On the market, Americans are getting mixed messages. The economy is booming, jobless is at an all-time low, and earnings are rising. However, inflation — a broad trend of increasing consumer prices — would be at a four-decade high, and this fact appears to be overshadowing any good economic news for many voters.
On February 13, Panelists on ABC’s “This Week” debated Americans’ worries about hyperinflation during an informal debate. The Center for American Progress CEO and president, Patrick Gaspard, says the coronavirus outbreak is to blame for rising prices. “We all understand that monetary policy is produced by global economies closing and reopening at the same time,” Gaspard explained.
Cross-national data demonstrates that the United States’ economic growth has exceeded other big, comparable economies. Analysts agree that this quick expansion has contributed to the country’s current high inflation rate, reports Wral.com.
Main Causes Of Inflation
However, strong economic development is not the main cause of high inflation in the United States. Gaspard’s office cited an OECD report from February 7 as proof of his allegation. According to the report, the United States was the only nation of the Group of Seven industrialized economies whose asset prices economic output rose above its pre-pandemic level.
The G-7’s other six members — Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, and Great Britain — have not yet achieved the GDP levels seen in the final quarter of 2019. This backs up Gaspard’s observation on “This Week.”
Other calculations support his claim of strong growth in the United States. For example, suppose you remove the annual increase from GDP growth to give a more appropriate GDP analogy to rising prices. In that case, the United States ranks fifth among some Group of 20 countries (a wider group of large economies than the G-7).
Only Turkey, India, China, and South Korea were ahead of the US in this category.