{"id":1523555,"date":"2022-06-20T08:19:29","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T12:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1523555"},"modified":"2022-06-20T08:19:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T12:19:33","slug":"senior-biden-adviser-on-recession-fears-just-think-positive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senior-biden-adviser-on-recession-fears-just-think-positive\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Biden Adviser on Recession Fears: Just Think Positive"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenior-biden-adviser-on-recession-fears-just-think-positive%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1523555&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President Joe Biden\u2019s senior adviser Gene Sperling told MSNBC in an interview that people worried about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-recession\">recession<\/a> in the United States should overlook the run of softer economic data and instead focus on \u201cmore reassuring elements of resilience\u201d in the economy, like the jobs market.<\/p>\n<p>Sperling was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kxC_WfzgBos\">asked by<\/a> the host of MSNBC\u2019s \u201cChris Jansing Reports\u201d program on June 17 what he thought about many Americans\u2019 \u201cconcrete fears of a recession\u201d in light of soaring inflation and a recent survey that showed some 60 percent of CEOs expect a U.S. recession within the next year or so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president believes a recession is not inevitable. Is that his natural optimism or based on something you can share with us?\u201d Jansing asked.<\/p>\n<p>Sperling replied by saying that people were focusing too much on the negative and not enough on the bright spots in the U.S. economy\u2014such as unemployment numbers\u2014and the Biden administration\u2019s accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we think that too many people are not looking at the more reassuring elements of resilience in this economy right now and they\u2019re not realizing that the American Rescue Plan put a historic number of people back to work. People have called it the great return to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>While the post-pandemic rebound in employment has been sharp, it has also been accompanied by the so-called \u201cGreat Resignation\u201d that has seen many Americans leave the workforce due to a variety of factors, driving down the labor force participation rate and leading to a shortage of available labor.<\/p>\n<p>While the labor force participation rate has rebounded from pandemic lows of just over 60 percent to 62.3 percent in May, according to recent data (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/pdf\/empsit.pdf\">pdf<\/a>), it <a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/labor-force-participation-rate#:~:text=Labor%20Force%20Participation%20Rate%20in%20the%20United%20States%20averaged%2062.85,percent%20in%20December%20of%201954.\">remains below<\/a> the recent pre-pandemic high of nearly 63.5 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Sperling also cited \u201cremarkable progress\u201d in unemployment, noting that the jobless rate in 30 states has dropped below pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether he thought the Fed\u2019s current rate-hike cycle would raise corporate borrowing costs and prompt companies to lay off workers and so lead to higher unemployment going forward, Sperling conceded that this \u201ctype of record performance doesn\u2019t go on forever,\u201d suggesting that the transition away from the current inflationary environment to \u201cmore stable and balanced economic growth with lower prices\u201d could mean some job losses.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he insisted that American households enjoy a \u201cdegree of resilience\u201d to the shock of monetary tightening and the associated economic impact thanks to high savings that they could dip into to maintain their standard of living.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we do believe that we can make this transition while keeping a large amount of the historic gains that we\u2019ve seen in the labor market, in the job market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Sperling\u2019s remarks come on the heels of a Conference Board survey (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conference-board.org\/pdfdownload.cfm?masterProductID=39487\">pdf<\/a>) that showed\u00a0just over 60 percent of global CEOs expecting a recession in their primary location of operations within the next 12 to 18 months. At the same time, CEO confidence has seen a \u201csignificant drop\u201d in many regions, including the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the US, the Measure of CEO Confidence fell to 42, levels not seen since the start of COVID-19,\u201d the Conference Board said in its report, while noting that it does not see a recession as its base case scenario, but rather a period of stagflation, marked by high prices and low growth.<\/p>\n<p>Recent economic data in the United States suggests the economy is coming into a softer patch.<\/p>\n<p>New weekly filings for\u00a0unemployment\u00a0insurance\u2014a proxy for layoffs\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/jobless-claims-dip-but-stay-higher-than-forecast-clouding-economic-outlook_4537756.html\">inched down<\/a> by 3,000 last week, but analysts expected them to fall by a far higher number, suggesting\u00a0the jobs market might be in for some chop going forward.<\/p>\n<p>The Philadelphia Federal Reserve\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.philadelphiafed.org\/surveys-and-data\/regional-economic-analysis\/mbos-2022-06\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">manufacturing survey<\/a>\u00a0index declined for the third consecutive month and turned negative for the first time since May 2020, while a separate Fed factory activity <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/us\/us-manufacturing-output-slips-may-2022-06-17\/\">report found<\/a> that production at U.S. factories fell more than forecast\u2014both signs of cooling economic activity.<\/p>\n<p>The red-hot housing market has also slowed, with\u00a0U.S. housing starts and building permits both plunging in May by double digits, suggesting\u00a0that residential construction is facing headwinds as mortgage rates push higher.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. retail sales delivered a downside surprise when the figures were\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us-retail-sales-drop-unexpectedly-in-may-as-soaring-inflation-squeezes-buying-power_4535254.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">released on June 15<\/a>, with analysts expecting a 0.2 percent advance while sales fell by 0.3 percent. And the University of Michigan consumer confidence index plunged to a record low in June, hitting a level comparable to the mid-1980s recession.<\/p>\n<p>A growing number of analysts and economists have expressed concern about a possible U.S. recession as high prices continue to bedevil the economy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-tom-ozimek\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tom Ozimek has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education. The best writing advice he&#8217;s ever heard is from Roy Peter Clark: &#8216;Hit your target&#8217; and &#8216;leave the best for last.&#8217;\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s senior adviser Gene Sperling told MSNBC in an interview that people worried about a recession in the United States should overlook the run of softer economic data<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1523555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}