Consumers Reeling from Inflation, Stocks Fall | Schaftlein Report

Consumers Reeling from Inflation, Stocks Fall | Schaftlein Report
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Guest: Dave Brat – Liberty University Dean, School of Business
Topics:
1) Consumer Price Index up 7% and Producer Price Index up 9.7% in 2021 – With Supply Chain disruptions and too much money printing from the Federal Reserve, Where do we go from here?
2) Energy prices are up 59% last year and oil is hovering around $84 today, gasoline and heating oil prices are causing pain for Americans – The Biden energy policies are part of the cause for this
3) Real Hourly Wages fell by 2.7% from a year earlier despite significant wage gains and a tight labor market – Inflation was greater than the wage gains
4) U.S. government has spent $6T on Covid since the pandemic started and now Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell is ready to raise interest rates in March along with possibly 3-4 additional hikes – What effect will this have on the economy?
5) Republicans expect inflation to run 7% in 2022 – Democrats expect 3% – What explains this large gap?
6) Consumer Sentiment fell to 68.8% in January, the 2nd lowest level in a decade – For those earning less than $100K, the reading collapsed 10% from December to January
7) With Lael Brainard’s Senate Vote pending, questions about her positions come into focus – She states Inflation is the top issue to fight
*Is a potential leftward shift in Fed policy by broadening its goals from stable employment and inflation to push climate change and racial diversity?
8) Senators Sinema and Manchin come under widespread Democratic criticism for blocking changes to the filibuster requiring 60 votes to pass legislation
*By doing this, they helped preserve the integrity that is left in our governmental system – Senate Majority Leader Schumer pushes forward to his second major defeat