Tag Archives: Inflation

No, The Biden Administration Has Not Stopped Inflation

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On Tuesday, Zero Hedge posted an article about the current Consumer Price Index and other aspects of the inflation we are currently dealing with. Please follow the link to read the article as it includes multiple charts showing where we are and where we have been.

The article reports:

Inflation accelerated on a monthly basis.

  • CPI increased 0.5%, the most in three months, versus 0.1% in the prior month; on a core basis, it was up 0.4% (versus 0.3%). Both were in line with estimates. On an annual basis, CPI increased 6.4% from the year-ago period versus 6.5% in December, higher than forecasts.
  • Aside from the headline numbers, analysts and markets were also looking at the so-called super-core figure, or core services minus housing. It’s a category that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has singled as a must-watch. That showed some easing, increasing at a slower 0.27% pace in the month and 6.2% from the prior year.
  • Housing contributed the most to the monthly increase in CPI, making up nearly half the gain. Food, gasoline and natural gas also boosted the monthly figure.

…Policymakers have flagged that the road from here on inflation would be bumpy, with some months and categories showing persistent price pressure, though that the overall trend is down. This report, in addition to a blowout January jobs gain, showed that inflation remains persistent in the US economy, and will need further action from the central bank.

The article includes the following charts:

I can only imagine the struggles of raising a family in this economy.

 

About That Speech

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On Thursday, The Federalist weighed in on President Biden’s State of the Union Speech.

Here are a few comments from the article:

Like Nero bragging about rebuilding Circus Maximus after burning it down, Joe Biden took to the podium tonight to take credit for solving a slew of problems he helped create.

At the top of his State of the Union address, the president boasted that he had “created more jobs in two years than any president created in four years.” No president — not Joe Biden nor Donald Trump — creates jobs. But Biden’s contention was exceptionally misleading, considering he inherited an economy that had been unplugged by an artificial, state-induced shutdown. If the government compels businesses to shutter, it doesn’t “create” jobs when allowing them to open.

Presidents don’t create jobs, but their policies create an atmosphere that either encourages or discourages economic growth. President Biden’s economic policies have not encouraged economic growth.

The article also notes:

Three years ago, the unemployment rate was at 3.5 percent. Today, Biden reminded us that it was at a historic low of 3.4 percent. More than 30 million people lost their jobs to Covid lockdowns. Biden claims to have “created” 12 million jobs during the past two years. The one big difference is that the labor participation rate still hasn’t recovered to pre-Covid numbers. It’s great that people are working again. But millions fewer are in the market for jobs.

The article concludes:

Biden went into his well-worn platitudes and myths about how the rich don’t pay taxes — “[n]o billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter!” — and proposed higher rates on the wealthy and corporations. He also promised to micromanage the economy with a slew of new regulations that would interfere in voluntary contracts struck between employees and employers and consumers and businesses.

Biden implored Congress to pass the PRO Act, a bill that would empower the government to impose unions on businesses and workers who want no part of them. Biden hawked an entire menu of crude economic populism — including price controls and protectionist trade policies that would undermine growth, competition, job creation, and innovation while driving up the cost of virtually every construction project in the country.

There were numerous lies, half-truths, and deceptions. There was a slew of antiquated economic ideas and sloganeering. But, surely, the president’s biggest lie of the night was to claim, “I’m a capitalist.”

We have a President who needs to take an Economics Course. He does not understand (or chooses to ignore) basic economic facts.

Inconvenient Facts

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President Biden will make his State of the Union speech tonight. He will tell us that his economic plan is working–he is not responsible for inflation, high gas prices, or the lack of security at the southern border. If you believe what he says, I have a bridge I would like to sell you in Brooklyn.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire posted some actual numbers related to the Biden economy.

The article reports:

Let’s start with inflation, which a few months ago hit a 40-year high. In December 2020, the last full month in office for President Donald Trump, the rate of inflation was 1.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The average for the entire year of 2020 was 1.2%, data show.

But after Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline, froze student debt collection, rejoined the Paris climate accords, made a pathway for illegals to gain citizenship, and halted construction on the border wall — all actions he took on Day 1 — inflation started to climb.

In his first six months in office, inflation went from 1.4% to 5.4%. It was worse in 2022, rising to 9.1% by June. But Biden is a highly skilled liar: Inflation has fallen for six straight months — all the way down to 6.5%. The average for 2022 was 8%, soaring from 1.2% in 2020.

Now, some people argue that the president shouldn’t take credit for a good economy and certainly doesn’t deserve the blame for a bad one. But in Biden’s case, he definitely deserves the blame.

“Economists say Biden’s pandemic relief policies including the American Rescue Plan exacerbated matters, by giving Americans too much money to spend when goods and services supplies were too low, which drove prices higher,” PolitiFact wrote on Monday.

The article mentions gasoline prices:

Then there are gas prices. When Biden took office, a gallon of regular averaged $2.38. Today it’s $3.46, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

That’s nearly 50% higher (46% to be exact) than it was when Biden took office. And remember, by February 2022, the eve of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the price had already risen above $3.50 — which negates Biden’s endless claims of “Putin’s price hike” at the pumps.

