Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The Biden administration's latest economic messaging seems designed to talk itself — and the public — into a soft landing, not a crash or dramatic rebound.
The big picture: The White House has found a catchy, consistent message that lowers expectations — whether or not the U.S. technically slips into a recession.
What they're saying: During an appearance at an Axios event this week, White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein referred at least six times to “stable, steady growth.”
- “There is a path to … transitioning from a really breakneck growth path to something that's more steady and stable and…very much inconsistent with recession," Bernstein said.
- President Biden debuted that line in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in May.
Between the lines: A slowing economy and a Federal Reserve that's hiking interest rates are raising concerns that the economy faces a hard landing after two years of post-pandemic breakneck growth.
- "Stable, steady" is something the White House is using to prepare the public for growth that lies somewhere between gangbusters and sluggish.
Zoom out: The labor market and consumer demand have demonstrated preternatural resilience in the face of clearly decelerating growth.
- But bond yields are flashing warning signs of a recession — even if Wall Street isn't certain how severe it will be.
- Volatile markets are one reason why Biden is looking to Wall Street for its next economic team hire, as Axios’ Hans Nichols reported last week.