CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans said Thursday that saying inflation was “transitory” was a “really bad call” by economists.
Host Jim Sciutto mentioned that Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he is worried about a recession this year, with Sciutto saying that “not everyone is in that camp.”
“You look at some of the positive numbers which you’ve highlighted on our broadcast here. How are things at least starting out this year?”
“No one really knows for sure,” Romans said, adding Greenspan “doesn’t have a perfect record.”
WATCH:
“In the last year, economists really got it wrong. Remember transitory inflation? That was a really bad call, and that was really wrong.”
“Maybe you don’t have a recession, you kind of grind to a halt here. No one knows for sure. The job market still remains strong,” Romans added. “I would just caution after the last year no one really knows for sue what 2023 holds.” (RELATED: Biden’s Inflation Speech Comes Back To Bite Him In The A** One Year Later)
The Biden administration repeatedly argued inflation was “transitory.” When inflation hit a four-decade high in April, then White House press secretary Jen Psaki said inflation is projected to come down when asked if the White House still believes inflation is transitory.
Psaki had earlier said that the “impacts are temporary” and blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Joe Biden also said inflation was “temporary.”
Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen even said in December of 2021 that it was time “to retire the word transitory.”