The article mentions food prices:

Let’s just talk about the State of the Union since the last time Biden delivered the State of the Union address. “In 2022, food prices increased by 9.9 percent,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports. “Food-at-home prices increased by 11.4 percent, while food-away-from-home prices increased by 7.7 percent.”

There’s more. Egg prices increased 11.1% in December, pushing the price since December 2021 59.9% higher. And we haven’t hit the ceiling yet, not even close. “Egg prices are predicted to increase 27.3 percent in 2023,” the USDA reported.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. The article goes into wages and also reports on America’s mood. The speech will make a lot of claims, but those of us who live under the Biden economy probably won’t believe those claims.

Reporting On The American Economy

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On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about inflation and the state of the American economy.

The article includes the following:

Ronald Reagan, in his 1980 campaign for president, updated Harry Truman’s useful definitions of two key economic terms.

“It’s a recession,” Truman had intoned, “when your neighbor loses his job. It’s a depression when you lose yours.”

To which The Gipper appended, entertainingly: “And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.”

The article notes:

These articulations sprang to mind in pondering the variations of inflation measurements advanced by economists to determine whether price growth is “easing,” as the counterfeit chief executive would have one believe.

Should the focus be the “headline” Consumer Price Index? The one the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes as “a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of consumer goods and services” (listed on the chart below)? Should the guide be a CPI subset referred to as “core inflation,” which excises “more volatile” food and energy prices? And how about the latest craze: “super core inflation?”

According to Fortune magazine, super core “does not have an established definition” but “refers to price measures that exclude sectors that economists feel distort the broader inflation figure.”  Economists like Paul Krugman (yeah, we know; kind of like discussing “military intelligence”) surmise that super core leaves out not just food and energy but also housing.

The article concludes:

Yet both the spending and the inflationary outcome – a dragon that had been largely slain since the Reagan Administration – are now revived for one reason: provide another set of tools of power and oppression.

The spending is to get citizenry and businesses alike hooked on federal largess. Inflation is another means of weakening the populace and private institutions as their labor and investment yields less and, in yet another spiral, they get all the more dependent on Uncle Sam and its cohort of crony capitalists.

The cynical, midterms-oriented pause in the upward price of fuel, occasioned by further manipulation of energy markets in the form of petroleum reserve releases, is only a stall in this brutal power play.

No matter the Fed’s efforts to run twice as fast – and come up with new fictions when it comes to measuring the real price of the dollar – there is no way for the central bankers even to stay in the same place when Jerome Powell’s exertions are swept under by a continued flood of Inflation Reduction Act and Omnibus(t) largess and excess.

Meanwhile, this correspondent will continue to define inflation as what it is: the loss of his dwindling dollars’ buying power. And relief, again paraphrasing The Great Communicator, as the prospect of another loss of power: Joe Biden’s.

Hang unto your hats. Unless Congress develops a spine to stop the spending, the future looks a little shaky.

The Real Picture Of Inflation

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I have heard a number of Biden-friendly commentators explain that Bidenomics is working–inflation is down and wages are up. You could fertilize your garden with that statement.

On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article which gives a more accurate picture of where the country is economically.

The article reports:

This knuckleheaded narrative engineer from the New York Times/Atlantic even has the audacity to say, “let prices continue to fall to target,” as if there is a single item at any price that is dropping.  His spin is a good example of gaslighting just from the use of the statement “price inflation is falling back towards where we want it.”

Price inflation is not price.  ‘Price inflation’ is the rate of increase.  There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between “inflation falling back” and prices dropping. Inflation falling back is merely a lessening of the rate of price increase.  The price does not drop, and never will.

The article includes the following chart:

If you are wondering why you currently have more month than money, the above chart might explain things.

The article notes:

Government monetary, fiscal and energy policy created inflation.  Devalued currency from spending, simultaneous to massive government policy changes driving up supply side energy costs, exploded inflation.

Prices for energy, oil, gas, home heating, fuel and food all skyrocketed as a result.  Workers need pay raises to afford these essential costs of life.  However, the same people who created the inflation are now worried that wage rate increases may drive inflation.  The mindset at work here is infuriating.

Consider these empirical data points.   In August of 2021 the Biden administration permanently increased food stamp benefits by 25% for everyone who needed the subsidy {LINK}.  This permanent benefit increase was delivered at the same time as the administration was claiming “inflation was transitory.”  They knew it wasn’t transitory. They were lying.

The Social Security Benefits were also raised in 2022 by 8.7% for the largest ever cost of living adjustment in 2023 {LINK}.  Both the 25% food stamp increase and the 8.7% SSI COLA were needed to offset the inflation created by government policy….  However, the same government doesn’t want wages to rise.  Can you see the hypocrisy.

Workers are being crushed by the outcomes of policy, and those who created the policy making the outcomes do not want worker wages to offset the policy.

We need to see wage growth in the 20% range just to keep pace with the increased cost of living created by policy.  Food costs 40% more, energy 30% more, housing 20% more and the list keeps going.

