As the US economy continues its recovery from COVID-19, retail sales have jumped to 15% above pre-recession levels. But that consumption comes at a cost, stirring inflation for gas, food, and building materials. And amid those rising fears and the reality of considerable labor shortages and wage inflation, one question persists: could we have overstimulated the economy?
"Maybe we did," says John Chang, senior vice president and director of research services at Marcus & Millichap. "But that's probably a lot better than understimulating it and waiting years for a recovery."
But, there's a caveat, according to Chang: "the Fed, Congress, and the President will probably have to ease off the throttle a little bit so the situation doesn't spiral out of control," he says.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
