Of course we’re in a recession, President Biden. Now, what should we do about it?

Texans are paying more for everything: gas, airline tickets, rent, and groceries. But still the Biden administration is loath to call a recession by its name, for fear his crippling disapproval rating will plummet even further.

The U.S. economy is in its second quarter of negative GDP growth, which has generally been the definition of a recession. Yet Biden himself maintained in a recent speech that other positive factors like a “record job market” and “record unemployment” negated the shrinking economy. “That doesn’t sound like a recession to me,” he said.

It’s easy to see why shirking responsibility is Biden’s first reflex: He’s not solely responsible for this mess. Repeated stimulus packages during the Trump administration started us down this path, but Biden’s domestic policy decisions haven’t helped it much, either.

The labor market is doing better than expected, but it’s disingenuous — in fact, downright offensive — for the administration to quibble over semantics. Inflation is at 9.1% compared to half that last year. People are paying more for everything.

As much as Texans don’t want to be in a recession, gaslighting them into believing they’re not, when they can see with their eyes the price of chicken or gas has gone up several dollars, does them a disservice. The American people respect transparency and honesty, even in — especially in — hard times. Plus, it gives them a chance to prepare.

Consumer goods prices have jumped dramatically in two years. The meat, poultry, fish and eggs category is up 11.7% on an annual basis. Electricity has jumped. At this time in 2020, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in DFW was $1.85. Now, it’s $4.33, and that’s lower than it was a few months ago, at around $4.85 per gallon.

Airline fares are falling but they’re still up 34.1% overall from a year ago. As of June, U.S. rents had climbed to 14.1% above where they stood last year, a slight decrease from the beginning of 2022, when the increase was nearly 18%.

Most people earn a fixed income — only about 10% of the country’s workers are self-employed — and 3 million of the individuals receiving Social Security benefits in Texas are retirees, although Social Security isn’t usually enough to live on, especially now.

The money to cover inflated costs of necessities must come from somewhere. Many people are trimming their budgets now. If you have subscriptions you don’t really use — hello Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu etc. — now’s the time to ax them. Consider changing plans and lowering your phone bill or trimming how much your family dines out.

How else can you prepare? According to a recent poll, 62% of respondents said they are cutting back on spending and almost 40% vowed to stick to a budget. About 26% are building emergency savings.

If you can work a side gig, increasing income streams is also wise — 24% are doing that. It goes without saying that getting rid of any consumer credit card debt might also help.

A recession will affect almost everyone: If you’re not hurting financially or don’t think you will in the future, consider also donating to local food banks and charities so they can help others when the time comes.

Both the Biden and Trump administration shoulder some of the blame of this recession. At the same time, there’s not much any one person or party could do to stop this. The U.S. has certainly been through it before. The only good news is, usually the economy does well following hard times. It’s just a matter of how long the recession lasts.

We don’t know exactly how this will go or how long until it recovers, but we do know it’s best to be honest and face it head on — without fear, without political misdirection tactics, and with some dedication to helping one another. That’s the only way through.