Chimpy, last Thursday:
I don’t think we’re headed to a recession, but no question we’re in a slowdown.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush’s top economic adviser said Friday the nation’s economic growth could dip into negative territory for the current quarter, an assessment that tracks with many outside experts but is the most pessimistic to come so far from the White House.
“We don’t really know whether it will be negative or not,” Edward Lazear, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters at the White House. “We have definitely downgraded our forecast for this quarter.”
He would not discuss whether the White House is predicting the economy will actually fall into a recession. Some economists think it already has.