COVID Has Broken the Economy
Pandemic-related disruptions to the economy may well last for years, not months.
Since March 2020, the state of the economy has been tied inexorably to the state of the pandemic. And although many people in this country are leading their lives without regard to case numbers, that absolutely remains the reality. Specifically, the pandemic is contributing to the rising inflation rates that are causing the Biden administration such heartache.
The consumer price index 6.2 percent from October 2020 to October 2021, the 12-month increase in prices in more than 30 years. The possibility that the pandemic is to blame for this phenomenon may seem counterintuitive, because the initial COVID-19 wave had the opposite, and the CPI rose just 0.1 percent from May 2020 to May 2021.
