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Welcome to Talking Feds, a round table that brings together prominent figures from government

law and journalism. For a dynamic discussion of the most important topics of the day,

I'm Harry Littman. The economy took center stage this week, with the announcement that we are

now experiencing the highest rate of inflation in 40 years. Administration officials and the

chair of the Federal Reserve System Jerome Powell saw it as a pivot point. Whereas just a few weeks ago,

the mantra was that inflation was transitory. Powell sheepishly opined that it was probably a

good time to retire that word. The core problem is that demand is as far outstripping supply.

Money is cheap and people have a fair bit of it in their pockets, including from the stimulus,

so they're eager to spend. But COVID, among other things, has crippled supply channels,

and a lot of people have left the workforce, so there are fewer products to buy. To combat inflation,

the Fed is now charting plans for a quicker increase in interest rates, which have hovered

at historic lows since the pandemic began. But the problem of inflation is just as acute if not

more so in political terms. Inflation is a political stink bomb. That means the current inflationary

spike is a serious political problem for President Biden. Even though as a practical matter,

his ability to influence it is limited. These problems play out in facts and figures,

but underneath they drive the daily mood and fortunes of people across the country,

which is, by and large, not so great. To help explain what's happening and what it augurs for

the coming months, I am joined by a superb panel of economic experts. And they are.

Annie Lowry, a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers economic policy, as she did previously,

at The New York Times and Slate. Her book, Give People Money, How Universal Basic Income Would End

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