Hi ,
Soaring consumer prices, supply chain shocks, rising energy costs and a hawkish Federal Reserve determined to bring inflation under control: These are the worrisome attributes of the U.S. economy that have some experts sounding the alarm over a possible return to 1970s-style “stagflation.”
Stagflation is the combination of economic stagnation and high inflation, characterized by soaring consumer prices as well as high unemployment.
The phenomenon ravaged the U.S. economy in the 1970s and early 1980s, as spiking oil prices, rising unemployment and easy monetary policy pushed the consumer price index as high as 14.8% in 1980, forcing Fed policymakers to raise interest rates to nearly 20% that year.
Learn more in the top story in our Note & Real Estate News section below.
