Inflation ‘unacceptably high’ but ‘moving in the right direction,’ White House economic adviser says

A White House economic adviser acknowledged Sunday that inflation is “unacceptably high” but said it was being hampered by lower prices at the tap.

Jared Bernstein, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, said that inflation has forced Americans to save money that increased during the pandemic.

“Inflation — which is very high, let’s be clear — rose 1.3% in June,” Bernstein said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Again, the official increase, half of that increase is in electricity prices alone. Now since that time, the price of gas has dropped 50 cents a gallon.”

The national average for a gallon of regular was $4.53 as of Sunday, according to the auto owners group AAA. This is down 47 cents from a month ago but still about $1.36 more than a year ago.

Mr. Bernstein also pointed to strong consumer spending despite rising inflation challenging the idea of ​​a recession, something economists have increasingly warned is imminent within the next year or two.

“I want to make it clear: there are a lot of people who are struggling with this inflation, but as an economist, if you look at the savings in the economy, it is in the trillions,” he said. . “People are using that money to continue spending consumer money.”