History's playbook for taming the beast of inflation
5/28/202647 min
Gas. Meat. Flights. Houses. The cost of living is up. Inflation is rearing its head again. And as it rises higher, inflation risks devastating economies and draining savings accounts. So what can be done about it? This week, we explore the history of inflation in the U.S., how the government has responded, and who pays the price. This episode originally aired in 2022.
Guests:
John Cochrane, senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution
Meg Jacobs, senior research scholar, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
Hey, it's Latif from Radiolab. Our goal with each episode is to make you think, "How did I live this long and not know that?" Radiolab. Adventures on the edge of what we think we know. Listen wherever you get podcasts.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host0:14
[instrumental music] Inflation is back, rearing its ugly head.
Speaker 30:19
Inflation's heating up again.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host0:21
To its highest level in almost three years.
Speaker 40:25
And we've got to get it back down.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host0:27
Since President Trump ordered strikes on Iran, and Iran retaliated by shuttering tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, prices all over the country are up.
Speaker 50:37
Many families are struggling with costs.
Speaker 40:39
I just drove by a gas station today, and it said 7.25 a gallon.
Speaker 60:43
Yesterday you could afford to fill the car up with gas. Today you can't.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host0:46
And that means transportation by truck, train, or plane has become more expensive, too.
Speaker 30:52
Grocery prices, for example, jumped about seven-tenths of a percent last month alone.
Speaker 40:57
I'm not buying this. I can't afford it. People are tired of getting ripped off on food prices.
Speaker 61:02
Ooh, I'd love to have some beef.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host1:03
[laughs] It isn't just food. It's housing, health insurance, mortgage rates. The cost of living rises with inflation, and that means our money goes less far. No one is happy about that.
Speaker 41:18
Consumers are just to the point where, give us a break.
Speaker 71:22
You're stuck, and your dollars are buying less and less.
Speaker 31:25
And it's happening at a time when the nation's main inflation-fighting institution,