Speaker 1: It's Friday, November twelve. I'm Oscar ramerrors from the Daily
Speaker 1: Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.
Speaker 1: Prices were up six point two percent last month, which
Speaker 1: is the largest rise in thirty years. Inflation is making
Speaker 1: everything more expensive and the era of cheap everything is over.
Speaker 1: Supply chain issues continue to be the main culprit for
Speaker 1: most of our post pandemic woes, but inflation could wipe
Speaker 1: away wage games and savings that many Americans are now
Speaker 1: having to spend. Kevin Dugan, reporter at New York Magazine,
Speaker 1: joined us for how everything is costing more. Thanks for
Speaker 1: joining us, Kevin, sure, thanks for having me. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about inflation. It's uh the big concern of the week.
Speaker 1: It seems like we got some new numbers saying that
Speaker 1: prices rose six point two percent in October. This is
Speaker 1: compared with last year. This is the largest rise we've
Speaker 1: seen in three decades. And you know, we're seeing it
Speaker 1: all over the place. We're seeing all the stories. Prices
Speaker 1: for everything is going up, food, home goods, rent is
Speaker 1: growing up. Everything's happening all at once right now, and
Speaker 1: you know, the era of cheap everything could very well
Speaker 1: be over. So Kevin, tell us a little bit about this.
Speaker 1: Right now, we are looking at price increases happening across
Speaker 1: the board because we have a lot of problems with
Speaker 1: the supply chain, and there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: who have a lot of money. They have a lot
Speaker 1: of money saved up because they got to work from
Speaker 1: home and they got to save their stimulus checks and
Speaker 1: they weren't going out so much. There are esthmates that
Speaker 1: I've seen put around two and a half trillion dollars
Speaker 1: extra was saved at the beginning of the pandemic. So
Speaker 1: that means that companies know that people can spend a
Speaker 1: lot of money. We're talking about consumers here. Consumers make
Speaker 1: up two thirds of the economy. So the reason why
Speaker 1: we're seeing this in some ways is because companies know
Speaker 1: that they can charge more and people will pay. And
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen wages go up as well in
Speaker 1: certain cases, and so some of those gains are just
Speaker 1: kind of being wiped out by all these higher prices. Now,
Speaker 1: wages have gone up a little bit, not as much
Speaker 1: as people are seeing in the grocery store or at
Speaker 1: the gas station. Right gas is up almost and it's
Speaker 1: going to get worse because fuel oil oil that people
Speaker 1: used to heat their houses is up even more. So,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people have seen their wages
Speaker 1: increase because they changed jobs or because they were in
Speaker 1: the position to demand more money from their employers. But
Speaker 1: one of the problems here is whether this is going
Speaker 1: to continue to outpace how much people are getting paid
Speaker 1: and it effectively means that people have gotten less money
Speaker 1: over the past year. What are we hearing when it
Speaker 1: comes to the White House, We're hearing President Biden saying
Speaker 1: this could be transitory, you know, meaning temporary. But you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of this stuff is tied to the supply
Speaker 1: chain issue that you know, we've talked about that on
Speaker 1: the podcast for a lot, and we we know that
Speaker 1: it's a problem right now getting all those goods stuck
Speaker 1: out at sea and just kind of getting things delivered
Speaker 1: on time. But what we're hearing is that the supply
Speaker 1: and chain issues are gonna go well into two So
Speaker 1: does that mean that inflation, the high inflation that we're
Speaker 1: experiencing now, is going to last that long as well. Well.
Speaker 1: Part of the reason why inflation is up so much
Speaker 1: is because last year at this time, things were still
Speaker 1: pretty flat right, We're still dealing with prices going down
Speaker 1: during the pandemic economy. So look, it remains to be
Speaker 1: seen how much this will how much prices will rise,
Speaker 1: or how long it will go. But if it continues
Speaker 1: at this rate, that would be very a lot. Biden
Speaker 1: has said that this is a major priority for him.
Speaker 1: In fact, it's such a priority that in the middle
Speaker 1: of the environmental summit going on, he is urging the
Speaker 1: Opeque countries to produce more oil because he right. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's a political liability for him. People need to
Speaker 1: fill up their cars, and even though your car might
Speaker 1: be it's well, it's probably worth more than it's ever
Speaker 1: been worth. Most people can't just sell it. They need it.
Speaker 1: So it is a big political liability for Biden. But
Speaker 1: there's no quick fix to it. This is a global problem.
Speaker 1: What are some of the traditional remedies we have to
Speaker 1: fight an inflation? While they're not very fun. It's increasing
Speaker 1: interest rates, it's making it more expensive to borrow, it's
Speaker 1: making it more expensive to take out a mortgage. Um,
Speaker 1: those are all the things that we've been keeping low
Speaker 1: up until this point. Exactly when Paul Vulgar was ahead
Speaker 1: of the fed. He spiked interest rates, as you know, deliberately.
Speaker 1: It is a way to shock the economy out of
Speaker 1: the inflationary pressures that were, you know, making it so
Speaker 1: difficult ago grocery shopping to buy food for your family.
Speaker 1: And it was very controversial at the time, but it
Speaker 1: ultimately did work to some extent, to a very large extent,
Speaker 1: even though there were you know, other repercussions that went
Speaker 1: along with it. So it's probably not what the Biden
Speaker 1: administration would like to do, but that remains to be seen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely something that needs to get under control. Obviously, those
Speaker 1: paychecks just aren't going as far when everything costs so much.
Speaker 1: But you did mention, you know, in the article there
Speaker 1: are some other positive signs for the economy as well,
Speaker 1: hiring a strong and a couple other things. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked about people saving up more money, so there
Speaker 1: are some good signs still at least. It's just this
Speaker 1: is the one thing, I mean, this is one of
Speaker 1: the big things we've got to get under control. This
Speaker 1: is not like the nineteen seventies, right. We have unemployment
Speaker 1: that is getting much lower, We are coming out of
Speaker 1: a very quick recession. People's wages are rising. And you know,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that there are these supply chain issues,
Speaker 1: we're not seeing gas lines. People are able to get food,
Speaker 1: maybe just not exactly what they want when they want it,
Speaker 1: so it's manageable. At this point, it looks like, well,
Speaker 1: we'll continue to see the effects of this and uh
Speaker 1: and how we try to remedy it. Kevin Dugan, reporter
Speaker 1: at New York Magazine. Thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. We appreciate it. Have a good day.
Speaker 1: I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't
Speaker 1: forget that. For today's big news stories, you can check
Speaker 1: me out in the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday,
Speaker 1: so follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.