The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points for the second month in a row and signaled more rate hikes are likely in the months ahead, further raising concerns of a recession.
- “Economists are going to argue about whether we’re in a recession or not, but those are academic debates. They’re meaningless to real people…”
- “We’re already starting to see layoffs. We’re already starting to see hiring freezes.” — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
A transcript of Senator Rubio’s comments is below:
Well, today’s terrible economic numbers confirm what I think most working families have already known for a long time, and that is this economy is not working well.
Economists are going to argue about whether we’re in a recession or not, but those are academic debates. They’re meaningless to real people that are being squeezed by high gas prices, crippling housing prices. Food prices are up. We’re already starting to see layoffs. We’re already starting to see hiring freezes.
These are the real problems facing people, along with crime and then chaos on our border and drug overdoses from fentanyl that comes through Mexico and from China.
Unfortunately, that’s not what President Biden and his administration or Democrats here are focused on.
We need to focus on the things that matter: increasing energy production, bringing back good jobs to America, securing our border, making our schools and our communities safe.
Today’s economic numbers need to be a wake-up call that we need to be focused on what matters to real people in the real world.
