The Biden administration is sending very mixed messages on inflation and the economy. At one point this week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki downplayed the problem and seemed to suggest once again that it’s temporary.
Then Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dropped a major dose of reality in an interview.
Andrew Mark Miller reports at FOX Business:
Treasury Sec. Yellen contradicts Psaki: Likely to see another year of ‘very uncomfortable’ inflationTreasury Secretary Janet Yellen appeared to contradict the White House in a Thursday interview after saying that she expects another year of “uncomfortably high” inflation.”I think there’s a lot of uncertainty related to what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine and I do think that it’s exacerbating inflation,” Yellen said on CNBC Thursday. “I don’t want to make a prediction exactly as to what’s going to happen in the second half of the year, you know, we’re likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain very uncomfortably high.”Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki suggested inflation would “moderate” at the end of this year and that it continues to be the “projection” that high inflation will be “temporary.””We rely on the assessment of the Federal Reserve and outside economic analysts who give an assessment of how long it will last. The expectations and their assessment at this point is that it will moderate at the end of the year,” Psaki said.
See Yellen’s interview below:
Here’s a good side-by-side comparison:
Just to give you an idea of where we are, inflation just hit the highest spike since 1982.
From the Associated Press, via U.S. News & World Report:
US Inflation Soared 7.9% in Past Year, a Fresh 40-Year HighPropelled by surging costs for gas, food and housing, consumer inflation jumped 7.9% over the past year, the sharpest spike since 1982 and likely only a harbinger of even higher prices to come.The increase reported Thursday by the Labor Department reflected the 12 months ending in February and didn’t include the oil and gas price surges that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Since then, average gas prices nationally have jumped about 62 cents a gallon to $4.32, according to AAA.Even before the war further accelerated price increases, robust consumer spending, solid pay raises and persistent supply shortages had sent U.S. inflation to its highest level in four decades. What’s more, housing costs, which make up about a third of the government’s consumer price index, have risen sharply, a trend that’s unlikely to reverse anytime soon.“The numbers are eye-watering, and there is more to come,” said Eric Winograd, senior economist at asset management firm AllianceBernstein. “The peak in inflation will be much higher than previously thought and will arrive later than previously expected.”
It’s scary to think where we could be a year from now if nothing changes.
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