The Fed chair breaks with Biden on inflation
Federal Reserve President Jerome Powell on Wednesday broke President Biden’s repeated attempts to blame the Russian invasion of Russian President Vladimir Putin for 40 years of high inflation.
Powell, who confirmed his second term as president last month, told the Senate Banking Committee that “inflation was high” before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, which increased global food and energy prices.
Sen. Sen. At a committee hearing after laying out the fact that inflation increased by 2021. Bill Haggerty (R-Tenn.) Drew criticism from Powell.
“I realized that there are a number of factors that play a role in that historical inflation – supply chain disruptions, supply constraints, we’ve got rising inflation expectations and excessive financial costs, but the problem arose from somewhere,” Hagerty said.
“In January 2021, inflation was at 1.4%. By December 2021, it was 7% – five times higher. % To 8.6%.
Hagerty asked Powell, “How has inflation escalated over the past 18 months? Would you say that the war in Ukraine is the primary driver of inflation in America?
“Inflation was not high before – certainly war broke out in Ukraine,” Powell said.
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” replied Hagerty. “The Biden administration seems to be turning the blame, and recently last Sunday, Putin spread misinformation that the Ukraine invasion was ‘the biggest driver of inflation.’ I’m glad you agree with me that that’s not true.
For months, the White House has been trying to brand “Putin’s price rise” since 1981.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is raising interest rates in an effort to control inflation.
Biden himself has said that massive government spending, including Republicans, Centrist Democrats, Amazon / Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, and – at least in one case – last year’s $ 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act helped boost inflation.
Inflation in the US in May – 8.6% – is above the Eurozone average of 8.1% and South Korea’s 5.4%. The latest data from Australia – 5.1% in March – show that the US inflation rate for that month is above 8.5%. Recent data from Canada – 6.8% in April – is above the comparable 8.3% US rate.
A study released by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in late March said that in the final quarter of 2021, about 3 percent of US inflation – or about half of it – could be caused by government epidemic spending. .
