Federal Reserve official isn’t interested in whether or not the U.S. is in a recession right now

When news hit last week that the U.S. economy had shrunk for the second consecutive quarter, everyone began asking the question: Is the country officially in a recession? 

It’s complicated, experts say, as the economic alarm bells start ringing. The official arbiter that decides when a recession starts and ends in the U.S. has a history of taking a long time to announce it, taking into account many factors in the economy.

But as far as the Federal Reserve is concerned, whether or not the U.S. is in a recession right now simply doesn’t matter, as the central bank continues its laser-focused efforts to tackle a more immediate problem: runaway inflation and soaring prices for everything from fuel to groceries.

“Whether we are technically in a recession or not, doesn’t change my analysis,” Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday.

“I’m focused on the inflation data,” he added. Read more »