Daniel Solis

Abstract:

The modern U.S. economy has been undergoing significant stresses. The Covid Pandemic caused the economy to shut down and unemployment to skyrocket. Then, as the economy began to recover from the pandemic, it began to overheat. Supply chain issues, pent-up demand from people not being able to spend during COVID, and a Russian Invasion of Ukraine that created increased global uncertainty and would cause shortages in the grain and oil markets would lead to a massive spike in inflation. The result of this is the United States is currently experiencing stubbornly high inflation at heights not seen in 40 years. This presentation will provide a brief background and history of the Fed over the last twenty years, as well as a review of the current economic conditions, to see how we got to the point that we are today. The presentation will then go into some different theories as to why inflation is remaining stubbornly high and has not gone down as much as predicted despite the historic tightening cycle being undertaken by the Fed.