Summers: We’re Closer to 70s-Level Inflation Than Most Realize

Breitbart ^ | 04/16/2022 | Ian hatchett

[ChicagoConservative27]

During an interview aired on Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” economist, Harvard Professor, Director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, and Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton Larry Summers argued that “we’re actually closer to being back” to the inflation levels of the 1970s than most realize.

[ChicagoConservative27]

We are already there. You numbnuts.

[Huskrrrr]

Most were saying this last year.

[HighSierra5]

No. This is 21st century stuff.

[rigelkentaurus]

Actually, we are higher than 70s inflation.

[mylife]

We are already there, sans gas rationing.

[rktman]

Closer? Said with a straight face?

[JonPreston]

President Sihthead is the problem, not US.

[oldasrocks]

Haven’t seen 20% interest rates at the banks yet.

[Leaning Right]

> “we’re actually closer to being back” to the inflation levels of the 1970s than most realize. <

The average American has not noticed any inflation in energy costs, food prices, etc. We think everything is swell. So thanks professor for pointing this problem out to us. You certainly earned your salary today.

What dolts these people are.

[Zathras]

The 70’s all began with the ‘73 oil embargo.
It crushed the auto industry, homes, construction and jobs.
Food not so much.
In both cases, the democrat President made it far worse than it should have been.
The GOP-e needs to stop flirting with Biden and Ukraine and declare war on the Democrat Party or this could get far worse than Jimmy Carter.

[citizen]

Haven’t seen 20% interest rates at the banks yet.

---

The problem with instituting Volker-like interest rates is doing so will eat up the entire fed gov budget just to service our $30 trillion debt load. So, the FED has truly put us between a rock and a hard place.

[Cboldt]

-- President Sihthead is the problem, not US. --

Congress has the power here. That they just follow the lead of President Shithead is another sign of institutional failure.

[Red6]

But...

This is where it gets scary. If things start to dip down and we go into a recession ***ON TOP*** of the inflation, that will truly bring us back to the era of stagflation.

Two months in a row car sales have been declining.

Four months in a row home sales have been declining.

Durable goods orders are down.

Consumer confidence is low, extremely low: https://data.oecd.org/leadind/consumer-confidence-index-cci.htm#:~:text=confidence%20index%20(CCI)-,This%20consumer%20confidence%20indicator%20provides%20an%20indication%20of%20future%20developments,unemployment%20and%20capability%20of%20savings.

The reason why the government can talk about low unemployment is because the labor participation rate is abysmal.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm

There is a good chance that our economy starts to shrink all awhile we have a high inflation rate.

Elections have consequence-

[citizen]

Haven’t seen 20% interest rates at the banks yet.

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Part 2: Furthermore, compared to 1980, we are 40+ years down the entitlement path with, percentage wise, millions more on the dole than back then. Raising interest rates significantly will now wreak havoc with our already fractured economy.

[cgbg]

Today there are the derivatives based on interest rates.

This is an insane wild card—anything could happen.

[Savage Rider]

I’ve recently been looking for my old W.I.N. button.

[thegagline]

From Shadowstats.com

Biden’s inflation.

[Carriage Hill]

That’s coming sooner than most people realize.

[citizen]

I’ve recently been looking for my old W.I.N. button.

---

Senile Joe would claim he did that, back then.

[Kenny500c]

Unemployment claims need to be expressed as a ratio, number of claims divided by eligible workers.

Many companies are structuring their employees as contractors so they don’t have to pay for insurance.