How Omicron could trigger stagflation

MoneyWeek/John Stepek/21-20-2021

“Stagflation is a messy old business and something everyone will want to avoid. But unless Omicron turns out to be a flash in the pan – a lump of coal in all our Christmas stockings, but nothing more – then it’s hard to see how we’ll avoid it.”

USAGOLD note: Stepek reminds us of the potent concoction brewing in the global economy. It is with stagflation in mind that we note the resumption of the upward trend in the Misery Index through the end of November.

Misery Index
(Unemployment + Inflation)

Sources: St. Louis Federal Reserve [FRED], U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics