Improved data on borrowing costs and price growth has buoyed consumers, but it might be coming too late to significantly affect the presidential race
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Recent weeks have brought a run of good data on consumer prices and interest rates for the Biden-Harris administration.
After more than a year of waiting, hoping and assuring Americans that the economy could pull off a so-called “soft landing,” President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appear to be on the brink of seeing that happen.
Inflation has cooled. Economic growth remains strong, though job gains are slowing. Mortgage costs are falling and the Federal Reserve is poised to begin cutting interest rates on Wednesday.
And yet, it is unclear whether those developments will significantly alter voters’ predominantly negative perceptions of the economy ahead of the presidential election.
Recent weeks have brought a run of good data on consumer prices and interest rates for the administration. The price of gasoline has fallen below $3 a gallon in much of the South and Midwest and is nearing a three-year low nationally. Spiking grocery prices have slowed to a crawl. Mortgage rates are down more than a percentage point from their recent peak. The Census Bureau reported last week that the typical household income rose faster than prices last year for the first time since the pandemic. The overall inflation rate has returned to near historically normal levels, and the Fed is poised to begin cutting interest rates from a two-decade high.
The Biden administration, which has taken heat from Republicans and many economists for fueling inflation with its economic policies, has begun to celebrate those developments in bold terms. Officials are claiming vindication for their multi-trillion-dollar efforts to boost households and businesses in their recovery from the pandemic recession.
Mr. Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers published a blog post on Tuesday highlighting economic and job growth under Mr. Biden that has surpassed projections. Lael Brainard, who heads Mr. Biden’s National Economic Council, told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Monday that the American economy has now reached a “turning point.”
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Source: nytimes.com
