Biden says recession ‘not inevitable’ as Fed looks to raise interest rates to curb inflation
Joe Biden told the Associated Press that a recession is "not inevitable", as the federal government is working to increase interest rates to curb spiking inflation.
His comments come after a speech in Philadelphia in which he blasted Republicans, billionaires and Wall Street while defending his economic plans.
Mr Biden said at the time that he would continue to try to force billionaires and corporations to pay taxes that, he argues, they underpay every year.
"Our work isn't done," Mr Biden said during the event. "America still has a choice to make – a choice between a government by the few for the few or a government for all of us, democracy for all of us, an economy where all of us have a fair shot and a chance to earn our place in the economy."
Investors and financial analysts are bracing for the worst in light of the Federal Reserve's move to raise interest rates. That decision drove the S&P 500 into a bear market on Monday, which prompted the fears that a recession was looming.
Mr Biden lashed out at the doom-saying from Wall Street insiders during his speech.
"Wall Street didn't build this country, the middle class built this country," Mr Biden said.
He dug in further, saying that if investment bankers went on strike it would not have much of an impact on the US economy.
Republicans have been quick to blame Mr Biden for the country's financial woes, driven in part by the struggle to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel pre-empted Mr Biden's speech, laying the nation's woes squarely on his shoulders.
"Soaring inflation, record gas prices, and a baby formula shortage are only a few of the crises he’s dealt," she said.
Gas prices are largely outside of Mr Biden's ability to control. The Russia war in Ukraine and the refusal of OPEC+ countries to increase production – which would drive down prices – have resulted in high gas prices across much of the world, not just in the US.
Mr Biden has actually greenlit far more drilling permits that former President Donald Trump – 34 per cent more – and claimed that most of the permits were currently unused by oil companies in the US.
Inflation is largely the result of supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic increasing product demand, worker shortages, and increasing energy prices caused in part by the war in Ukraine.
