A recession? In this economy?!
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Is the U.S. economy hurtling toward a recession? Dean Baker, an economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in D.C., thinks it all boils down to just how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates again later this week.
On today’s “Post Reports,” we examine the factors that could lead to a recession — and we ask what Americans can do to prepare if it happens.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Give a helping hand this Giving Tuesday with the Washington Post Helping Hand. |
| 0:05.0 | This is John Kelly, Post-Local Columnist, and I'm writing columns now and into the new year |
| 0:10.5 | that tell the stories of three amazing helping hand beneficiaries. |
| 0:15.0 | Bread for the City, Friendship Place, and Miriam's Kitchen. |
| 0:19.0 | Go to PostHelpingHand.com to learn about the local families these nonprofits support and donate today. |
| 0:26.0 | Thank you from all of us at the Washington Post. |
| 0:30.0 | So Dean, I'm going to start with a very basic question that a lot of people have on their mind right now. |
| 0:38.0 | Do you think that we are heading towards a recession? |
| 0:43.0 | Well, I've been an optimist on this, but a little less optimistic in the last couple of days. |
| 0:49.0 | Dean Baker is an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. |
| 0:56.0 | And we wanted to talk to him today because lately the news about the economy has been getting a little scary. |
| 1:05.0 | A lot of people are now thinking recession. |
| 1:08.0 | We're going to see the biggest squeeze on household incomes we expect since records began. |
| 1:15.0 | We've seen a lot of age inflation running at a close to 6% rate. |
| 1:20.0 | And the tightest labor markets we've ever seen in our country. |
| 1:24.0 | And that suggests that unfortunately it now looks like a recession is right around the corner. |
| 1:29.0 | It's important to understand that recessions don't just happen. |
| 1:32.0 | Every recession we've had since World War II has either been brought about by the Federal Reserve Board raising interest rates and going too far. |
| 1:39.0 | Alternatively, by a collapse of asset bubble, which was the housing bubble, of course, in 2008, 2009, and then the stock bubble in 2001. |
| 1:49.0 | We don't have any asset bubble that's about to burst. I'm not worried about that. |
| 1:53.0 | So the real question is, is the Fed going to go too far? |
| 1:58.0 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
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