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Prices in goods and services continue to rise from gas prices, lumber, cars, and now food. The Federal Reserve have now moved up its timeline for rate hikes as inflation rises. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation for the country has been around 2% the past decade and rose to 5% this May.

Tony Katz talked to economist Dr. Matt Will of University of Indianapolis about the sudden rise in prices.

“Inflation is a very simple calculation. It’s too much cash and not enough stuff to buy. There’s only two people in this country that can do that the Federal Reserve board and the federal government.”

President Biden has offered up to 12 trillion in spending since he took office in January. Even though the government hasn’t spent up to that amount, the combination of spending and the government giving out money this past year has added up.

“At the same time with the federal reserve board they can cause inflation by pumping cash into the economy. They’ve been doing this for a while now and it’s finally caught up with them.”

Dr. Will says Trump’s administration was also known for spending, but the economy was booming with goods and surfaces to level it out.

Currently the Federal Reserve believes the inflation will only be a few months, but Dr. Will says they need to act now.

“There’s lot of things they can do, but they just don’t want to do it. The feds have said ‘there’s nothing to see here…’ They’re calling this transitory that means they think it’s temporary.”

Dr. Will says while we shouldn’t panic, the feds need to see this issue with more urgency.

“They’re not really taking it seriously and I don’t know if they’re going to. Maybe if we have 3 or 4 months of high inflation, maybe they’ll take it seriously. But they aren’t doing anything. They are just saying they ‘might’ do something at the end of 2023. That’s not enough.”

Check out the full interview with Dr. Matt Will below:

https://omny.fm/shows/tony-katz-and-the-morning-news/inflation-on-the-rise