By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss is encouraged by the fact that the economy is bouncing back despite the pandemic, but some of that bounce is due to inflation.
"If you are buying housing, your what we call real income, is not going as fast," Goss said. "If you're spending it on food, food has been going at a much faster pace."
On the other hand, agricultural commodity prices are actually in a good place for the first time in a long time.
"This is on the grain side," Goss said. "On the livestock side, it's still got some room to go on that because of the leisure and hospitality industry. Individuals, families and business persons aren't going out there buying food in restaurants. We've got to see the livestock side tune up a bit, but on the grain side, much, much better, whether you're talking about wheat, milo, corn, soybean, looking much better there with exports growing. Farm income in 2021 is going to be back to 2013 levels."
Still some of that growth will go in and out of your wallet without buying anything more.
"The overall growth in the economy, probably right now, we're looking at 6%, in terms of yearly," Goss said. "Unfortunately, about 3% of that is inflationary."
The economy also still needs to grow some to get back to pre-COVID levels and it remains to be seen how much of a ceiling there is once vaccination becomes more widespread.
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