July 14th 2021 - Comparing Inflations
The Fed has been printing money to deal with the current crisis, leading to rising inflation. Let's disaggregate national inflation to compare what different Americans might be experiencing: San Francisco: Inflation in SF was already slowing in 2019 before Covid, but March 2020 appears to have shaken things up, and while the re-opening in 2021 has spiked inflation, it is still well below April 2018 (4%). A significant part of inflation in the area is high gas prices. It appears that inflation in the area is even below pre-Covid levels, i.e., it doesn't appear that SF is experiencing a Fed-flation despite the high stocks prices that have significantly boosted tech stock prices and created a wealth effect among tech employees. Seattle: The Seattle story is the antithesis of SF's, i.e., the area was also experiencing a slowdown in inflation, but reopening has created a huge increase. Dallas & DC have a similar story: In mature cities like New York & Chicago infla