administration down playing the recession call. there s semantics. what is a recession, how do you technically define it. no matter what, there s widespread agreement no matter who you talk to. that is that economic growth is slowing. the treasury secretary, janet yellen acknowledges as much. but then she maintains that that does not mean a recession is inevitable. this is not in an economy that is in recession. but we re in a period of transition in which growth is slowing. and that s necessary and appropriate. we need to be growing at a steady and sustainable pace. yellen says the job market is still strong. she says a recession would have to be a broad-based economic contraction. consumers are still spending. household balance sheets are still in good shape. all of that said, the economy did contract the first quarter. economists think at beast we ll see slow growth when the numbers release thursday. the white house insists even if that number does go negative and some
our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. i m max foster. buy aianca is off for the day. ahead on cnn newsroom. this is not your normal snowfall in the city of buffalo. we re looking at over 4 inches coming down per hour. that could present some significant challenges. the people that i ve been speaking to just are not amped about staying at twitter. some of them feel they were cursed with not being laid off. another russian terrorist attack has occurred. civilians are the main target. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with max foster and bianca nobilo. it s friday, november 18th. 9 a.m. in london, 4 a.m. in new york where a potentially historic winter storm is bearing down on part of the state,
who may be next to lead the party. that s a big story we re covering this morning. also, house republicans doubling down on extremism as they prepare to take control of the house. they promise to tackle inflation, crime, and the border. that was everything they were talking about. but it seems that they are much more interested in settling scores now. we ll explain, and we ll talk about whether or not they ve learned their lesson of trumpism and what might be a better way forward. good morning, and welcome to morning joe. it is friday, november 18th, we re here in washington and with us, we have columnist and associate editor for the washington post, david ignatius, pulitzer prize winning columnist at the washington post, eugene robinson, attorney and contributing columnist for the washington post, george conway, and washington bureau chief for usa today, susan page is with us, and she is the author of the best selling biography entitled madame
the upcoming house majority, get ready, everybody. they said they wanted to focus on inflation, that democrats weren t focused on crime, they weren t focused on gas price. up until yesterday, it was inflation, crime, gas prices. now, today, what a difference a day makes. it s hunter biden. it s all hunter, hunter, hunter, and whatever else. they want to impeach joe biden. i don t know where the priorities went, they continue. they continue with their extreme agenda, and we ve got to figure out why at this point because i don t see the info that shows that it s working per se. welcome back to morning joe. it s friday, november 18th. david ignatius is still with us, and joining the conversation here in washington, we have national political correspondent for axios, jonathan swan joining us. he will soon be joining the new york times. that s exciting. are you excite snd. excited.
good morning. welcome to way too early on this friday, november 18th. we begin with a historic passing of the torch in the house. nancy pelosi stepping down as democratic leader in the chamber after 22 years. she s the first and only woman ever to serve as speaker of the house. and the speech yesterday from the house floor pelosi reflect ed on time in congress and reflected optimism for the democrats in america. my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the american people. i have enjoyed working with three presidents achieving historic investments and clean energy with president george bush. yes. transforming health care reform with president barack obama.