They can’t get their stories straight.
Appearing on CNBC Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen seemed to contradict official White House correspondence by revealing she anticipated another year of “uncomfortably high” inflation.
During the interview, Yellen said, “I think there’s a lot of uncertainty related to what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine, and I do think that it’s exacerbating inflation.”
She continued, adding, “I don’t want to make a prediction exactly as to what’s going to happen in the second half of the year, you know, we’re likely to see another in which 12-month inflation numbers remain very uncomfortably high.”
However, her statements contradict statements White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made earlier in the day. Psaki suggested inflation would “moderate” toward the end of the year before reiterating that the White House’s “projection” is that high inflation will remain “temporary.”
In her statements, Psaki said, “We rely on the assessment of the Federal Reserve and outside economic analysts who give an assessment of how long it will last. The expectations and their assessment at this point is that it will moderate at the end of the year.”
Psaki’s tune is a familiar one to the millions of Americans battling record-high inflation. The White House Press Secretary assured Americans last year May that inflation would be “transitory,” a term Yellen said in December should not be used to describe inflation.
Yellen also added in her CNBC interview that she did not “expect a recession” in the U.S. despite many experts having contrary opinions about the country entering a recession.
