Fmr. Obama Economic Adviser: Lowering 'Very Unacceptably High' Inflation without 'Ruining' Unemployment Gets More Difficult 'by the Day'

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” Harvard Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy Jason Furman, who was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama said that it “gets more challenging” to bring down the “very unacceptably high” levels of inflation without “ruining” low unemployment every single day and that “the American Rescue Plan has played a role in that inflation.”

Furman began by saying, “I think the truth is that gas price inflation mostly is due to the fact that President Putin invaded Ukraine and the set of events that fell out of that. Everything else on gasoline prices is tiny compared to that. … I think the rest of the inflation would still be a problem even if it weren’t for gas price inflation. And absolutely…I think the American Rescue Plan has played a role in that inflation. I think the Fed being behind the curve has played a role in that inflation. Now, what’s most important is what we’re doing about it going forward. Right now, most of the answer is in the Fed. I think he’s appointed good people to the Fed. Those people are advancing through the confirmation process. And we’ve seen Jay Powell really shift towards saying his main problem, our main problem as a country is inflation, and he’s exactly right, now he needs to do something about it.”

He added, “I mean, this is an economy where the glass is partly full and partly empty. The full part is the 3.8% unemployment rate. Americans are talking in a pessimistic manner, but they’re not behaving in a pessimistic manner. You look at the spending numbers, people feel great about the economy. They’re out there. They’re spending money. They’re buying things. But inflation is very unacceptably high. It’s a real problem and it affects everyone. So, there’s a good and a bad. I think if the Fed can land this plane, maybe they can bring the inflation down without ruining the other part of it. But that gets more challenging to sort of do that tricky plane landing by the day.”

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