Bezos: ‘If We’re Not in a Recession Right Now, We’re Likely’ to Have One ‘Very Soon’ — ‘Economy Does Not Look Great’

During a portion of an interview with CNN released on Monday, Amazon Executive Chair Jeff Bezos said that “the economy does not look great right now.” And “if we’re not in a recession right now, we’re likely to be in one very soon.”

Bezos said, “I don’t know whether we’re technically in a recession, economists argue over that and they have certain technical definitions. What I can tell you is the economy does not look great right now. Things are slowing down, you’re seeing layoffs, in many many sectors of the economy, people are slowing down. The probabilities say if we’re not in a recession right now, we’re likely to be in one very soon. So, my advice to people, whether they’re small business owners or — is take some risk off the table. If you were going to make a purchase, maybe slow down that purchase a little bit, keep some dry powder on hand and wait a bit and see how — try to reduce some risk in your business or your life.”

He added that risk reduction is what he meant when he told people to “batten down” and “if you’re an individual and you’re thinking about buying a new large-screen TV, maybe slow that down, keep that cash, see what happens, same thing with a refrigerator or a new car, whatever. Let’s take some risk off the table. If you’re a small business, maybe delay some capital purchases, do you really need that new piece of equipment? Maybe it can wait a little bit, have some cash on hand. Just a little bit of risk reduction could make the difference for that small business if we do get into even more serious economic problems. So, you’ve got to play the probabilities a little bit.”

Bezos also said that determining how long a recession will last is something that he doesn’t think “the most experienced economists in the world can answer” and “you just have to try and be reasonable about it, take as much risk off the table as you can for yourself, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

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