Senator Warner visits Darden School of Business to talk about economic solutions

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - U.S. Virginia Senator Mark Warner visited UVA’s Darden School of Business Thursday to talk with elected leaders and Charlottesville entrepreneurs about how supply chain issues are affecting them.

“[He talked about] how we have cars sitting waiting for semiconductor chips, but because we can’t get those chips, we’re we’re being kind of held hostage,” Charlottesville city councilor and vintage store owner Sena Magill said.

She wants solutions to these issues.

“I always like to see a federal senator come to a locality to speak to us about our local concerns,” Magill said.

Part of Warner’s solution is to look at the inflation rates the country is facing even after heavy spending.

“A lot of that went to small business support. It also went to very easy money policies that the federal reserve had. So I think we need to do, we need to have the Federal Reserve, they’re gonna have to continue to ratchet up interest rates that will depress demand,” Warner said.

But at the same time, he says it won’t depress demand too heavily.

“This is going to be literally threading the needle to bring demand down in a way that doesn’t throw us into recession,” Warner said.

His goal was to share his opinions, but also to listen to constituents.

“It was refreshing to see that he was definitely aware of some things, but also that he was willing to hear things he might not be fully aware of,” Magill said.

Warner says he has some new action items to bring back to the Capitol after people raised concerns about internet access.

“Beyond Charlottesville, there’s an awful lot of rural Virginia, where without access to affordable broadband you can’t build that business. But in today’s world where people are living and working remotely, you can have that business and small communities and service to the rest of the state or for that matter of the rest of the country. So we’ve got to execute on that,” Warner said.

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