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Joe Biden snapped at a reporter who asked about economists that are forecasting a recession. Biden told the reporter, “Don’t make things up.”
The incident was caught on video as a reporter asked, “Economists are saying that a recession is more likely than ever.”
“Not the majority,” Biden shot back. “Come on, don’t make things up. Now you sound like a Republican politician, I’m joking, that was a joke, that was a joke,” Biden continued.
“But all kidding aside, no I don’t think it is. I was talking to Larry Summers this morning, there’s nothing inevitable about a recession.”
Biden is referring to a discussion he apparently had with former U.S. Treasury and Democrat Larry Summers.
Although Biden says Summers believes a recession is not “inevitable,” this appears to contradict what Summers publicly revealed during an appearance on NBC on Sunday.
Summers warned Americans that a recession was likely to occur, exactly as the reporter stated to Biden.
“My best guess is that a recession is ahead,” Summers said. “I base that on the fact that we haven’t had a situation like the present with inflation above 4% and unemployment beyond 4% without a recession following within a year or two.”
“And so I think the likelihood is that in order to do what’s necessary to stop inflation the Fed is going to raise interest rates enough that the economy will slip into a recession,” Summers said on NBC.
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During an appearance on CNN on June 15, Summers said he believed that a recession was likely due to an “overheated” economy.
The president also said that the U.S. has a chance to transition into using electric vehicles and renewable energy. He said his team would be sitting down with the CEOs of oil companies this week to find out “how they justify making $35 billion in the first quarter.”
Inflation rose 8.6% in May, hitting a new 40-year high. The national average price per gallon trended slightly downward on Sunday, remaining below $5.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that the only way to address the skyrocketing gas prices and the energy crisis in the “medium term” was to transition to renewable energy.
— Advertisement — “And look, as a medium-term matter, the way in which we can assure reasonable energy expenses for households is to move to renewables to address climate change, as a medium-term matter,” she said. “That’s the way to free us from geopolitical movements in oil prices.”
