BlackRock President: Entitled generation should prepare to sacrifice amid surging inflation
BlackRock’s Rob Kapito said an entire generation should “put on seat belts” as the economy feels the impact of high inflation.
“For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want,” the president of the $10 trillion asset manager said of shortages, Bloomberg reported.
“And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice,” Kapito told conference attendees in Austin, at an event held by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association.
It comes as economies have experienced soaring wholesale energy costs, worker shortages and heftier grocery bills.
“I would put on your seat belts because this is something that we haven’t seen,” Kapito added.
Price inflation in the US is at a 40-year high while growth in the UK’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit 6.2 per cent in the year to February, a three-decade high.
A shortage of HGV drivers left many UK supermarket shelves barren earlier this year, following an exodus of workers from the country amid Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also exacerbated existing supply chain cost pressures, including hiked energy costs and prices of commodities such as wheat and oil.