ICYMI: Groundwork’s Dr. Rakeen Mabud Featured in The Hill re Inflation

ICYMI: Groundwork’s Dr. Rakeen Mabud Featured in The Hill re Inflation 

Ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, it’s important to understand that inflation fears right now are deeply misguided. The bottom line: Continued investments in our economic infrastructure are deeply needed, popular, and economically sound. 

As Dr. Rakeen Mabud, Groundwork’s Chief Economist and Managing Director of Policy and Research told The Hill:

“We cannot let misguided [inflation] fears keep us from investing in the workers and families who make up our economy, because the cost of inaction right now, especially for the most marginalized communities, far outweighs the costs of manageable inflation.” 

Learn more below and email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak to Dr. Mabud about this urgent issue. 

• Raising interest rates now would be a big step back from the focus on full employment that Fed Chairman Powell indicated he would prioritize. When we are still 7.6 million jobs away from pre-pandemic employment, the Fed must do what it can to ensure a full and inclusive recovery.
• The higher inflation we are experiencing right now is the result of returning consumer demand, especially in sectors that were particularly hard hit at the beginning of the pandemic, and largely limited to a small number of sectors. Rising prices that indicate returning demand for travel and other goods and services are a sign of economic recovery.
• But much more investment is necessary to achieve full employment, create quality jobs, and to restore our long-term economic potential, especially for Black and brown communities who have historically been left out of periods of economic recovery.