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White House economist addresses concerns over accelerating inflation - YouTube
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president biden is discussing inflation
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in high prices in los angeles today
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inflation is at its highest level in 40
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years the consumer price index jumped to
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8.6 in may year over year that is higher
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than expected so joining us now for more
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on this is jared bernstein he's a member
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of president biden's white house council
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of economic advisors jared welcome it's
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so great to have you with us
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so as you know the consumer price index
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released today by the u.s department of
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labor reveals inflation rose to its
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highest level in more than 40 years i
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mean that's telling the american people
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what they already know right because
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they're feeling it in their in their
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pocketbook so what is the administration
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doing to mitigate these prices both in
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the short and long term
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look it's a report that's a reminder why
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the president continues to talk about
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these price pressures as his absolute
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top domestic priority you mentioned
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his discussion today out in the polls
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i'm sorry out in the ports of long beach
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and
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nla and in fact there
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to answer your question
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we've engaged in a very deep agenda to
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help things move through the ports more
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quickly and we made a lot of headway in
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fact the throughput the rate at which
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goods are getting from ship to shelf
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actually hit historic highs in the past
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two quarters and shelves are stocked at
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rates much like before the pandemic i'm
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putting aside baby formula which is a
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separate problem with a separate set of
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interventions but shelves are basically
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back to the to where they were now that
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doesn't take any of the pressure off us
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because there are still as you've
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mentioned significant price pressures
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directly connected
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to the putin price hike the conflict in
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ukraine particularly pressures on energy
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and food they explain half of the
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monthly increase in last month's
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inflation well you said it um and and
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and with those uh big contributors like
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food and gas and shelter
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a number of americans
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are having a difficult time because they
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don't know
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when these prices will drop
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how much longer until we can expect to
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see some real change and reduction in
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those prices
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well look i mean i can cite forecasts
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from the market forecasters that tell us
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inflation should be growing slower
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towards the end of this year and into
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next year certainly none of the
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forecasts have it down to levels though
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that we think and that this president
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believes are most comfortable for
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american households so we really have
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two tasks one is to maintain the very
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strong economic backdrop that's going on
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amidst all of these price pressures the
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strongest labor market in generations
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the lowest unemployment rate the biggest
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decline in unemployment last year on
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record a rate 3.6 percent that looks
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much like that before the pandemic 8.7
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million jobs household and business
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balance sheets actually in good shape
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and that's not immaterial that's one of
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the reasons why we still see strong
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retail sales families out there engaging
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in travel but they're running right into
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these price pressures so part two is the
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three uh
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the three pieces of the president's
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inflation reduction agenda trust the fed
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let them do their thing independently
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work with congress and we really need
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congress to work with us to lower costs
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and three bring down the budget deficit
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1.7 trillion historic deficit reduction
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this year under president biden's watch
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that should also help ease inflationary
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pressures right and those are very real
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indicators you know uh for sure and it's
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worth mentioning those however you know
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the federal reserve expected to hike
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interest rates again next week in
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response to these surging prices but
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there are concerns that that could help
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plunge the economy into a recession i
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mean i think about all of those
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americans out there who you said are
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continuing to spend right but we know
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that some of them are continuing to
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spend on credit cards so some of that is
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going to become credit card debt whose
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interest rates are going to go up right
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so um
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what steps are being taken to ensure
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that that doesn't happen and lead to
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some sort of economic downturn because
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like you said right now the indicators
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are strong
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yeah this is a really important area of
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discussion so let me start out by saying
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what we mean by recession i don't mean
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we the white house i mean economists it
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often gets kind of abbreviated into
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consecutive quarters of gdp decline but
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really more technically it has to do
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with an increase in the unemployment
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rate something we very much haven't seen
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the unemployment rate of course has come
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down very quickly to a level that's just
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about where it was before the pandemic
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it has to do with job loss well in fact
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we've been adding 400 000 jobs per month
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it has to do with declining consumer
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spending we've seen very solid consumer
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spending now you mentioned debt in fact
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debt service meaning the
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amount of money that people have to pay
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to service their debt is at an historic
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low and one and that's a very good
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indicator because uh the last recession
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the great recession back in 2008 uh
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where i was president of vice president
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biden's chief economist household
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balance sheets were a mess actually now
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they're quite strong and that is an
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important buffer in this uh in this
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discussion that is important i know
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household by the way
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that's news to my ears yeah it's also
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good news i have to say
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jared bernstein we thank you so much
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great talking to you
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