Former U.S. Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, who worked under the Clintons says that Biden’s economy is showing signs it’s ready to fail. I took his assessment of the market as a warning to Americans to be ready for rougher days ahead. Summers says he and others see the signs ahead that we’re headed for disaster.
“Look, for me, they were unwelcome, but not wholly unexpected. I think the right reading of the data all along has been that headline inflation fluctuates substantially, but we’ve got a significant underlying inflation problem and that’s what that core inflation rate where the month was faster than the quarter, the quarter was faster than the half year, the half year was faster than the year, and the year was faster than last year, that’s what it showed, and the month was at a close to 7 percent core rate,” Summers said.
“We’ve got a substantial underlying inflation problem,” Summer emphasized. “Another way to see that was the median inflation is higher than it’s been any time since we started collecting the data.”
Summers said he would not be surprised if the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to five percent in order to curb inflation.
“Whether the Fed is going to stay the course and do what’s necessary to contain inflation, we’re gonna have to see how that plays down the road,” he said.
“History records many, many instances when policy adjustments to inflation were excessively delayed and there were very substantial costs to that,” Summers said.
He said it is important for the Fed to raise rates quickly and consistently in order to avoid stagflation, a situation in which inflation is persistent and the economy is stagnant. He argued the Fed must work to bring down inflation now before unemployment rises and growth slows further.
Summers predicted that the economy will face trouble ahead, because again—What goes up, must come down.
“We are almost certainly going to see a downturn in the economy from where we are right now and clear-eyed realism about that is the most important thing for credibility and for the best possible outcome given the inflation that has been allowed to build,” Summers said.
Summers, of course, isn’t the only one we’ve seen lately saying that there are some dark days ahead. One point he made worth noting, to me, is that you can’t have unchecked inflation without a fall.