economy is already in recession. now, the big fear here is that the federal reserve is going to go to too far 24 in its war on infl inflation. the fed is trying to get the cost of living under control by aggressively raising interest rates and that includes the rates of making a loan but the risk is the fed will overdo it and they will end up slowing the economy and into a recession. i was struck how in this survey 3 in 4 economists, they say that they are not confident that the fed can get inflation under control without causing a recession. these concerns are starting to weigh on the stock market again. the dow is down almost 500 points around 1.56% as we speak. again, that is on concerns about the health of the economy, worries about what the fed is going to have to do. it is a confusing time i think for the economy. is there a lot of negatives and inflation is way too high but there is also some positives, right is in the jobs market
a $1.56 more than this time last year. matt egan has more on why the prices continue to climb. reporter: jessica, if you re hitting the road this holiday weekend, brace yourself. the national average for regular gas is about 50% higher than last memorial day weekend. even the biden administration concedes that gas prices are at, quote, outrageous levels. now we were invited by the white house to join a rare tour of the strategic petroleum reserve. the government s emergency stockpile and the biggest weapon against high gas prices. president authorized a record setting release this year. and after the tour i asked energy sect jennifer granholm if record high grass prices mean that this weapon is really more of a band aid. it is the biggest tool that the president has which is the strategic petroleum reserve. the events globally have so much power over the price per pebarr. we need to see an increase in supply to make up for the lost russian barrels and that is why
39 past the hour. it s time for business. let s bring in cnbc s julianna tattlebaum. wall street is gearing up for a big week notching a second consecutive losing week. what to expect in the coming days? how do you see it? reporter: alex, good morning. well, last week the market narrative was certainly dominated but ukraine/russia tenses. u.s. stocks ended lower. the s&p 500 dropped 1.56% approaching correction territory. a 10% pull back from the recent highs. volatility hovers around year to date highs. gold, a safe asset for investors outperformed last week gaining about 2.2%. today u.s. markets are closed for presidents day but in terms of the week ahead, russia/ukraine certainly remains in focus.
rates in the united states. ed lavandera talked to small business owners about how this crisis is affecting their bottom line. reporter: for a cold hard lesson on inflation, look at where karina stores the food supplies for her pop-up business in phoenix, arizona. the boneless would be $1.84 a pound, and the cheese is now $1.56 where it was 86 cents. reporter: have there been event where is you have lost money? yes, this is from today. reporter: as we are looking over the week s receipts, she is explaining the impacts of inflation on the business owner is how unpredictable her world is. the demand for the business is there, but everything else is a
democrat voters in general, especially independents have this tick. let me put this chart up. it an actual fact if you measure who helps the economy more. democratic presidents far out strip republicans. herbert walker bush under his administration 2.36 million jobs, under clinton 22.9, w bush 1.36 million over his two terms and obama 11.56. trump as you heard david k johnson said, he cost this country 2.49 million and biden at 5.58. gdp growth, same story. it flip-flops and goes back and forth and when a democrat comes into power, they clean up the mess on the previous president and don t get credit for it. down why democrats don t get credit for the facts they re better on the economy?