But first, off Dow Jones newswire -
Xavier Fontdegloria reports for Dow Jones:
The U.S. economy contracted in December for the sixth consecutive month, adding to evidence of weakening economic activity at the year end amid rising interest rates and high inflation.
Here's Janet Yellen column in Thursday's Journal. You may recall her "inflation is transitory" comment nine months ago.
Biden Has the Economy Back on Track. His policies have helped the country weather a global economic storm and invest for the long term.
Yet the worst didn’t materialize. Fears of a protracted economic crisis—in which millions of homes, businesses and livelihoods would be lost, many never to return—didn’t become reality. Instead, the American Rescue Plan and vaccination campaign helped spur the fastest pace of job creation in American history.
Importantly, the recovery avoided the scars that are typically inflicted during recessions and borne in their aftermath. Foreclosures and evictions fell and remain below pre-pandemic levels, as did bankruptcies and debt collection. By one measure, child poverty plunged to a record low last year. And early this year the uninsured rate reached an all-time low.
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The Biden administration’s top economic priority is to tackle inflation. The Federal Reserve has the primary responsibility, but we are taking complementary actions to expand supply and provide cost relief. While the future path of the economy remains uncertain, there are signs that the supply-demand imbalances that have been boosting inflation are now easing in many sectors of the economy.
Energy has been a key focus of the administration’s work. Most recently, the U.S., along with allies and partners, implemented an innovative policy to cap the price of Russian oil and stabilize energy prices. We have also shored up crude-oil supply through the president’s release of 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Today, average U.S. retail gas prices are about $1.50 a gallon lower than this summer’s peak.
We are seeing signs of progress in other areas where we’ve taken action, even as we redouble our efforts. Freight shipping rates and wait times at many U.S. ports have fallen, in part due to the Biden administration’s work to ease supply-chain bottlenecks. Late last month, there were no container ships waiting outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, down from more than 100 at the start of this year. The administration has also provided targeted relief to families to help with rising costs of living. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, millions of Americans will save on their energy, health-insurance and prescription-drug costs.
More broadly, recent economic reports indicate that the U.S. economy remains resilient. It’s growing amid a global slowdown and tightening financial conditions. The labor market is strong, with the unemployment rate near a 50-year low. Household balance sheets remain healthy, consumer spending is robust, and credit-card delinquencies are low.
As the economy emerges from the global economic storm, the U.S. will be in a uniquely strong position to capitalize on the future. This fall, I toured the country to see the early results of a trifecta of historic long-term investments that the Biden administration has made: a generational investment to modernize crumbling roads and bridges, a major expansion of American semiconductor manufacturing, and the most aggressive action on the climate crisis and long-term energy security in our nation’s history.
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