas prices and they are related. Most economists i read on a daily basis say that 70 of the inflation and worldwide is caused by high gas prices. There are a couple of reasons and this is where the democrats need to tweak their message. During the pandemic, donald trump got together with the saudi arabians, opec and russia. They got saudi arabia and russia to in there prize for which they have been carrying on for year. On april 8, an agreement was cut between saudi arabia, opec and russia to reduce production of gas and raise prices. Since then, and trump also said at that time that u. S. Companies would jump in on such a plan. This nonsense that joe biden killed the Keystone Pipeline is complete nonsense. In april 2020, trump brokered and into the price war and since then they have been colluding to drive up the price of oil. U. S. Companies have proper tiered along with that. Republicans who are blaming it on the Keystone Pipelines and bidens policies. There has been nothing done on oil. Host apologies caller we only have a limited amount of time left. Guest i wanted to tell him to preach. I wanted to hear him continue because he was laying down the truth out there. The truth of the matter is that today, exPresident Trump is hosting saudi arabias Golf Tournament at one of its Income Producing Properties that did so well while he was in office. I am sure he is quite happy about that. While he is having secret communications before he got elected and during the time he got elected with vladimir putin. The saudis and the russians under putin have been driving the price of gas and the price of oil up. President trump will do the bidding of both saudi arabia and president putin. These are known facts. His soninlaw went to saudi arabia shortly before the election was over. In fact, he was there on january 6. Jared kushner was there and he put together the framework for the 2 billion deal that he got personally from the saudis. He was a Government Official and in the president s inner sanctum and his soninlaw negotiating with saudi arabia on the taxpayers dime so that when he left office, he would have a golden parachute and a fluffy bed to lay in. It is not giddy get any more fluffy than to billion dollars. Host stephen in virginia on the democrats line. Caller the congressman is doing a great job articulating a message that the democrats are failing with. On january 6, mike pence would not get in the secret service car. Republicans did wonderful work from 2016 to 2022, but the only thing wrong with the economy was covid. On january 21, it is all bidens fault. All of the pain that the country was then, but january 21, covid ruined the trump economy. Host congressman, go ahead. Guest even in times of national emergency, republicans play games and they will put process over people. They have always stood for putting politics over people. Since january 21, we have dealt with the pandemic and its effect on peoples pocketbooks. We put people back to work, children back to school. It is always joe biden is responsible for inflation. Joe biden is responsible for everything. He is, but he is doing a great job. They are the ones trying to change the narrative, trying to get people to see a different way of the difficulties we are facing. As we move ourselves towards being off of fossil fuels that are hurting our environment. Causing local warming, countries across the world are experiencing it as we speak. We are doing things to put ourselves forward into a future where we control our destiny. I am so glad to be a democrat and we cannot allow these republicans to take over because they will run this economy into the ground. Host representative hank johnson. A member of the oversight you can also call the show on instructor follow the show on instagram. 0. 2 is how the gross product number fell for the second straight time. It amplifies fear of recession. If you go to the washington post, similar ratings, recession fears. Usa today, economy shrinks, recession fears rise. If you go to the washington times, it say