The prices for many goods have already doubled, worker wages need to compensate for those increases.   However, government, Wall Street, corporations and policy makers do not want to see wage growth that will offset the price of goods because they fear those wage gains will drive inflation.

The financial media, Wall Street, govt policy makers (republican & democrats) and corporations are lying to us and simultaneously killing the working-class. We, the workforce, are in an abusive relationship with govt…. and they have the nerve to blame us for inflation.

Let’s hope the House of Representatives discovers fiscal sanity in the next year.

What Difference Did It Make?

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We are getting a lot of information right now about the censorship operation that Twitter was operating in order to protect the Biden campaign during the 2020 election. The information is not really surprising to those of us who were paying attention, but some of this is actually news to many Americans. On Saturday, PJ Media posted an article about the probable consequences of Twitter’s censorship.

The article notes:

Let’s begin with the premise that suppressing the content of Hunter Biden’s laptop affected the outcome of the 2020 Election. The Media Research Center (MRC) conducted one of the only polls about how the information on the computer would have affected the way people voted. MRC’s analysis found that full awareness of the Hunter Biden scandal would have led 9.4% of Biden voters to abandon the Democratic candidate. This would have flipped all six of the swing states Biden won to Trump, giving the former President 311 electoral votes.

By that analysis, if not for the fateful decision to censor the laptop story, which Gadde and Baker had a hand in, at least five major things would be different.

The article then goes on to list five of the things that would be different:

First and foremost, it is almost certain there would not be a war in Ukraine right now. President Trump placed sanctions on the Nord 2 pipeline during his term, despite German objections. All Biden had to do was stand up to outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel. After all, the entire purpose of NATO is to protect the European continent from Russian aggression. Letting Germany and other western powers become dependent on Russian energy goes directly against the mission.

When the Biden administration inexplicably lifted the sanctions in May 2021, it green-lit the pipeline that would bypass Ukraine, depriving the former Soviet nation of transit revenues and making it more vulnerable to Russian aggression. Even Ukrainian President Voldymor Zelensky knew it.

…Next, the Ukrainian war led to Russia and China becoming closer allies and leading the BRIC nations. This group includes Brazil and India. Many believe these nations will be dominant suppliers of manufactured goods, services, and raw materials by 2050. There have been reports that BRIC nations and their allies want to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The Biden administration seems content to let this happen without a challenge. As the kleptocrats in our government, led by Joe Biden and Wall Street, lead us into managed decline, you can thank Gadde and Baker.

Third, our European allies would not be facing an energy crisis. The war in Ukraine needlessly destroyed Nord 1, which supplied much of the continent. Additionally, the Biden administration’s not-in-my-backyard energy policy leaves the U.S. unable to meet our own energy needs, let alone help Europe.

…The same NIMBY energy policy also makes the United States less safe. In a 2020 debate, Trump explained in about 10 seconds how U.S. energy independence strengthened our foreign policy. Now, Joe Biden begs some of the worst dictators in the world for oil, and they laugh at him. Biden also drains our strategic petroleum reserves to save Democrats from getting obliterated in the midterms, leaving us less prepared.

The article concludes:

Finally, as you struggle with inflation on food and gas, know that it never needed to happen. When Trump left office, the economy was recovering from the pandemic on a V-shaped trajectory. The American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill, and the Inflation Reduction Act blew more money into an economy overheated by pandemic relief. When the new administration allowed even more dollars to chase fewer goods, prices rose. So, when you are rolling your eyes over your grocery bill, thank Gadde and Baker. Their manipulation of Twitter helped Joe Biden do that.

The only constitutional solution to a stolen election is the next election. Please keep that in mind. For those of you that hate President Trump, remember the good he did for the average American. You may not like his style, but he accomplished more in four years than the past five presidents. In the interest of fairness and for the good of the country, he needs to be re-elected in 2024.

The American Economy Under The Biden Administration

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On Wednesday, The Washington Free Beacon reported the following:

U.S. business activity contracted for a fifth straight month in November, with a measure of new orders dropping to its lowest level in 2-1/2 years as higher interest rates slowed demand.

S&P Global said on Wednesday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 46.3 this month from a final reading of 48.2 in October. A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the private sector. Activity is slumping under the weight of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive interest rate-hiking cycle since the 1980s aimed at curbing inflation by dampening economic demand.

The flash composite new orders index dropped to 46.4, the lowest level since May 2020, from a final reading of 49.2 in October. Outside the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the worst reading since 2009.

The article concludes:

Average input prices increased at the softest rate in two years, but factories still faced challenges finding skilled labor. This suggests the slowdown in inflation will be gradual as wages remain sticky.

The survey’s flash services sector PMI decreased to 46.1 from 47.8 in October. Services businesses also reported weak demand and a moderation in input prices.

