Former Obama Adviser Warns of 'Phenomenon of Stagflation': 'We’re Now Facing Real Risks of a 1970s-Type Scenario'

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said there is a risk of 1970s-style stagflation because of last year’s major fiscal stimulus and uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine.

Summers, a Democrat who served as treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, has been sounding the alarm about inflation. On Friday, he told Bloomberg the country might be at risk of seeing history repeat itself.

“We’re now facing real risks of a 1970s-type scenario,” Summers said. “Not quite as high levels of inflation as we saw in the 1970s, but the same kind of broad phenomena of stagflation.”