America hath slain the beast known as inflation. (Or, at least, it’s hit a turning point.)
ICYMI: Last month, for the first time in four years, prices on everyday goods and services actually fell. In other words, this June was the first time since the pandemic started that we paid less for stuff compared with the previous month.
The surprise price decline is seismic news, at least among econ wonks and a narrow strata of reporters who follow this stuff with the fervor of a tween Swiftie.
RELATED ARTICLEPrices fell in June for the first time since the start of the pandemic
“Inflation is dead, and jobs are alive,” labor economist Aaron Sojourner tells me. “We have a very good chance right now of sticking the soft landing.”
Huzzah! Maximum employment and price stability? Let’s party.
But wait — what’s that I hear? Not the riotous cheers of American consumers dancing in the streets. Not a chorus of workers singing about the strongest labor market of their lifetimes, and no — I can’t even pick up on the sound of what I’m sure is an army of economists demanding sainthood for Jay Powell.
Instead, the single best economic news of the past decade is but a murmur of chit-chat, barely audible against a clamor of politicos shouting about President Joe Biden’s age.
And that has got to drive the Biden campaign absolutely nuts.
Bidenomics worked and no one caresFor the past three years, President Biden’s biggest political liabilities have been painfully obvious: his age and inflation.
One those problems has more or less evaporated — inflation has been steadily cooling, from 9% to 3% on annualized basis, for the past two years. Consumers are finally expressing some optimism, if not for the economy as a whole then at least for their own personal financial situations, the stock market and cooling inflation. |
