Finally, Americans are saving. For retailers, that's a disaster

[Zippyjuan]

Difficult, certainly not impossible. Right now businesses have lost a lot of their sales and are afraid that if they raise their prices, they will lose even more. During stagflation (which yes, I was alive for) you had people demanding higher wages which in turn forced employers to raise their prices. Labor costs are actually going down now so there is no demand pull to raise inflation nor rising costs pushing makers to raise their prices. Things will eventually change but how and in what direction we cannot know but not much will happen until spending picks up.
How was stagflation eventually dealt with? By raising interest rates to reduce the spending side of the equation by reducing the money circulating. As mentioned, spending is already quite low compared to previous levels (pre- crash).

 

[tmosley]

Difficult, certainly not impossible. Right now businesses have lost a lot of their sales and are afraid that if they raise their prices, they will lose even more. During stagflation (which yes, I was alive for) you had people demanding higher wages which in turn forced employers to raise their prices. Labor costs are actually going down now so there is no demand pull to raise inflation nor rising costs pushing makers to raise their prices. Things will eventually change but how and in what direction we cannot know but not much will happen until spending picks up.
How was stagflation eventually dealt with? By raising interest rates to reduce the spending side of the equation by reducing the money circulating. As mentioned, spending is already quite low compared to previous levels (pre- crash).

I should know this, but how was unemployment at that time? REAL unemployment I mean.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Official statistics said that unemployment peaked about 1980 at just over ten percent- unemployment rose after the Fed tightened the money supply to try to wring out the inflation.
One chart:

http://www.davemanuel.com/historical-unemployment-rates-in-the-united-states.php

 

[purplechoe]

With the jobless rate at 9.7 percent

9.7%? Excuse me, I have to go sell a bridge...

 

[Cali4RonPaul]

The banks are losing billions because not as many people are overdrafting.

I read the opposite banks are raking in record numbers of overdraft fees.