From Axios:
“Americans are furious about high inflation, according to the Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll. Economists say that high inflation has mostly been vanquished.
“Both are correct.
“Why it matters: If you look at the level of prices, they are way up since 2020. If you look at the rate at which prices are changing, it has returned to fairly normal levels. This intuition is crucial to understanding this confusing moment for inflation trends and public opinion around them.”
Axios goes on: ” About 72% of respondents said that groceries are where they feel most affected by inflation. 59% feel some sort of negative reaction when shopping for groceries: angry, anxious or resigned — with anger the most common of those.”
Despite that, Axios writes, when it comes to driving prices down, one has to be careful what one wishes for.
“When prices do fall broadly in an economy — not just for groceries but for everything — it tends to coincide with other not-so-pleasant conditions, including recession, troubles sustaining debt payments, and flat or falling wages.
“That’s why, even following a period of high inflation like we’ve just experienced, the Federal Reserve and other policymakers aim to keep prices rising slowly, not engineer an outright collapse of prices.”
The post Combatting Inflation: Be Careful What You Wish For appeared first on MNB.
View Original Article