BIDEN CLAIMS INFLATION WAS 9% WHEN HE TOOK OFFICE — IT WAS 1.4%
“There’s never a bigger difference between the vibes and the actual numbers than we’re facing right now, and I don’t think we totally understand that,” Goolsbee said. “Maybe it’s rooted in a little bit if you ask people ‘How is your personal situation?’ and they say ‘Pretty good,’ ‘How is the national economy?’ They don’t like it at all. I think a lot of it comes from inflation being very unpopular and there is a bit of a lag behind conditions.”
The president of Chicago’s Federal Reserve Bank continued, saying the whole situation has “kinda got these cross-currents going, there’s some things that are very strong in the economy, there’s some things that are very aggravating in the economy, and that melts into a little bit of this vibe situation where people are more upset than what you would think they would be when the unemployment rate is low and the economy is growing.”
A customer shops at a grocery store on February 13, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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When asked, Goolsbee said that he feels “good” about major consumer brands slashing prices.
“You’ve had inflation that got too high in the U.S. and in other countries around the world,” he said. “Incomes didn’t keep up with that, now inflation has slowed in 2023, actually quite a lot. Inflation came down almost as much as it has ever come down, and we didn’t have a recession while that was happening, which was quite unusual. But prices are still higher than what they were before, and so you see people complaining about that.”
He elaborated further, “Food inflation is more volatile, it’s more up-and-down than other inflation, so in a way it’s good to see, and I’m not surprised to see that you’re seeing a little deflation on the food side. Because that got way up before in the years previous to [2023] as well.”
‘Varney & Co.’ host Stuart Varney argues Democrats are attempting to blame big food producers for the inflation they created.
High inflation has created severe financial pressures for most U.S. households, which are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. Grocery prices are up more than 21% from the start of 2021, while shelter costs are up 18.37%, according to FOX Business calculations. Energy prices, meanwhile, are up 38.4.%.
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FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.
