Biden Adviser Landrieu on Negative Economic Projections: ‘We Don’t Need Expectations’ Because We Have Good Numbers Now

On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom,” White House senior adviser and Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu responded to concerns about the economy from people like Larry Summers, Jamie Dimon, and Elon Musk by stating we did not “need expectations” because current numbers were good. He added that while inflation is a challenge, “the president’s economic policies have put us in a very strong position to move through this very difficult time.”

Co-host Victor Blackwell asked, “Elon Musk, add his name to the list of people who are concerned about the economy. Larry Summers, Jamie Dimon on the list. Musk says that he has a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy. You reminded me on Wednesday you’re not an economist. I got you, but they put you forward to talk about the jobs report and the economy. What is the White House’s expectation, projection for what’s ahead?”

Landrieu responded, “Well, a couple of things: We don’t need expectations. Today, we got a really robust number that came out. That speaks for itself. You also noted at the top that we have the lowest unemployment rate in a very, very long time. As I said the other day, household debt is down, savings are up, jobs are up, wages are up. Just earlier this week, Ford announced that they were going to invest another $3.1 billion in constructing a number of plants around the country for EV infrastructure. So, those numbers look good. What the president was saying, though, is that he completely understands that, notwithstanding all of those numbers and how strong we are in a position to go forward, that inflation continues to be a challenge. He laid out an agenda for dealing with that the other day. He spoke to it again today. We’re in a difficult time. There’s no question that we’re in an economic challenge. But the bigger point is that the president’s economic policies have put us in a very strong position to move through this very difficult time.”

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