US policymakers misjudged inflation threat until it was too late: WP

NEW YORK - The recent price hikes of houses and cars have eventually fused to create a much broader calamity in the United States, rattling the economic and political foundations of the country and making clear that policymakers have failed to recognize the mounting inflationary crisis, reported The Washington Post.

"Prices for just about everything Americans buy -- gas, groceries, housing, cars, clothes, even TVs -- have spiked in the past two years. Inflation, which had been scarcely noticeable for decades, is suddenly the top concern most people have about the economy," said the report on Monday.

A combination of factors including surges in COVID-19, supply chain problems, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a dramatic shift in consumer spending patterns, all made things more expensive, according to the report.

On July 19, 2021, US President Joe Biden played down the risk of persistent inflation, telling reporters that price hikes "are expected to be temporary". This month, Biden called reining in prices his "top domestic priority", said the report.

"If you had perfect hindsight you'd go back," Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States, was quoted as saying. "And it probably would have been better for us to have raised rates a little sooner."