MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Says ‘The Economy is Doing Well’ Despite Inflation and Increasing Costs

Jackson RichmanNov 11th, 2021, 2:32 pm
 

MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle said on Thursday that “the economy is doing well,” despite inflation and increasing costs.

During Stephanie Ruhle Reports, Ruhle remarked, “Nobody likes to pay higher prices, but one dirty little secret is that people are doing it in droves. We’ve got record household savings, retail demand is through the roof. Holiday spending is likely going to break records.”

She went on to ask CNBC’s Steve Liesman, “Why should we expect prices to go down or even slow when people are lining up to pay them?”

Liesman responded:

You know, Stephanie, I hope people realize how sophisticated your question is. When you ask the economics professors what they will say I that is one of the longer term breaks on inflation when people stop paying the price, start to substitute out for other things. What they teach you in economics class is well, meat’s too high, you go for chicken. Chicken’s too high, you go for fish. Actually, fish is very expensive.

All that said, that’s part of the process that happens. Another thing that happens, Stephanie, as you know, is that people will start businesses that will hopefully compete away or compete down excess profits that may be out there. Companies have been making a lot of money, so yeah, that’s part of the process. Consumers are paying it now, and so that’s not a break at the moment and the thinking is that they have all this money in their pocket from the stimulus. As that runs down, people will start to make the shoes that you’re talking about, and that over time has an effect of bringing down inflation.

Ruhle acknowledged the supply chain crisis and inflation, but put a positive spin to the current state of the economy in that it is better in some respects compared to last year.

“It’s a supply chain issue why people can’t get dishwashers. Another reason it’s because so many people have the money to renovate their kitchens,” Ruhle said.

“Republicans are clearly having a field day with this,” she continued. “I mean, this is like Mitch McConnell’s wildest dream,” said Ruhle. “They’re going to own this whole economic message despite the fact that the economy is doing well, right? Like we keep forgetting that a year ago this country was shut down. I said it before: Restaurants were laying off workers, and now they can’t even book enough holiday parties because there’s so much demand.”

There remain problems with the economy, despite those points.

Inflation last month increased by 6.2 percent, the highest in over 30 years, a factor in lowering real hourly wages, which, according to the Labor Department, experienced a 0.5 percent decrease from September to October.

Additionally, “gas prices soared to a seven-year high, reaching a nationwide average of $3.42 as of Tuesday,” reported USA Today, citing the American Automobile Association, also known as “Triple A.”

Inflation has caused everyday items to significantly increase, as highlighted by CNN’s Ryan Struyk:

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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