Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen: ‘I Don’t Think Recession Is At All Inevitable’

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous” on Sunday that she doesn’t think that a recession is “inevitable.”

“Well, I expect the economy to slow. It’s been growing at a very rapid rate as the economy — as the labor market has recovered and we have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect to transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think recession is at all inevitable,” she said.

“Chair Powell, clearly inflation is unacceptably high. It’s President Biden’s top priority to bring it down and Chair Powell has said that his goal is to bring inflation down while maintaining a strong labor market. That’s going to take skill and luck, but I believe it’s possible. I don’t think a recession is inevitable,” Yellen said.

When asked if a recession is likely, the secretary said, “Well, I think consumer spending remains very strong, there’s month-to-month volatility, but overall spending is strong although patterns of spending are changing and higher food and energy prices are certainly affecting consumers and making them change their patterns of spending, but bank balances are high.

“It’s clear that most consumers, even lower income households, continue to have buffer stocks of savings that will enable them to maintain spending so I don’t see a drop off in consumer spending as a likely cause of the recession in the months ahead and the labor market is very strong, arguably the strongest of the post-war period,” Yellen said.- READ MORE