Inflation and high gas prices are forcing a generation of “entitled” younger Americans to learn the pain of not being able to buy things at the store, the head of asset management giant BlockRock said. “For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want,” BlackRock President Rob Kapito told a conference in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday. “And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice.” Kapito’s remarks were first reported by Bloomberg News. Kapito said that the US economy is beset with what he called “scarcity inflation,” which translates into a shortage of workers, supplies, housing, and even energy. “I would put on your seat belts because this is something that we haven’t seen,” Kapito said. Kapito’s comments came on the heels of a similar warning from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who said last week that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades.” The head of the world’s biggest asset manager sent a letter to shareholders on Thursday warning of dark days ahead for the world economy, signaling that inflation is of particular concern. Fink predicted that the war will force countries to re-evaluate the extent to which their economies are interdependent on others. It could also spur economies to develop greater reliance on local manufacturing, according to Fink. “Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and its subsequent decoupling from the global economy is going to prompt companies and governments worldwide to re-evaluate their dependencies and re-analyze their manufacturing and assembly footprints — something that Covid had already spurred many to start doing,” he wrote. Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor and corporate raider, said last week that the American economy could be in for a “recession or even worse” as policymakers struggle to bring rapid inflation under control. Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25% — the first time since 2018 that the central bank has hiked rates — in an effort to get inflation under control. The latest US inflation rate hit 7.9% — the highest in 40 years — underlining just how much prices have risen over the past year.
