Economics professor rips Biden admin denying recession: 'Just accept it'

Bank of America CEO tells the Associated Press what matters is that ‘it feels like’ a recession for most Americans

After Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan reminded the Biden administration that "recession is a word" in an interview with the Associated Press, Fox News contributor and The King’s College economics professor Brian Brenberg is telling the president to "just accept" the state of the economy.

"I think what people get sick of is hearing the administration jump through hoops to try to deny this. Just accept it. It's not good," Brenberg said on a "Varney & Co." panel Thursday.

"Call it recession, call it whatever you want. We got to fix things," Brenberg continued. "The administration won't do that. That's what people get upset about."

Despite U.S. GDP having two consecutive negative quarters, President Biden and his administration have repeatedly insisted the country is not in a recession, but rather the economy shows signs "slowing down."

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Moynihan said in the interview that Biden’s attempts to argue that the U.S. was not technically in a recession was not helpful.

recession fears

Fox News contributor and The King's College economics professor Brian Brenberg said the Biden administration needs to "just accept" Americans feel like they're in a recession on "Varney & Co." Thursday, August 18, 2022. (iStock)

"Recession is a word. Whether we are in a recession or not is really not the important thing. It’s what it feels like for the people going through this," Moynihan said.

While Brenberg argued that the Federal Reserve is behind the inflation curve, raising rates higher won’t give markets the "shock" they need.

"The problem here is supply. We still don't have enough people in the labor market. We're still not producing enough," Brenberg explained. "You can cut demand all you want, but if you've got an administration that's raising taxes in the middle of a recession, you're not going to get where you need to be."

"The shock is on the political side, not the monetary side," the professor reiterated.

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If the Fed continues to focus on the demand-side issue, they’re going to "miss the point," according to Brenberg.

"What would shock the market is if we had an administration that quit talking about spending money and quit talking about tax increases," the professor said, "that's what the economy needs."

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FOX Business’ Ken Martin contributed to this report.