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Wind back the clock 20 years, and the U.S. economy looked a lot like it does today.
Unemployment in May 1998 was 4.3 percent and core inflation was 2.2 percent. Economists were trying hard to figure out why such low unemployment hadn’t led to higher inflation, as predicted by the past.
The theme of this year’s Jackson Hole confab sounds eerily similar to that of the 1998 conference. Two decades later, policy makers will still be discussing “dynamics,
But the problem facing Fed officials is that even though unemployment is at the lowest levels in nearly 20 years, inflation isn’t showing many signs of a pickup.
Comment:
What’s the mystery?? Are they that lame? From 1945 to 1975 we had 50% unemployed. The woman weren’t in the workforce? And we made every thing here, and the minimum wage had a lot of buying power.
Rockefeller mentioned half the population (woman) was not paying taxes. Meanwhile their husbands were paying plenty because the salaries were high. One breadwinner per household.
So now the private sector small business boss gets “two employees for the price of one”. Both work, no time to go anywhere, and no excess money to spend to create inflation. Besides all that, if the wages of the masses are generally lower than need be, even with 100% employed, its the same as many unemployed.