Spending was one of the forces behind US inflation, but not the driving force. That was significant supply chain issues brought about by COVID. It's why, back in June, 2022 the US was about the middle of the pack in terms of global inflation. Almost every country on this list was experiencing inflation rates double or more than the average they had experienced the past 20 years. There is no way that US spending was the driving force behind all this global inflation. And many countries on the bottom of this list, like China and Japan, artificially suppress inflation. Since June, 2022, the US has actually had lower inflation and better growth than any of the other G7 countries. Has our spending habits changed significantly? Or, has supply chain issues present during the pandemic finally resolved itself? US inflation is still higher than the target 2%, but other countries are still in the process of recovery, and globally, we can't fully escape it when other countries are experiencing rising prices.
While I hope you are right, it isn’t obvious to me this is the case, yet. It is true that CPI will likely be muted for some time due to the leveling off of housing/rents - and that may keep cpi low ish for a year or more. But energy could tick up again, and wage pressure can also push inflation. It took more than a decade to get inflation to really low levels after early 80s.
Between all of Covid spending, the other additional bills, the Biden giveaways and the Fed lowering rates and buying government securities between mid 2020 and early 2021, was the equivalent of 1.5 years of GDP in liquidity
2020 to 2022 GDP without government spending dropped by 7% to the trend it was on. That’s a $4T fall in GDP over 3 years. Government spending went up $5T to the trend it was on. You’re left with about $330B per year of extra GDP. Yea… real impactful. Oh and that’s $5T spending increase if you use a generous assumption it was only going to go up 3% even though Trumps 2019 was an 8% spending increase. If you assume that 8% was the government spending trend then the real spending was up $4T to trend, same as Non-govt spending fell. No extra gdp. Reality is government spending mostly replaced non govt GDP whether you admit it or not it is irrelevant. It is what it is.
I don’t care who the POTUS is. I want this to be wrong. But … The fact that economists can't really figure out why any of this is happening is causing more confusion. The lack of answers means that a clearer economic policy is unlikely to come into focus and there is more economic frustration coming. That just happens to also be coming with a major federal election cycle on the way, and everything could go to economic hell right as the presidential campaigns really get going. We May Not Be Getting That Economic 'Soft Landing' After all
Is it me or are gas prices dropping like a stone. Now under $3.00 here in TX. Diamond Joe strikes again!
Positive news. A tame inflation report on Thursday would likely kill the prospect of an interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve at its next meeting, despite signs of continued strength in the labor market. Fed officials are watching the consumer-price index, and other data, as they mull whether another rate hike this year will be necessary to keep inflation declining. CPI Report Shows September Inflation Steady at 3.7%
chinese SPR phase 1 is full and their demand is dropping as their economy continues to struggle. Pair that with two large new refineries coming online adding over 1M barrels per day of refined products to the market and electric car sales increasing. As always, POTUS has very little to do with it
average gas prices in Florida down 13 cents in the past week, 20 cents in the past month, according to AAA. Still 1 cent higher than a year ago.