It's not wishy washy. It's nuanced, and takes experts to carefully assess. There is no simple check one of many indicators to some fixed threshold over all of time definition.
I get you don't like the facts, so you use wishy-washy as your description.
>why isn't it mentioned in 1974? Maybe the NYT dropped the ball.
From the 1974 article: "Generally, the designation of recession periods and the beginning and ending dates established by the National Bureau of Economic. Research, a private research agency, are accepted, by both Government and private economists. For more than 50 years, the bureau has studied alternating periods of business expansion and contraction in order to chart their progress, identify cyclical peaks and troughs, and analyze causes of economic fluctuations."
"In the nineteen‐twenties, when the bureau work, was getting under way, periods of decline were usually called depressions. As time went on and declines in economic activity became less severe, the term recession became more common. A more neutral term, contraction, is also sometimes used."
So it's clearly mentioned. Are you even reading the articles?
>In terms of duration—declines in real G.N.P. for 2 consecutive quarters; a decline in industrial production over a six‐month period.
> There's your 2 quarters boundaries, back in 1974.
Yes, if you ignore every other sentence in the article and pull one out of context that suits you, then yes, I can see how you got your beliefs.
>to deny the 2 quarter rule of thumb never existed is pretty transparent to most people.
To deny that the rule of thumb is not sufficient, has never been sufficient, and has always relied on a more nuanced assessment is simply spreading more ignorance for political reasons. I get that such ignorance works for a populace desiring outrage. To double down on it when presented with the facts is simply willful ignorance, an entire bigger level.
There are many "rules of thumb," but pretty much zero of them capture the entire nuance needed for the item at hand, which is why they are rules of thumb. Rule of 72 for compound interest works, somewhat, as long as you stay near 7-10% interest. Chemical reaction speed doubling every 10 degrees Celsius works, as long as you stay near room temperature and pressure and don't hit certain odd cases. The ideal gas law works, but only again in special cases. 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' works, except when it doesn't.
This is the same thing. Every rule of thumb is a rough idea, but never the final answer.
2 quarters may be a rule of thumb, but it is not a the definition. It's too coarse.
Also, if you're going to post articles, please read them first.