jacking up interest rates, raising bar owing costs. on thursday our first look at u.s. economic growth for the second quarter, another decline in gdp is expected. of course, two quarters of a loss in a row is a sign of a recession, so are we head there had? here is the treasury secretary. the labor market is now extremely strong. we are in a period of transition in which growth is slowly. we re likely to see some slowing of job creation, but i do i don t think that that s a recession. a recession is broad-based weakness in the economy. we re not seeing that now. we re not seeing that now, but here is this from someone who used to have that job, the former treasury secretary larry somers. i think there is a very high likelihood of recession when we ve been in in kind of situation before. recession has essentially always followed when inflation has been high and unemployment has been low. soft landings represent a kind of triumph of hope over experience, i think we re v