Key Biden adviser sees ‘real momentum’ in economy

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein on Sunday touted recent momentum in the economy and suggested he is confident the United States will likely avoid a recession.

“Many of those calls have been dialed back because we have some real momentum in this economy now,” Bernstein told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on “The Sunday Show,” when asked about warnings of a recession earlier this year. 

Bernstein noted that making predictions can be challenging in an uncertain economy, but he said he is hopeful, touting falling inflation and a strong, but steady, labor market. 

“When you have inflation on a yearly basis, falling 12 months in a row, down two-thirds from where it was a year ago, when you have years of strong job gains – our economy is about 70 percent consumer spending. So when you have a strong labor market, providing consumers with some buying power, that gives the economy growth momentum. And quarter after quarter, we’ve seen positive growth rates,” he said. 

“Look, we live in a period of considerable uncertainty. So, I think forecasting can be a challenging game, but I do look at that kind of momentum, and I like where we are in that regard,” he added.

Bernstein acknowledged Americans do not always credit the Biden administration’s policies for modest improvements in the economy, which he said he understands given the difficulties of the past few years. He also cited a recent poll conducted by the University of Michigan that he said indicates a possible shift in sentiment and said he is hopeful that the new projects emerging in neighborhoods across the country will demonstrate the impact of some of the legislation Biden has backed.

“Americans have been through a ton,” Bernstein said. “I mean, a pandemic of a magnitude we haven’t seen for a century, a global inflation of snarled supply chains across the globe, a horrific invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine.”

“All of this as I think weighed on, on public sentiment and the whole time President Biden has kept his head down with one goal in particular, which is to uplift the economic conditions of the middle class amidst all this,” he said.