I am not an economist, and I do not totally understand what these numbers mean. Generally speaking, inflation is a problem and the rising interest rates that are supposed to combat it are a problem. It is my understanding that the solution to the inflation problem could be found in bringing back domestic energy production and limiting government spending. The new House of Representatives that will be sworn in in January does have the power to cut government spending; however, it is doubtful that they have the power to overrule the Biden administration’s restrictions on domestic energy production. All of us need to be concerned for the people in the colder regions of America this winter. Heating costs will be very high, and many people are going to suffer because of brownouts and energy costs. All of this is the result of the Biden administration’s energy policies. The war in Ukraine is a contributing factor, but not the main cause. Energy prices began to rise in January 2021 and have continued to rise since (with a few pauses). Energy is an international commodity and is subject to supply and demand. The way to bring energy costs down in America is to get back to producing our own energy. That is also the way to curb inflation.

When The Spin And The Facts Disagree

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On Wednesday, The Conservative Review noted the Biden administration’s latest claim in their list of accomplishments.

The White House sent out the following Tweet:

Now, normally that might be something to brag about, but there is a catch–the increase in Social Security is linked by law to inflation–the White House has nothing to do with it.

The article notes:

Twitter added a fact check to the tweet, noting that while Seniors will receive an increase in their social security benefits, it’s “due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate.”

CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale called the White House’s claim “quite the spin.”

“The size of Social Security checks is linked, by law, to inflation. This year’s increase is unusually big because the inflation rate is unusually big.”

Former President Richard Nixon signed a law into place in 1972 that granted automatic benefit adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index.

Frankly I would be happier with the same amount of Social Security if my dollars were actually worth anything. Inflation is a tax on everyone, and right now we are overtaxed.

Biden’s Destruction of America

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Author: R. Alan Harrop,Ph.D

In March 2021, I wrote an article reporting on some of the actions Biden was initiating that would be harmful to America. Let’s update his actions as of November 2022 and see how things stand after almost two years of his administration. I write this on Halloween night, but it is scarier than ghosts and goblins.

The Border: We no longer have a Southern border. Well over 5 million illegals have been welcomed across the border in less than two years. Illegal drugs are coming in unchecked, including fentanyl which has killed close to 100,000 Americans in the last year. Estimates are that illegals will cost each tax payer $2,600/year.

Inflation: The prices of consumer goods are rising dramatically; especially on essential items. Inflation under President Trump was about 2 %. Now at a forty year high of 8.6% and much higher for food.

Energy: On Election Day 2020, the price of a gallon of gas was $ 1.87, it now averages $3.49 and much higher in some areas. We have gone from energy abundance/independence to energy shortages. Recent report shows that there is only sufficient diesel oil for 25 days to meet our usual consumption. Home heating oil, commonly used in the northern states, has gone from $1.45 to $5.72 per gallon. The cost of electricity has gone up 16% in the last year and is expected to go higher. Energy is costing the average family $6,200 more per year. Biden’s depleting our strategic oil reserves and selling this oil to China is treasonous.

Personal Wealth: The stock market is down about 30 % and inflation reduces the value of bank accounts by about 10% per year. People on fixed income are especially hard hit. We are getting poorer.

Cost of Housing: Mortgage rates have gone from less than 3% to 7%. A $300,000 house will cost $878 more per month, $10,536 more per year and a whopping $316,000 more over the life of a 30 year loan. Rents are going up similarly.

Unconstitutional Spending: You will be paying off the loans of college students estimated to cost over $300 billion dollars over the next ten years and will continue going higher; even though you may have paid your own way through college or not gone to college at all. Presidents have no authority to do this.

Second Amendment: The Biden administration is requiring all credit card companies to report all sales of firearms and ammunition to the Federal government thereby tracking your purchases.

IRS/FBI: These agencies are now enforcement arms of the Biden administration. Hiring 87,000 armed IRS agents is aimed directly at the middle class and small business owners.

Crime: Has been increasing dramatically, especially in urban areas, as a direct result of defunding the police and liberal prisoner release policies.

International Relations: War in Ukraine, North Korea firing missiles, conflicts with Saudi Arabia, China emboldened and threatening Taiwan, are all examples of deteriorating relations with other countries.

No doubt there are other destructive actions by Biden and the radical Democrats. No rational person can look at where America is now and say we are better off after the last two years. YOU MUST GET OUT AND VOTE, if you love this country.

Lying Or Simply Not Knowing?

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On Thursday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about a recent speech by President Biden.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden touted U.S. manufacturing gains Thursday on a trip to Syracuse – where he claimed gas prices were down compared to when he took office, when in fact they are higher.

‘We’re down $1.25 Since the peak this summer, and they’ve been falling for the last three weeks as well as well, and adding up real savings for families today.,’ Biden said. 

‘The most common price of gas in America is $3.39 down from over $5 When I took office,’ he continued.

The average cost of a gallon of gas on the AAA site was $3.76 Thursday. When he took office, it was averaging $2.39 – or about half what he said it was then – according to the Energy Information Institute.

President Biden has a very shaky relationship with the truth. Remember how the political left was always accusing President Trump of lying? Somehow that hasn’t happened to President Biden, even when he is lying.

Yahoo News recently fact-checked another of President Biden’s statements:

Joe Biden: “wages have gone up higher, faster than inflation”

PolitiFact’s ruling: Mostly false

Here’s why: President Joe Biden defended his record on the U.S. economy while attending the international climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Biden entered the United Nations’ COP 26 summit facing supply chain challenges and high levels of inflation back home. At a press conference, he said the U.S. is still in a better place than a year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic limited family gatherings and hampered the economy.

