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‘That Is Not What I Asked’: Fox’s Neil Cavuto Interjects After Rep. Rho Khanna Dodges On Recession

[Screenshot/Fox Business]

Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
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Fox Business host Neil Cavuto challenged Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna Thursday on the definition of a recession.

Cavuto asked Khanna if he agrees that a recession is two consecutive quarters of GDP decline. A report issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday found the economy shrank in two consecutive quarters.

Khanna said he will wait for economists to determine whether the nation is in a recession, given that there are several factors at play, including the job market and the unemployment rate.

“It’s the economists who officially declare that,” the representative said. “I will acknowledge that GDP growth has slowed and that we’re in a difficult economic time and I’ll acknowledge that we have inflation and we’ve got the FED [Federal Reserve] increasing interest rates.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Cavuto said. “It wasn’t slow, it contracted, so it went the other way because it wasn’t slowing, it was contracting. So we have two back-to-back quarters of that. That is the classic, you’re quite right, not the only definition of a recession, but do you, when you go back to your constituents, ‘guys, we’re in a recession. We’re gonna get out of it, but we’re in a recession right now.’ What do you tell them?”

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Khanna said his constituents are more concerned with inflation, high gas prices, the baby formula and food shortages, and establishing the need to lower prices on consumer goods. He added that the cost of living is the biggest concern, due to high job growth and low unemployment rates. (RELATED: Biden Says America On ‘Right Path’ As Report Shows Two Consecutive Quarters Of Declining GDP) 

“They don’t think we’re in a recession?” Cavuto interjected. “I mean, you must have a very wealthy district.”

“Ordinary folks are more concerned about the cost of living because the job numbers are still pretty good,” Khanna replied.

Economists have yet to confirm whether the U.S. is in a recession after the release of the BEA’s report. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” Google defines a recessionary period as “temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.”

The White House argued in a July 21 blog post that the NBER committee’s recession indicator has found “strong growth in the U.S. economy,” since the pandemic. Indicators determine the economic state by looking to consumer and business spending, the labor market, industrial production and incomes.