Inflation during the holidays may be a sign of the most significant generation gap in decades
The inflation that is reshaping both the American economy and American politics is coming home for the holidays.
The seeds of that potential generation gap will not be racial integration or political alienation or even party polarization but, instead, inflation. Public opinion data assembled by Pittsburgh-based CivicScience show worry throughout the generations – but that those between the ages of 18 and 29 are twice as likely as those older than 65 to say they are “not at all concerned” about inflation.
They experienced how, as Robert J. Samuelson wrote in a 2008 retrospective on the Great Inflation, “inflation’s climb and collapse exerted a dominant influence over the economy’s successes and failures,” adding, “Inflation and its fall shaped, either directly or indirectly, how Americans felt about themselves and their society; how they voted and the nature of their politics; how businesses operated and treated their workers; and how the American economy was connected with the rest of the world.
At the same time, inflationary expectations, perhaps more dangerous than inflation itself, prompted other deleterious effects. That is why former president Gerald Ford urged Americans to wear “WIN buttons,” standing for “Whip Inflation Now,” one of the more risible and unsuccessful efforts to stanch inflation expectations. In a February, 1980, interview with editors, Mr. Carter, who had defeated Mr. Ford in part because of economic issues, said, “It would be misleading for me to tell any of you that there is a solution to it.
The disinflation that attacks inflation is a monetary tightening that jacks up interest rates and creates a recession. That’s why central banks are so vigilant about keeping inflation low. Once it gets to 6 per cent and stays there, the public clamours to get it back down and that’s painful.
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