WH Economic Adviser Rouse: Economy We’re Facing Is Result of a Pandemic, Russia

White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Cecilia Rouse said Tuesday on “MSNBC Reports” that the United States was facing record inflation and potential recession because of the coronavirus pandemic and “Russia’s war on Ukraine.”

Rouse said, “So, there’s no question that these are challenging economic times. The President has acknowledged as such. He recognizes that we’re addressing high inflation, and he understands the cost that has for families. This economy that we’re facing is the result of a pandemic, this pandemic that remains with us, as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, and we know that that has disrupted our economic system. It’s disrupted global markets as well.”

She added, “But what we know in the United States is that we had an aggressive fiscal response, we had an aggressive monetary response to the pandemic, which gave households and businesses the resources to get through the pandemic. That’s what fueled the record growth last year, and that’s what continues to give fuel the record labor market we have. We’ve got a strong labor market. That’s why household balance sheets, I know that they’re struggling, I know inflation is a problem, but balance sheets, even addressing inflation, are higher than they were at the beginning of the pandemic. We see business spending and investment continue. So, we have a buffer for the Fed to raise interest rates. They will be trying to cool down the economy. We already see their attempts to do so are in the mix. We are seeing some signs of cooling. And what the President was voicing is that given our buffer, so given that we come into this from a position of strong economic growth, that the Fed can cool the economy without causing us to have the hard landing that many people are fearing.”

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