Let’s Talk About Inflation
President(ish) Joe Biden keeps telling us that the American economy is robust, wages are up, and inflation is down.
So, then, everything must be…just…hunky-dory. Right?
Wrong.
Economically illiterate, dishonest, or both, Biden has been gaslighting Americans about a reported downward trend of inflation, implying that inflation’s decline to something over 3 percent annually is a reduction in prices, when it’s merely a drop in the rate of inflation.
The government calculates annual inflation rates using 12-month year-over-year selections of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
If a $1.00 item purchased in January, 2021 increased at the government’s reported annualized inflation rate – 7 percent in 2021, 6.5 percent in 2022, 3.4 percent in 2023, and 3.2 percent in 2024 – its price increased by 22 percent (rounded). Inflation just compounded at a lower rate.
While the CPI supposedly measures the cumulative price increases for all categories, the costs of food and energy may be understated.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, since 2021, average food prices have increased by 36.5 percent.
And TIPPinsights published an online categorical analysis that revealed inflation to be worse, in some cases far worse than the administration would have you believe.
TIPPinsights: Energy prices overall have increased by 29.6 percent since 2021, but, according to the CPI, energy prices recently improved by 1.9 percent.
In the energy category, gasoline prices have increased by 29.9 percent since President(ish) Biden took office, a product of Biden’s war on carbon-based energy. The CPI misleadingly shows that, recently, gasoline prices improved by 3.9 percent.
In other words, ever since Biden took office, his administration has been understating the real rate of inflation and inflation’s true impact on consumers.
Furthermore, by comparing current prices to already-inflated prices rather than to those when he assumed office, the Biden campaign is trying to conceal inflation’s cumulative effect.
Inflation doesn’t just happen. A meteoric increase in the money supply to cover Bidenomics’ (Joe’s term for his economic policies) excessive, deficit government spending primarily created Bidenflation. And, Biden’s war on carbon-based fuels increased the cost of everything.
Rather than accept responsibility, Biden deflects blame onto “greedy corporations” and “shrinkflation.”
But, it’s not producers’ fault. The Labor Department’s Producer Price Index (PPI) that measures inflation at the wholesale level before pass-through to consumers is soaring, too. Additionally, Biden’s executive orders and executive branch regulations have saddled farmers and businesses with $1.5 trillion in additional expenses that were also passed through.
In a healthy, growing economy, annual inflation is typically about two percentage points, a number the Federal Reserve targets, and economists, generally, consider to be a sign of price stability.
The annual inflation rate averaged 1.9 percent during Donald Trump’s presidency. Now, the Biden campaign is struggling to convince voters that Joe has “turned the corner on inflation.”
Inflation impacts people’s lives in ways so obvious that Biden’s spurious claims and the fictions his media handmaidens report cannot conceal them.
Inflation decreases purchasing power, and, effectively, cuts workers’ pay.
In a recent survey only 18 percent of respondents said their wages are tracking inflation. A significant majority said their wages haven’t kept pace.
Sixty-one percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Today, the typical U.S. household must spend $1,069.00 more each month ($12,828.00 annually) compared to three years ago.
Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to reduce inflation have made housing unaffordable for many. In fact, growth is slowing again, and Bidenflation is rebounding.
Americans are taking desperate measures to cope: The Wall Street Journal reported that people are endangering their retirements by withdrawing 401(k) money to make ends meet; millions of Americans are taking second jobs; a survey revealed that 12 percent of retirees plan to return to the workforce in 2024; credit card debt has ballooned to over $1 trillion nationally; credit card interest rates average 21.47 percent; and delinquency rates are setting records.
Multiple jobs, 401(k) withdrawals, massive credit card debt; and retirees returning to the workforce are not signs of a healthy economy. The Biden campaign’s spin and blame-shifting cannot hide the harsh realities of Bidenomics/Bidenflation’s dramatic cost-of-living increases.
Nevertheless, Joe “The Buck Never Stops Here” Biden will try desperately – and dishonestly – to improve his reelection chances by blaming Bidenflation on Donald Trump – perhaps Vladimir Putin…maybe global warming, racism or transphobia…
