Larry Summers, a Democratic economist who issued a warning to President Joe Biden back in 2021 about the dangers of his reckless government spending, stating it would ultimately lead to a massive inflation crisis, has once again sent word that things are not getting better and that inflation is actually a whole heck of a lot higher than the official numbers from the government. So wait a minute. Is Summers saying the government is lying to the American people?
In other news, poop smells bad. Very bad.
According to the Daily Wire, the new warning from the economist comes just after the Biden economy took a Mike Tyson style shovel hook right to the liver on Wednesday when a hotter-than-expected inflation report was put out, revealing a 3.5 percent increase over the course of the last year, which is the highest year-over-year increase we’ve seen since September 2023.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index data — which was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — key drivers of the higher rates include car insurance, groceries, electricity, and gas. New parents and pet owners are feeling the pinch as well, with baby food now up over 30% since 2021 and pet food up 23.7%.
The higher-than-expected inflation numbers come just a day after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed that overall household finances were “quite strong” — and may put a sizable kink in any plans to begin bringing interest rates back down.
“I was not hugely surprised by the numbers,” Summers went on to say after being asked during a Bloomberg News interview for his thoughts on the latest inflation numbers. “In an economy that’s growing faster than potential, with an unemployment rate that has a three handle in the presence of massive and growing budget deficits and epically easy financial conditions, the idea that inflation would remain robust, or even accelerate, should not be a surprise to anyone.”
I don’t think anyone is shocked to see how bad the numbers are currently. Every time I go to the grocery store I’m reminded of how much damage Biden has managed to do to the economy during his four years in office. Allow me to share a little personal anecdote. I had my most profitable year in my writing career in 2021. I had a ton of work coming in and a very solid stream of income that I could pay the bills with and have a decent sum left over. Groceries only cost me maybe $200 bucks a week to feed my entire family. And that was with a pretty sizable surplus of goods to snack on too.
Fast forward to this year and my grocery bill is close to $500 and that’s just getting things to make meals and have a little extra for smaller food items. That’s well over double what I was paying before. Thanks, Biden. I have a few choice terms to apply to the president, but given this is a family program, I’ll refrain.
Summers said that inflation is actually running higher than the 3.5% number that the Biden administration released.
“It was not me or some outside observer who emphasized the concept of super core inflation — that is taking out the transitory stuff and also taking out housing — and by that measure, inflation is running at above a 6% rate,” he explained. “And the three month rate exceeds the six month rate and the six month rate exceeds the one year rate.”
Summers warned that interest rates are likely to climb even higher now — making it harder for Americans to buy homes and cars — and that “markets could crash.”
“This confirms the idea that the neutral rate is way above the 2.6% level that the Fed has been using as a North Star,” Summers continued. “In my view puts back on the table, it is still not what I would expect, but you have to take seriously the possibility that the next rate move will be upwards rather than downwards. And anything could happen, markets could crash, the indicators could turn down. But on current facts, a rate cut in June, it seems to me would be a dangerous and egregious error comparable to the errors the Fed was making in the summer of 2021 when it just didn’t get the threat on inflation.”
.@lhsummers, former US Treasury Secretary and Wall Street Week contributor, says he's not surprised inflation rose again in March, but he says an interest rate cut in June by the Federal Reserve would be dangerous https://t.co/VVbO71W83N pic.twitter.com/enjnKsEm5Z
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) April 10, 2024
Just last year, Summers warned that the trend concerning inflation rates under the current administration matched those our nation witnessed under the failed leadership of President Jimmy Carter. What will really pucker your butt is that Summers doesn’t believe we’ve seen the worst of inflation.
“It is sobering to recall that the shape of the past decade’s inflation curve almost perfectly shadows its path from 1966 to 1976 before it accelerated in the late 1970s,” Summers wrote in a post on X that included a graph showing how inflation under Biden has mirrored inflation under Carter.
It is sobering to recall that the shape of the past decade’s inflation curve almost perfectly shadows its path from 1966 to 1976 before it accelerated in the late 1970s. https://t.co/UpEk7x6FQt pic.twitter.com/q9PwBRKzxN
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) August 25, 2023