Fordham economics professor: There's not much Democrats or Republicans can do right now about inflation
NEW YORK -- While addressing inflation on Tuesday, President Joe Biden took aim at Republican policies.
Meanwhile, members of the GOP are using the issue to hammer Democrats in campaign ads, as the cost of everything continues to go up.
CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas spoke to economist about why he says the problem won't be going away anytime soon.
"Look, I know you've got to be frustrated. I know. I can taste it," Biden said.
While acknowledging the added hardships as costs soar due to inflation, the president and Democrats are in the hot seat.
When asked if he takes responsibility due to his policies, Biden said, "I think our policies help, not hurt."
Fordham University economics professor Dr. Giacomo Santangelo says right now there's not much either party can do to quickly turn things around.
"Given that the money supply was increasing faster than the production in the United States because of supply chain issues, all of that money just floating around drove prices up," Santangelo said.
The Federal Reserve has already raised the interest rate to slow inflation.
Santangelo says the other option is not viable, and includes increasing taxes while decreasing government spending.
"When we're spending tens of billions of dollars in Ukraine, as well as billions of dollars in the United States on infrastructure, this is not the time to start spending less," Santangelo said.
And the war in Ukraine only exacerbated the global crisis. Inflation was already on the rise before the conflict began.
"I went to my local supermarket just to get a few items, like five items, $30. Like, that was not last year. Last year, [I could get] five items for under $25 dollars," said Jovianne Vernet of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
So where does that leave you, the consumer, looking for even more places to cut back and buckling up for a long road ahead?
"The problem is on the other side of this, not only is it going to rain on your wedding day, but it's going to snow on your honeymoon," Santangelo said. "Once this is over, we're going into a recession."
Those are painful predictions after an already difficult pandemic, but Santangelo still says it's good to remain hopeful, while also being very cautious.
On Wednesday, the Department of Labor will release the inflation rate for April. They are expected to show a slight decrease. Some economists hope signals inflation may have hit its peak.