“This Thanksgiving, we’re all in a very different circumstance,” Biden said on Nov. 2. “Things are a hell of a lot better, and the wages have gone up higher, faster than inflation.”

On inflation and wages, Biden has a point for the most recent two months — August and September 2021. However, inflation outpaced wages by so much earlier in his presidency that these two months haven’t changed the overall picture much. All told, Americans are worse off on the comparison of inflation and wages than they were roughly a year ago. (The White House did not respond to an inquiry for this article.)

At least someone is noticing the lies.

When The Facts And The Statements Just Don’t Agree

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On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about a recent statement by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. I am amazed when politicians make false statements that can be so easily checked. So in case you missed it, here is the statement and the actual facts.

The article reports:

For more than a year, Democrats have dismissed inflation, pointed the finger of blame at everyone but themselves, or tried to make it sound like we should be grateful because inflation “always happens” when the economy recovers.

Way back in June 2021, President Joe Biden said higher prices “were expected and are expected to be temporary” because, you see, “you can’t flip the global economics light back and not expect this to happen.”

The public never bought into this, but kudos to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for sticking with the Big Lie. In that Oct. 18 interview, Pelosi says that Democrats need to focus on the fact that Biden “brought unemployment [down], cut it in half,” to explain why prices went up.

Pelosi’s been making this claim for a while. Back in February, she said: “The fact that people have jobs always contributes to an increase in inflation, and that’s a good thing.”

Is she right? Does inflation go up when unemployment goes down? Look at the four charts below and see for yourself. These show inflation rates during four sustained and strong drops in the unemployment rate over the past 40 years.

The article includes five charts:

How many voters who automatically vote for Democrats are aware of this information?

Bringing A Meme To Life

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On Sunday, BizPacReview posted an article about a meme coming to life.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden made a Baskin Robbins run while in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday and broke the internet when, with a mouthful of ice cream, he casually told a reporter that the U.S. “economy is strong as hell” and blamed the rest of the world for inflation.

“I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Does that make sense?” Biden said.

When asked if he could explain his statement, Biden, while chewing on his waffle cone, stated, “Our economy is strong as hell. Inflation is worldwide. It’s worse off everywhere else than it is in the United States. So, the problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours. It’s worldwide inflation. It’s consequential.”

The comment comes on the heels of the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which revealed that core inflation has reached a new 40-year high.

And in that stunning moment, Joe Biden brought a months-old meme that has been circling the internet to life.

The article includes the meme:

President Biden is President of America–not of the world. It would be nice if he were concerned about inflation in America.

The article concludes:

So it’s hard to imagine, as more and more Americans are making tough choices between things like food and gas to get to work, what Joe Biden could possibly do to boost anyone’s confidence.

But, as one user on Twitter noted, “They can get him to do and say anything with ice cream.”

I wonder what world our President lives in.

This Statement Is Going To Have Repercussions!

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On Monday, Townhall posted an article about a recent statement by President Biden that is going to create some problems for those pulling the levers of power in Washington.

The article reports:

President Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic “over” during an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” an acknowledgement that prompted anger among liberals and questions from conservatives.

Noting that it’s the first Detroit Auto Show in three years, host Scott Pelley asked the president if that was a sign the pandemic was over.

While noting the virus continues to be “a problem,” Biden admitted, “the pandemic is over.”

“If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it’s changing, and I think [the Detroit Auto show resuming] is a perfect example of it,” he added.

The article notes the problems resulting from this statement:

Conservatives, meanwhile, pointed out there is no justification for any Covid restrictions to be in place anymore or any vaccine or mask mandates to remain. He also just upended his administration’s argument for its student loan bailout. 

The article concludes:

According to Politico, the statement was not part of his planned remarks and “caught several of his own health officials by surprise.”

There were several other statements made during the “60 Minutes” interview that the Biden administration staff is working hard to clean up. On Monday The American Thinker posted an article detailing some of the other missteps by President Biden during the interview. The missteps include issues such as America’s policy on Taiwan, inflation, the raid on Mar-a-Lago and last of all, his own fitness for office.

 

Something To Consider

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Front Page Magazine posted an article today about the recent White House celebration of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. James Taylor sang, and everyone present celebrated the coming end of inflation.

The article reports:

Biden threw a party to celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act on the White House South Lawn even as the latest figures showed that core inflation has continued to rise. Grocery prices had the steepest increase since 1979. Rent prices shot up again and medical costs are escalating.

Even the most loyal media lapdogs could hardly stand this festival of lies. CNN cut away from Biden’s masque of red ink to show what was happening to the stock market. Reuters acidly headlined its coverage, “Biden celebrates ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ as food, rent prices climb”.

So what’s there to celebrate?

The Inflation Reduction Act is a lie. It doesn’t reduce inflation: it actually gooses it. The IRA is another inflationary leftist spending boondoggle that throws billions at green energy and $80 billion at the IRS to audit the middle class in the hopes of balancing out some of the crony cash.

