There are growing fears of the US economy heading into a recession. How concerned is the President?
Karine Jean-Pierre: We are closely watching. We know that families are concerned about inflation in the stock market. That’s something that we are aware of.
But we know that this is — what we’re seeing right now is — what we’re facing are global challenges: Putin’s price hike, inflation, coming out of a once-in-a-generation global pandemic.
The American people are well-positioned, we believe, to face these challenges because of what the President has done this past year and a half on dealing with the economy. We’re in a historical, economic place with more than 8 million jobs since President Biden took office. Seventeen states have historically low unemployment.
Is he having meetings, perhaps, to discuss economic forecasts?
Karine Jean-Pierre: I don’t have any meetings to read out for you at this time. Clearly, this President has made inflation a priority — an economic priority. You’ve heard from him for the past several months on it. You’ll hear from him about it today. So this is something that is at top of mind.
The market drop has caused a tremendous loss of wealth. Is the President more concerned about the loss of wealth or inflation?
Karine Jean-Pierre: We know that higher prices are having a real effect, again, on people’s lives. And so that matters, and that is something that the President really is keen on. And we are incredibly focused on doing everything we can to making sure the economy is working for the American people.
