Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg dodged several inquiries about whether the United States’ economy is in recession.
While appearing on Sunday talk shows, Buttigieg deflected many times when asked if he felt a recession was imminent. Buttigieg’s remarks came after two-quarters of negative economic growth, which satisfies the rule-of-thumb definition of a recession, and crushing inflation, which jumped 8.2% from September 2021 to September 2022, above economists’ projections.
Buttigieg initially downplayed the likelihood of a recession on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Look, it’s conceivable, but it’s not unavoidable,” he explained. “Part of the reason we’re seeing a lot of pricing pressure is that while demand has returned, Americans have more income because Americans have jobs in this virtually historically low level of unemployment, it’s been difficult for the supply side to keep up,” he continued.
Then, on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” he was asked to clarify contradicting warnings about a probable recession made by President Joe Biden last week. “What precisely is the forecast?” asked presenter Margaret Brennan.
“Well, look, I mean, predicting is, by definition, a little bit unpredictable,” Buttigieg responded.
“That’s political propaganda,” Brennan said.
“Well, look, I don’t believe anyone could dispute that our unemployment stats, for example, are anything but robust as heck, they’re under 4%,” Buttigieg answered. “That virtually never occurs. We’ve reached or are approaching full employment. We also have no illusions about the pricing issues that Americans confront,” he continued, before shifting responsibility to Republicans who did not support Democratic initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act or the government funding agreement.
“We are dead set on making it simpler for Americans to get by on their income,” Buttigieg added.
The Transportation Secretary’s statements mirror equally confusing remarks from his boss. During a recent interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden dismissed recession worries, stating that if one occurs, it will be modest.
“They say this every six months,” Biden added. “There is no assurance that there will be a recession; I don’t think that there will be a recession, and if there is, it will be a very small recession, in which we will fall slightly.”
However, in a press conference on Saturday, Biden dismissed the notion of a recession outright, arguing that the US economy was robust and that other countries were experiencing greater difficulties.
“Our economy is as robust as hell,” said Biden. “Inflation is global; it is worse in other countries than it is in the United States. So the issue is not so much ours as it is a lack of economic growth and effective policy in other nations.”
I don’t know how the unemployment number can be so low ,When every store & Restaurant is understaffed & they All have HELP WANTED signs in their windows !,It does not make any sense ,
Just another lie from the Biden Crime Family that is flushing our Country down the drain! Wake up people and you had better start learning Chinese and the sooner the better!
Because that is what Gates, Soros, Biden, Obama etc want! And it is not an easy language to learn but you had better! Biden is your dictator, and he loves the power he thinks he has over you! Use your brain folks but you will wait until the boots hit our soil and then wonder what happen!
That is exactly what I was going to say! These liberals are either very dumb, or they are just constantly disingenuous! Probably BOTH is most likely!
Most places are insisting on people being fully vaccinated and BOOSTED a lot of people are not willing to get the jab and many that had the first round don’t want updates with all the bad news trickling down about side effects. I just got my J&J and my dr wants me to get one of the others behind it told her NO!!
Both of you hit the nail on the head. Biden doesn’t live in the real world. He probably has no idea what is really going on. He thinks he is doing a fantastic job and the “Previous administration” is to blame for everything. Democrats who think Biden is a great president will argue that he is doing a wonderful job. They live in LaLa land with Biden. I wonder what the Democrats have up their sleeve for midterm election. I don’t trust them.