Biden Snaps at Reporter over Recession Warnings: 'Don't Make Things Up!'
Reporter asks Biden about economists warning of a coming recession
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Democrat Joe Biden appeared to become angered when he snapped at a reporter over questions about repeated warnings from economists that a recession is coming.
On Monday, Biden was caught on video pushing back at the reporter who asked about the recession warnings.
The incident occurred while Biden answered questions from media while walking on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
A female journalist asked about some economists who have predicted such a downturn is looming.
"The majority of them aren’t saying that," Biden snapped.
"Come on, don’t make things up, okay?
"Now you sound like a Republican politician," he said while trying to make a tone-deaf joke.
"I’m joking," he added.
"That was a joke, but all kidding aside, I don’t think it is,” Biden responded.
WATCH:
WATCH: Biden snaps at a reporter for asking about economists warning of a recession.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 20, 2022
“C’mon, don’t make things up" pic.twitter.com/eqEh2f9fEh
The exchange came after a Wall Street Journal survey of a group of economists reported on Sunday that the odds of the nation entering a recession in the next 12 months rank at 44%.
“Forecasters have raised recession probability due to a number of factors: higher borrowing costs, a blistering pace of inflation, supply-chain problems and commodity-price shocks stemming from the war in Ukraine,” the report stated.
“Mostly, however, they see dimming chances that a steeper path of rate increases by the Fed can cool inflation without inducing higher unemployment and an economic downturn,” the Wall Street Journal added.
In addition to record-breaking gas prices and high inflation, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 1.5% during the first quarter of 2022.
“The U.S. economic contraction to start the year was worse than expected as weak business and private investment failed to offset strong consumer spending, the Commerce Department reported Thursday,” CNBC reported last month.
"First-quarter GDP declined at a 1.5% annual pace, according to the second estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis,” the report added.
"That was worse than the 1.3% Dow Jones estimate and a write-down from the initially reported 1.4%."
CEOs of some of the nation’s largest companies have also expressed concern regarding a coming recession.
"That hurricane is right out there, down the road, coming our way,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently said about a coming recession, NPR reported.
"We just don’t know if it is a minor one, or Superstorm Sandy, or Andrew, or something like that. And you better brace yourself."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to slash 10% of jobs at the company due to his “super bad feeling” about the economy, according to a Friday report from Reuters.
The United States economy shrank at a 1.5% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which associates recessions with two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
In a recent email to executives seen by Reuters, Musk instructed Tesla to “pause all hiring worldwide” and said that the company needs to cut 10% of jobs.
Tesla currently has more than 99,000 employees, The New York Times reported.
Microsoft, Coinbase, and other tech companies have also recently announced recent plans to slow hiring over a potential recession.