The article notes the real intention of the Inflation Reduction Act:

The Biden administration isn’t fighting inflation, it’s deliberately increasing it even as its cronies in the Federal Reserve hammer home new interest rate hikes to force the economy into a recession. This two-step dance destroys savings, wrecks investments and allows for a massive wealth transfer to Democrat donors, special interests and voters. The more that the Democrat majority spends, the worse inflation gets and the more justification there is for higher rates.

If a recession arrives, there’ll be even more justification for government wealth transfers.

The transfer of wealth actually began during the Covid pandemic. Small businesses were forced to close while big box stores remained open. Amazon became the place to shop for people who were fearful of leaving their homes. Walmart remained open while the local clothing stores closed. In California, restaurants were forced to close while Hollywood created their own restaurants on movie sets. Churches closed while liquor store remained open. The transfer of wealth has been happening for a while.

The article concludes:

While inflation is a useful tool, it’s not the only one. The EPA, CDC, FDA, USDA and numerous government agencies with virtually unchecked regulatory powers can dramatically change product availability and price at the macro level leading to demands for further interventions.

COVID lockdowns were the patient zero of this new economy. Seemingly irrational and unjust measures shut down small businesses while allowing Amazon and major retailers to roll on. But there was nothing irrational about it. This was a deliberate strategy to further consolidate the retail sector, concentrating the pain among small businesses before offering them temporary subsidies, and narrowing the retail pipeline to put it even further under government control.Labor disputes in rail lines and UPS allow Democrat unions to shut down the supply chain.

But as they used to say on television, “This was only a test.” Socialism, on a much broader scale than we’ve seen it, is being tested. As destructive as these tests were, that’s still what they are. Anyone living under actual socialism can tell you that it can get much worse. And will.

When that happens, Biden will throw an even bigger party. And we’ll be the ones paying for it.

The Numbers On Inflation

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On Tuesday, Hot Air posted an article about the consumer price index report that was released.

The article reports:

So much for the second iteration of “inflation’s over!” Today’s consumer price index report shows year-on-year inflation still roaring at 8.3%, thanks in part to soaring food costs, which offset a plateau on gasoline prices.

However, even without food and energy, inflation picked up steam last month, as core CPI rose back above six percent year-on-year, and 0.6% month-on-month:

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.1 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis after being unchanged in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 8.3 percent before seasonal adjustment.

Increases in the shelter, food, and medical care indexes were the largest of many contributors to the broad-based monthly all items increase. These increases were mostly offset by a 10.6-percent decline in the gasoline index. The food index continued to rise, increasing 0.8 percent over the month as the food at home index rose 0.7 percent. The energy index fell 5.0 percent over the month as the gasoline index declined, but the electricity and natural gas indexes increased.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in August, a larger increase than in July. The indexes for shelter, medical care, household furnishings and operations, new vehicles, motor vehicle insurance, and education were among those that increased over the month. There were some indexes that declined in August, including those for airline fares, communication, and used cars and trucks.

The article concludes:

Even before this report, we knew that real disposable personal income (real DPI) had fallen for five quarters in a row. That too is a compounding measure. The plight of the American worker has gotten worse every single month of Biden’s presidency — and there’s no spinning that.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It includes charts and further information on the impact of inflation on every American.

I Think We Can File This In The ‘Fiction’ Section

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On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about some recent comments by former President Obama. The former President claimed that Americans are better off because Joe Biden is President. Actually, I don’t think that is true.

The article reports:

When he wasn’t admiring his White House portrait, Barack Obama managed to say a nice thing about President Joe Biden. He must have been joking, though, because what he said defies reality.

“Joe, it is now America’s good fortune to have you as president,” Obama said. “The country is better off than when you took office. We should all be deeply grateful for that.”

Our “good fortune”? Let’s review just how much “better off” we all are thanks to Biden and his fellow Democrats.

Here are the highlights. Please follow the link to the article to read the details:

COVID deaths

Inflation

Real earnings

Financial stress

Economic optimism

Unity

Stock market

Crime

Direction of the country

The article concludes:

Finally, there’s the fact that a majority of Americans now favor impeaching Biden. A new Rasmussen survey finds that 52% of likely voters want him impeached. Even among Democrats, almost a third (32%) want him impeached.

Ask yourself, are you “deeply grateful” for how things have turned out under Biden? If not, what are you going to do about it?

It might be a really good idea to keep these items in mind when you vote in November.

Yes, Your Taxes Will Go Up If The Inflation Reduction Act Passes

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The Biden administration is claiming that the Inflation Reduction Act will reduce inflation, help bring down the deficit, and not raise taxes on any American who makes less than $400,000 a year. That’s a really great idea. Unfortunately it’s not true.

The Daily Caller posted an article on Monday that explains what the bill will actually do. The article cites the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) as the source of its information:

The JCT found that taxes would go up by a total of $16.7 billion for Americans making less than $200,000, and by $14.1 billion for Americans making between $200,000 and $500,000.

Tax rates will begin to increase for a number of income groups as soon as the 2023 calendar year, according to the JCT. Those making less than $10,000 would see their average tax rate increase from 7.3% in 2022 to 7.6% in 2023, while those making between $30,000-$40,000 would go from 7.8% to 7.9%, and those making between $100,000-$200,000 would go from 19.1% to 19.4%.

