Trump’s jobs adviser, Kevin Hassett predicted that US unemployment will reach Great Depression levels due to the coronavirus.
Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about where the economy is right now, taking such a deep hit, more than 26 million Americans filing for jobless claims.
The president this week was talking about a possible V-shaped recovery, short sharp recovery, as early as this summer. Is that what you’re seeing right now?
HASSETT: I think a lot of it’s going to depend on what happens next. You know, what we’ve done with the previous legislation is that we’ve built a bridge to sort of hopefully the other side of the disease, but then we have to make sure that we have what it takes to prosper. I think that, you know, Senator Klobuchar who’s coming on I guess after me, she’s got ideas about what should happen and Republicans have ideas.
And I’m sure that over the next three or four weeks, everybody’s going to pull together and come up with a plan to give us the best chance possible for a V-shaped recovery.
HASSETT: But make no mistake: it’s a really grave situation, George. This is the biggest negative shock that our economy, I think, has ever seen. We’re going to be looking at an unemployment rate that approaches rates that we saw during the Great Depression.
During the Great Recession, remember that was a financial crisis around 2008, that we lost 8.7 million jobs and the whole thing. Right now, we’re losing that many jobs about every ten days.
Video:
NEW: White House senior adviser Kevin Hassett tells @gstephanopoulos that the economic outlook is a "really grave situation."
"We're going to be looking at an unemployment rate that approaches rates that I think we saw during the Great Depression." https://t.co/vM8WcrQKg0 pic.twitter.com/ds7QtseNqe
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 26, 2020
Hassett’s prediction runs counter to Trump’s claims that the economy is going to bounce right back. Trump can’t go more than a day without expressing his belief that the economy will come back stronger than before.
The reality is that the recovery will be more long term and complicated. Without a decisive federal response, could be a problem for the country for a year or more until there is potentially a vaccine available.
The economy isn’t going to spring back quickly, and the prospect of a prolonged economic downturn has the potential to sweep Trump and the Republicans out of office.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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