Bernero tells CNN that recession ‘ain’t over for a lot of our people’

LANSING — Mayor Virgil Bernero was on CNN Wednesday morning responding to statements from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the recession that has crippled our economy, tossed millions of Americans out of jobs and made the housing crisis worse, is over.

Bernero told CNN’s John Roberts that while Bernanke might being seeing hopeful signs in the economy, it is not translating to Michigan.

“Look, there’s a long way to go,” Bernero said. “But I would say it is premature at this point to say the recession is over. It ain’t over for a lot of our people. It’s not over for working people. It may be over for Wall Street but I will tell ya there is still a major disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.”

Bernero also said that local banks continue to deny credit to local developers, which, Bernero has previously said, has frozen millions of dollars of development in downtown Lansing.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Bernanke on Tuesday said the recession in the U.S. is “likely over.” His comments came as Wall Street and federal officials reviewed more economic data which seemed to buttress the determination. Bernanke’s comments have also lead to a strong rally on Wall Street.

This story has been updated to correct the figure of billions of dollars in development to millions. It has also been edited to clarify that Bernero has talked about those projects previous to the CNN interview.