US Treasury Assesses Recession Outlook

Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday on ABC's This Week, "as the labor market has recovered, and we have reached full employment, it's natural now that we expect to transition to steady and stable growth."  

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Yellen said that despite historic lows in consumer confidence, "consumer spending remains very strong." A recent report by Michigan University put the low outlook reached by consumer confidence at 50.2 points. 

Such a figure is similar to the statistics recorded in the early 1980s stagflation era. The Wall Street Journal has reported that about 44 percent of economists expect a recession to occur this year. 

The Treasury Secretary said that "inflation is unacceptably high," noting that it will stay that way for the rest of the year.

As for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Yellen said it is to blame for the inflationary situation in the U.S. However, she admitted that anti-Russia sanctions are counterproductive for ordinary Americans. "There are some spillover effects for us as well," the Treasury secretary said. 

The remarks by Yellen came on the heels of the Fed's latest interest rate hike while the central bank worked to curb inflation by reducing the cheap money supply.

According to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the economy will worsen before it improves, given that rising interest rates imply a more significant debt accumulation. According to the consumer credit bureau Experian, as much as 96,371 dollars in debt is owed by the average American.