James Carville was working with the Clinton campaign in 1992 when he famously said, “It’s the economy stupid!” He got sick of being asked what Clinton was running on. He’s still right. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced rate cuts won’t happen til late this year, hurting Biden’s chances for re-election. This will keep interest rates up so people will be less able to buy big ticket items.
The Federal Reserve sees it
Powell isn’t confident inflation is leaving. He spoke at a discussion at the Wilson Center. “Recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence” that inflation will relax and “instead indicate that it’s likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence. If higher inflation does persist we can maintain the current level of (interest rates) for as long as needed.”
“As long as needed” can go on for a long time. The effort was made at the Wilson Center to try make Biden look a little better.
Fed's Powell: Elevated inflation will likely delay rate cuts this year https://t.co/nu2U5oboDX
— KGW News (@KGWNews) April 17, 2024
The Reserve isn’t budging
Powell had made comments to Congress March 7 that maybe he wasn’t far from gaining needed confidence to cut rates. Powell instead said no and that more information is needed. “It’s appropriate for us to be careful.”
The average person tunes out anything federal when the talking heads tell them the economy is great when in fact the grocery store run or fueling up their vehicle shows that prices haven’t dropped. Inflation is supposedly shrinking. What you don’t hear is that it’s still going up, just not as fast.
The Federal Reserve says no
Powell said inflation isn’t under control and it’s going to stay for some time. Biden is in his own world, singing that the economy is great. He said, “America has the best economy in the world!” on NBC’s Today.
He can talk all he wants, like other talking heads, but Americans don’t see the relief yet. Gas prices are up 14% alone just this year. Eviction rates have skyrocketed to 78.6%. People can’t afford rent. Your screen tells you one thing but reality says something different.
