Washington Needs To Acknowledge The Inflation Menace

Washington Needs To Acknowledge The Inflation Menace

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell considers an answer at Congressional testimoney. (Photo by Jim ... [+] Lo Scalzo -Pool/Getty Images) The Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Treasury have each dismissed the prospect of inflation problems. Every Washington authority describes recent signs of accelerating price pressure as "transitory," though sometimes in different words. Indeed, these experts think so little of the risk that Fed Chairman Jay Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen show no inclination even to explain why they have reached their optimistic conclusions. Yellen did briefly take things seriously enough to describe how policy might change should the inflation risk become a reality, but then she quickly retracted her remarks. Yet, prices have accelerated across the board, and financial markets have found reason for concern in how the Fed has poured liquidity on the economy for years and in how the federal budget will run huge deficits for some time to come. Recent inflation news is certainly noteworthy. Commodity prices have surged - oil and lumber, metals and even food products “” in some cases more than 100% from 2020 levels. To be sure, commodity prices are notoriously volatile and often give false signals, but more stable and reliable