What you're not hearing about what Jerome Powell knows about inflation

Friday, June 24, 2022
Donald L. Luskin

He knows it's the stimulus spending, and he knows rate hikes can't fix it. So...

Update to Strategic View

Powell dissembles about his role in promoting fiscal stimulus, which is the cause of the money supply growth which, in turn, is the cause of the current inflation. Why deny it unless he understands that this is, indeed, the root of the problem -- and he wants neither to be complicit nor embarrass his patrons in the Congress. The spending has stopped, which implies that the inflation will stop all by itself, with a lag. At the same time Powell admits that higher interest rates can have no effect on reducing gasoline or food prices. So what's the point of causing a recession?