White House Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein on Thursday predicted the 40-year high inflation rates in the United States would “come down significantly in 2022.”
Bernstein told CNN’s “At This Hour” that the economic outlook from the January consumer price index is not as “grim” as it appears.
“The president has two top economic priorities,” Bernstein outlined. “One is to make sure that we have the fastest growing economy, the tightest job market, offering great opportunities for any comers who want to come into this job market. The second is to do all we can to ameliorate these price pressures. Now, there is some light in this report under the hood. It’s not quite as grim as your reporting suggests.”
“I expect inflation to come down significantly in 2022,” he added. “Now, more to the point, that’s not just my expectation — that’s the expectation of every forecast I’ve looked at, and it’s very important. Basically, what the forecasts tell you is that the job market should stay tight and get even tighter supporting wage growth while inflation decelerates while it slows. So, virtually every forecast has inflation growing about half as fast this year as it did last year. Now half as fast still might take you above the Fed’s target, but if that occurs, that’s going to be a real sign that some of our interventions, some market interventions are helping to ease these price pressures.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent