On Monday, the White House declined to give a definitive answer when asked whether Americans should prepare for a recession.
White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein noted that the National Bureau of Economic Research weighs unemployment numbers and consumer spending when considering declaring a recession.
“We can say with absolute certainty, relative to consumer spending, to wages, to the unemployment rate, we can say with certainty that these numbers we’ve come up with are very inconsistent with the recession call given. We. Now,” he said.
Bernstein appeared at the White House press briefing to talk about the recent drop in gas prices, even though it was two dollars higher than when President Joe Biden first took office.
He reiterated that the economy is strong, unemployment is still low, and Americans still have “surplus savings” that continue to spur consumer spending.
Bernstein described the economy as “stable in growth.”
When a reporter asked if he regretted the US not going into a recession, he quickly explained that he didn’t.
“I want to be very clear about what I am saying… We can safely say that these figures we have announced are very inconsistent with the recession we are currently in,” he said.
Bernstein also argued that the White House used the term “temporary” to describe inflation a year ago as hyperinflation continues to rise through 2022.
“The lack of certainty about the rhythm implied by the word, the temporal rhythm implied by the word, has led to an ambiguity that does not serve the discussion well,” he said.
Bernstein also claimed that at the time they were referring to other economic forecasts for inflation rather than their own.
“We are careful when we speak to continue to refer to the estimates that are out there,” he said.
Source: Breitbart
