Bartiromo Ignores Doom and Gloom Playbook and Says No Recession

November 12th, 2007 1:36 PM

It’s a little odd when a reporter contradicts herself and discloses she doesn’t necessarily agree with what she’s reporting.

But that’s what happened this morning when CNBC’s Maria Bartimoro appeared on the November 12 “Today” to report the chances of a recession. “Today” host Meredith Vieira asked Bartiromo if she thought the economy was heading into a recession after Bartiromo delivered a report about economic fears.

“You know Meredith, I do not,” Bartiromo said. “My gut feeling tells me that we have strength around the world. Economies like China and India and Europe continue to grow and that certainly helps American companies that have operations there. I think that that growth will probably offset the weakness that we’re seeing in housing and of course this pressure from oil.”

See YouTube video below.

Prior to Bartiromo’s optimistic comment, her report showcased some grim news about housing, oil and other concerns and included one expert warning about stagflation.

“The risk going forward is what’s called stagflation, in which we have a weak economy, weak job market, elevated unemployment at the same time we have inflation,” said Edward Leamer, director of UCLA-Anderson Forecast.

Leamer gave his dire warning despite the Labor Department report from November 2 166,000 new jobs created during the month of October and the Commerce Department report from October 31 the gross domestic product growth was at 3.9 percent.