That may not be a significant amount, but it is a tax rate on every American who pays taxes.

The article notes:

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden’s spokeswoman Ashley Schapitl pushed back against the estimates, arguing that the JCT analysis is incomplete since “it doesn’t include the benefits to middle-class families of making health insurance premiums and prescription drugs more affordable,” Politico reported.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made a similar argument Monday when pressed on the incongruities between the JCT estimates and Biden’s claims.

“The JCT’s report that we’re seeing is incomplete because it omits the actual benefits that Americans would receive when it comes to prescription drugs, when it comes to lowering energy costs like utility bills,” Jean-Pierre said.

The promise made was that the bill would not raise taxes. It raises taxes. The other savings may or may not happen. Green energy has been shown to increase utility bills–not decrease them, and a lot of money in this bill goes toward increasing America’s dependence on green energy.

The article concludes:

But it remains unclear how President Biden’s initial claim that taxes are not going to go up on those making under $400,000 dollars squares with JCT’s data, even if there are certain “indirect benefits” like “drug-price savings,” “mitigating the climate crisis” and “deficit reduction.” Tax rates on at least some individuals making under $400,000 will still increase, according to the JCT, a bipartisan committee, contrary to Biden’s claim.

It’s All A Matter Of Perspective

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Inflation impacts every American. We see it mainly at the grocery store and the gas pump, but it also shows up in movie prices, concert prices, the cost of dining out, etc. In terms of the impact on food prices, Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog reports on one of the most amazing comments by the White House on the price of food.

The article reports:

White House Economic Council Director joined White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for the July 26 press briefing last week. The White House has posted the transcript here. Talking up the strength of our economy by comparison with others, Deese (White House economic adviser Brian Deese) actually said this:

Well, look, I think that our — our economy is more resilient to the — to the types of challenges that we’ve faced. For example, you know, with respect to food, we’re a net exporter of agricultural commodities. And, obviously, the high prices are hitting Americans very hard, but they’re — that — in a way that is different from some places that are facing famine, for example.

So what I hear in that statement is that the Biden administration really doesn’t care that the high price of food is seriously impacting Americans, we should be glad we are not facing famine.

We can’t get the Biden administration’s hands off of any public policy power they have soon enough.

Welcome To The Biden Economy

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Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog reported on Wednesday that in June prices rose 9.1 percent above last year. That is a forty-year high.

The article reports:

Inflation hit a new four-decade high in June as prices rose 9.1 percent from last year — 1.3 percent from the prior month — according to the data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning. The BLS’s “all items index increased 9.1 percent for the 12 months ending June, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending November 1981.”

I put it this way: We see it everywhere and every day. The BLS puts it this way: “The increase was broad-based, with the indexes for gasoline, shelter, and food being the largest contributors.”

If anyone tries to tell you it’s not as bad as it seems, note that the more plausible case belies it: “The energy index rose 41.6 percent over the last year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending April 1980. The food index increased 10.4 percent for the 12-months ending June, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending February 1981.”

Every American is paying more to eat, travel, and have a place to live. This is the direct result of policies put in place by the Biden administration. There has been no move by the Biden administration to change any of the policies that caused this–if fact they are considering using the reconciliation process to pass a bill that will make things even worse–the increased taxes and increased spending in that bill will definitely move us from inflation to a recession.

If you want things to change, your only hope will be to change Congress so that the Biden administration cannot pass its economic policies. The economic policies of the Biden administration will bankrupt all of us.

 

This Is Just Wrong

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On July 5th, The U,K. Daily Mail reported that President Biden shipped five million barrels of oil from the United States’ Strategic Oil Reserve to Europe and Asia. The President told the American people that the oil was being released to help bring down the price of gasoline at the pump and thus ease expenses for Americans. Evidently, that was not the whole story.

The article reports:

The president faces accusations of a sneaky sleight of hand as it was revealed that between a fifth and a sixth of the reserve oil he bragged about releasing to boost supply made its way offshore to Europe and Asia in June.

Biden authorized the release of a million barrels a day from April onwards. But his action has done little to combat soaring gas prices, with the national average sitting at $4.74 as of Tuesday – still far above the $2.28-a-gallon average from just before he took office. 

Biden’s announcement about releasing the oil barrels was made in April, and saw him say: ‘These releases will put more than one million barrels per day on the market over the next six months, and will help address supply disruptions caused by Putin’s further invasion of Ukraine and the Price Hike that Americans are facing at the pump.’

But it has had little effect, with a closer look at the press release revealing that the oil released from the strategic reserve was always destined for the highest bidder – even if they were overseas.

That is due to strict international rules dictating the sale and supply of oil – although a regular American who listened to Biden’s proclamation in passing would likely have believed that the increase in supply would have been destined for domestic refineries, to lower US prices. 

‘Crude and fuel prices would likely be higher if (the SPR releases) hadn’t happened, but at the same time, it isn’t really having the effect that was assumed,’ said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler.

