Steven Rattner, a former adviser to the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama, has a new op-ed in the New York Times titled, “I warned Democrats about inflation. Why didn’t they listen?”:
The “transitory” debate is over. Inflation has arrived, faster than most predicted. Time to look at what went wrong—and start taking steps to make it right. My latest @nytopinion: https://t.co/61zkgKTmZw
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) November 17, 2021
What make’s Rattner’s critique important is that he’s arguing that Biden’s Build Back Better bill with “spark more inflationary pressures field by budget gimmicks”:
Unlike Summers, Rattner argues that Build Back Better bill will spark more inflationary pressures fueled by budget gimmicks.https://t.co/c8PoHiL11I
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) November 17, 2021
And he’s calling on the administration to “come clean with voters about the impact of its spending plans on inflation”:
Recommended
Op-ed from Steven Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury secretary in the Obama administration.
“The administration should come clean with voters about the impact of its spending plans on inflation." https://t.co/mQaOsZD1cT
— Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) November 17, 2021
Yes, how DID the administration “loaded with savvy political and economic hands” pushing socialist and big government policies “have gotten this critical issue so wrong?” It’s a real mystery!
“How could an administration loaded with savvy political and economic hands have gotten this critical issue so wrong?
They can’t say they weren’t warned”
Steve Rattner in NYT: https://t.co/Hcs9UyOyzt
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) November 17, 2021
And before Dems distance themselves from Rattner, he’s a “pillar of the Democratic party establishment”:
From a pillar of the Democratic party establishment, quote: "How could an administration loaded with savvy political and economic hands have gotten this critical issue so wrong?" https://t.co/GZplvQRITk
— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 17, 2021
He does have a plan:
Last time around, we probably didn’t do enough. This time, we overcorrected. Inflation is here—now we have to deal with it. My latest @nytopinion: https://t.co/61zkgKTmZw
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) November 17, 2021
But Dems won’t like it. His conclusion from the op-ed:
For the Fed, addressing inflation will mean raising interest rates, perhaps sooner than it thinks necessary. The Fed targets average annual inflation of 2 percent. So if or when the pace of price increases gets stuck far above that level, the central bank will need to raise interest rates to address the problem. While the Fed thinks this won’t happen until late next year, the bond market believes rates will be hiked by midyear.
The responsibility for easing inflationary pressures also lies with the Biden administration. To its credit, it is scrambling to address the supply shortages, doing things like unclogging ports. But other ideas, such as releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, amount to distracting symbolic moves that are unlikely to have a significant effect on inflation.
The White House needs to inject some real fiscal discipline into its thinking. Given the importance of Mr. Biden’s spending initiatives, the right move would be to add significant revenue sources. Yes, that means tax increases. We can’t get back money badly spent. But we can build this economic plan back better.
Fiscal discipline going into the 2022 midterms and 2024? Not likely.
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