America’s Most Important Economic Storyteller Is Confused

Work in ProgressAmerica’s Most Important Economic Storyteller Is ConfusedAn old economy is dying, and a new economy is struggling to be born. Now is the time of monstrously confusing data.By Derek ThompsonAn illustration of the dollar-bill portrait of George Washington shrugging in confusionThe Atlantic; GettyJune 17, 2022About the author: Derek Th... See more

But here’s the problem: If global energy prices don’t come down and global supply chains remain tangled by Omicron variants and other natural disasters, we might end up with the worst of both worlds: destroyed domestic demand and constricted global supply. Slow growth and high energy prices could mean the return of the dreaded stagflation.

What the Fed is actually trying to do here—as opposed to the story it’s telling about what’s happening in the economy—is clear, yet extremely difficult: It is trying to destroy demand just enough to reduce excess inflation but not so much that the economy crashes. This a little bit like trying to tranquilize a raging grizzly bear with experimental ... See more