Inflation Is Up—Temporary Bedfellow or Long-term Partner? | Off the Clock
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello, my love. I'm Ryan Weiss. And for the past 15 years, I've been an emotional intelligence coach and a spiritual guide. And I'm sharing with you my new podcast, Waking Up With Ryan. Waking Up With Ryan is a daily audio video podcast here to help you connect with yourself before the noise of the day takes over. So let's start our days together with a moment of calm that's just for you. Listen to Waking Up With Ryan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The work week may be over, but this economy, it never takes time off. I'm Justin Wolfers, and this is Off the Clock, unwinding the week's news, where I'm joined by my favorite economics journalist, Stacey Vanek-Smith, to talk about the week that was.
It's very good to be back, Justin. Thank you for having me. I am a columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek and the co-host of their podcast, Everybody's Business.
So you've been paying attention and today we're going to pick through the headlines and we're here to tell you what you should actually be concerned about, what you can safely ignore, and maybe we'll see if we can find some silver linings in there too. So we've got three big stories to talk about today, Stacey.
Yes. So, Justin, everyone's been talking about SpaceX, but you and I are purists. We only have eyes for larger, important economic topics like inflation. Is this just the passing through, crashing on your couch for a couple of nights kind of inflation that we're experiencing right now? Or is this the sticking around suddenly, strangely getting mail sent to your apartment kind of inflation? That's the big question.
Stacey, enough about your personal life. Let's make sure we talk about the economy. I love that. That was a real laugh. So look, we're going to move from the highs of inflation to talking about a big new report on the Social Security Trust Fund. And before you start yawning at home, we're going to hit the important points that you really need to know.
Also, exciting news. The World Cup kicked off this Thursday.
I saw what you did there.
Did you see what I did there? A lot of economics involved, right, Justin?
So much economics. And we're going to dig into the economics of the World Cup. And the World Cup is a metaphor for what's happening to our economy. Ready to get into it, Stacey?
I am ready. OK, Justin, are we really not going to talk about SpaceX?
I mean, yeah, let's. Let's really not do it. Okay. Okay. We won't talk about SpaceX. Who cares? It doesn't affect my life. You know what does?
What?
What headline economic stories set the agenda this week?
Inflation? I went to the grocery store.
Okay. Well, Justin, speaking of the grocery store, if SpaceX is like the jalapeno poppers of the week's economic news... I have only been thinking of spinach, a.k.a. inflation. We got a lot of inflation news. I'm really happy to have you here because I have some big questions about this. Just to explain a little bit, Consumer Price Index came out this week. That is the CPI, a.k.a. the big inflation report that comes out every month.
I like the fact so many acronyms. You got a CPI and an a.k.a.
Oh, right.
That's bad writing. It's bad writing. Yeah.
So yes, the CPI, the Consumer Price Index, it tracks prices all across the economy. And it came in kind of hot, 4.2%, which means prices across the economy on average are rising at a rate of about 4.2%. And the rate that we like to see, that economists like to see, is 2%. So it's a lot higher. So that's not great news. What did seem to be better news and where I'm really excited to start off here is that core inflation came in at 2.9%, a lot lower. So core inflation is inflation, but you take out gas prices and food prices, so it tends to be more volatile. So economists like yourself always like core inflation to sort of see how the fundamentals are moving.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:11
2
What headline economic stories set the agenda this week?
3:11–14:39
3
How hot was the latest CPI report and what does core inflation show?
14:39–18:07
4
How have real wages moved compared with rising prices?
18:07–26:13
5
Can the current inflation spike be just a transitory supply shock?
26:13–51:44
6
How do inflation expectations influence Fed policy decisions?
51:44–57:31
Speakers
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