EXPLAINER: Why are fears of high inflation getting worse?
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Gas prices are rising. Not since the late 1960s and early ‘70s has the United States endured chronic high inflation, with consumer prices rising at or near double-digit percentages from one year to the next. Under Chair Jerome Powell, the Fed is betting that it can keep rates ultra-low even as the economic recovery kicks into high gear — and that it won’t have to quickly raise rates to stop runaway inflation. “A persistent material increase in inflation would require not just that wages or prices increase for a period after reopening, but also a broad expectation that they will continue to increase at a persistently higher pace,” Lael Brainard, a Fed governor and key voice on the central bank’s interest rate policies, said in an appearance Tuesday. If the public expects inflation to stick around 2%, then consumers and businesses won’t likely change their behavior much even if commodity prices rise.