(Business Insider) 'Stagflation-lite': The worst-case scenario for the US economy looks like it's getting more likely

[Slartibartfast]

Stagflation is starting to look more likely

The US economy is beginning to see inklings of stagflation, with the job market flashing signs of weakness while inflation measures tick higher.

www.businessinsider.com

Investors have recently taken in a slew of data points that suggest the economic environment is rolling closer to stagflation — a dreaded scenario where inflation rises while economic growth slows and unemployment spikes.

That situation is thought of as even worse for policymakers to resolve than a typical recession, as high inflation prevents the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates to spur economic growth.

Stagflation first floated onto Wall Street's radar after President Donald Trump introduced his sweeping array of tariffs on April 2. Tariffs are thought to stoke inflation, as companies are likely to pass along at least part of the cost of import duties by raising prices. Meanwhile, they can slow growth by raising costs for businesses that rely on imported inputs

Probably the fastest way we can move away from this danger is to abandon the tariff stance, which help halt coming price increases while business try and cut costs to weather the storm.

What I expect to happen is for the Trump administration to begin cooking the BLS books to pretend like everything is fine.

 

[Ishm]

One of the biggest issues is the massive random uncertainty of how Trump operates. It is destroying the confidence that businesses need to have to continue to invest in the US economy. When the goal posts get randomly shifted every few weeks, you just have to stop trying to shoot goals. Personally, I think Trump has screwed up his tariff strategy anyway, but the ridiculous way that he changes his mind every 5 minutes is possibly even more damaging than the actual tariffs themselves at this point. If the tariffs were being driven by congress, as they should be, we wouldn't have this random insanity that Trump prefers to use to feed his own ego.

 

[CaughtInThe]

It's why he had to fire the head of BLS.

Trump is a liar, crook and pedophile.

 

[dmpi]

a. Inflation
b. stagflation
c. recession

The left's version of TACO.