A White House economic adviser, when sternly questioned about recession concerns on Sunday, said the answer to whether the Biden administration was doing everything possible to increase energy supplies and keep consumer prices down was ” He assured Americans that it was unequivocally yes.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein provided a definition of a recession, saying the deficit had been cut by $1.4 trillion this fiscal year. , host Shannon Bream intervened, saying the numbers came from massive COVID spending.
Bernstein said the numbers were also influenced by receipts coming into the Treasury because of “how strong the economy is.”
“The unemployment rate is 3.5%. We don’t have a recession like that with unemployment like that. Clearly hundreds of thousands of jobs are being added every month. Consumer balance sheets are still pretty strong. There is … I actually think a soft landing is more likely,” Bernstein said.
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Bream noted that the widely respected definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative behavior, but Bernstein said, “The White House cannot declare a recession.” said.
“Look at the next variable, which happens to be the same group I was talking about: retail sales, salaries, employment, consumer spending, industrial production, and they’re all not flashing red. We’re not in recession territory,” Bernstein said. “Now, if you ask me to look around the corner and say where the economy is headed, I must say that everyone’s crystal ball is cracking a little bit right now. I think it’s making it difficult..”
Bernstein conceded that consumer prices had risen to a point where “household budgets are being squeezed”, but gasoline prices have fallen 5%, hitting $5 a gallon in the third quarter of this year. After peaking, it has fallen by about a third, he said. .
There are now 14 states with gas prices below $3.50, Bernstein said, and said the shift was related to President Biden’s release of oil from strategic stockpiles.
“If you look at Putin’s unconscionable behavior in weaponizing energy, amplified by recent short-sighted and misguided decisions by OPEC+, certainly, [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] Potential release is an important tool,” Bernstein said.