Blog: Inflation, "The Man Who Came to Dinner."
Inflation and high interest rates will not be going away.
A great but somewhat overlooked holiday movie is "The Man Who Came to Dinner." Originally a Kauffman and Hart stage play, it was turned into a classic movie in 1942. The plot deals with an acerbic radio announcer, Sheridan Whiteside, who slips on the sidewalk outside of a prominent family's brownstone injuring his hip. He had just had a Christmas dinner with them as a publicity stunt. Whiteside insists on convalescing in the family's home and ends up dominating it. And he won't leave, faking continued injury to stay there. If you like screwball comedies from the 1940s I highly recommend it.
The Fed re-pivoted this week away from employment back to inflation, which, as we saw on Friday, just won't go away. While a positive spin was put on the low monthly change in the PCE index two days later, the story still doesn't support significant rate cuts next year. Inflation, as well as higher interest rates, appear to be pulling a Whiteside and are here to stay. Except, they won't be faking anything to stick around.