The difference between this moment and 2018 or 2014 is that we are in the middle of a bona fide crisis, and we went into it with rates already near rock bottom.
That leaves few options if dollar continues to weaken and inflation becomes concerning.
That leaves few options if dollar continues to weaken and inflation becomes concerning.
Still, this isn't the stagflation of the 1970s. While there may be underlying problems, the main issue is that Covid shut down parts of the economy, which also meant shutting down parts of employment. The trick really isn't to avoid inflation. The trick is to make it back to approximately normal without killing too many businesses and bankrupting too many families (while also not killing too many people). If inflation happens as a result, but we get back to a healthy economy, then we can worry about inflation. For the next one or two years, I don't think that inflation is the issue to focus on.