The Flinchum File

Thoughtful Economic Analysis and Existential Opinions
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Morning Factoids

As a longtime member of NABE (National Association of Business Economics), I enjoy reading the periodic surveys of other members.  The latest shows:

  1.  78% of members think the Russia-Ukraine war will make the supply-chain bottlenecks even worse.

  2.  A whopping 95% think global GDP will fall, due to the war . . . but not much.

  3.  To lower the price of gas, 31% think we should release more from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (I disagree!)

  4.  80% think CPI will remain above 3% thru 2023.

  5.  50% think fiscal policy is too stimulative, up from 34% last year.

  6.  78% think monetary policy is too stimulative, up from only 20% last year.

No question – both Congress and the Fed have stimulated the economy enough.  The question becomes how to reduce stimulation without inducing a recession.  The Fed is already starting to change monetary policy to be less stimulative.  Congress continues to be more partisan than potent in changing fiscal policy.