Government officials continue to defend Biden, and claim domestic gas prices would be even higher were it not for his release.  

The release of oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve is at best a temporary fix. America was energy independent when President Biden took office and inflation was under control. The amount of money from American energy that was flowing into the tax coffers of America was also helping offset some of the out-of-control spending. The simplest way to deal with inflation and help middle-class Americans cope with rising prices would be to open up American energy development quickly. Unfortunately, as long as the Democrats control Congress and the White House, that will not happen. If Republicans take Congress in 2022, the noose around the American energy sector might be loosened, but it will take a Republican President in 2024 to bring us back to economic stability. Meanwhile, expect gimmicks before the mid-term election to try to drop the price of gasoline, but understand that as soon as the election is over, the President will go back to limiting American energy unless a Republican Congress is in place to stop him.

The Daily Malarkey

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I receive and email every day from The Daily Malarkey. It is basically a write-up of some of the foolishness that is currently going on in the media and the so-called leadership of our country.

Here is an excerpt from today’s email:

Media Doing Opposite Of Supposed Mission

FOX headline: “MSNBC, WaPo, ABC figures warn voters against gas prices influencing their vote in November; Some media pundits worried that gas prices, inflation will dominate midterm concerns”“After downplaying concerns about the economy in the last year, some media outlets are now panicking that high gas prices and inflation will tank Democrats in the midterm elections, with some pundits even scolding voters for making it a priority.“Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell told readers that it was a ‘wild fantasy’ to believe the GOP could lower gas prices, as she warned voters to ‘think carefully about what they’ll get if they cast their ballot based on gas prices,’ in a Sunday opinion piece.”“Quoting colleague E.J. Dionne, she cautioned that if Republicans win in November that could lead to ‘far more radical and sinister forces’ trying to ‘undermine democracy.’“On MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ branding guru Donny Deutsch fretted that pocketbook issues would win out with voters this year and in 2024 as more important to them than America’s democracy being ‘in peril.’“MSNBC host Joy Reid and political analyst Matthew Dowd characterized a red wave as a ‘threat’ the media needed to warn voters against on Monday.“‘We have to tell the voters what the threat is just like we do, Joy, we tell them about inflation, and we tell them about job growth, and we tell them about a hurricane, and we tell them about tornadoes, and we tell them about wildfire, we have to treat this assault just like we have to tell them about the assault on democracy,’ Dowd said.“Fellow MSNBC host Tiffany Cross took the same approach on her show Saturday, complaining that inflation was more of a concern for voters than the Jan. 6 committee hearings.“‘Come this November, will voters be more concerned with saving money than saving democracy?’ the ‘Cross Connection’ host asked.“Cross griped that inflation and ‘high prices’ dominated media coverage, which led Americans to be less interested in the ‘compelling testimonies and evidence’ in the Jan. 6 committee hearings.”“‘The View’ host Joy Behar absolved Biden of any responsibility for the energy crisis and said Republicans just wanted to make Biden ‘look bad.’”

An honest media would be a wonderful thing. Should we reward the Biden administration for doing a really bad job of running the country by electing people who will endorse their policies?

The Plan

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On Tuesday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the Biden administration’s plan to fight inflation.

The article reports:

“Today the Democratic House takes a strong step to bring down crucial kitchen table costs of the pump and grocery store and across the board.”

That’s the transcript of what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor before all but five of her fellow Democrats voted for the “Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act” last week.

Pelosi’s garbled syntax aside, the only thing this bill would lower is the public’s trust in anything Democrats say these days. Despite its title, this bill would expand government but do nothing – repeat, nothing – to lower prices today, tomorrow, or any time in the future.

Among the Democrats’ brilliant inflation-fighting ideas is to create a new meat police to harass the meat industry. Another is to expand a subsidy program for farmers that has already proved ineffective in keeping food prices from skyrocketing. Finally, it would expand the use of ethanol – a plan that even President Joe Biden admits will fail to lower fuel prices.

…The bill also claims to lower food costs by encouraging farmers to adopt “precision farming” techniques that would lower their reliance on fertilizer, the cost of which has also spiked.

Here’s how Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee describe this: “Expanding access to precision agriculture has the potential to reduce fertilizer use and lower costs while also providing resource benefits including clean water and reduced carbon use. It is also a priority to help deal with the water shortages facing growers in much of the Western United States.”

But this program has been around for 26 years and Washington has dumped more than $25 billion into these subsidies. What effect has all this largesse had on food price inflation today? Go to your nearby grocery store for the answer.

The article concludes:

Biden doesn’t believe this will make any difference either. The Washington Post reported recently that while talking up E-15 as a money saver in public, “privately, Biden dismissed the policy as ineffective” and “worried … that it exaggerated ethanol’s ability to cut gas prices and could harm his climate goals.”

There’s also the inconvenient truth that encouraging farmers to turn more corn into fuel will leave less corn for food, pushing up grocery prices. So even if consumers did see gasoline prices fall, they’d pay for it in higher food prices

The Democrats’ bill does have one thing in its favor. It makes it clear that the only way to change the direction of economic policy coming out of Washington is to change the leadership in Washington.

I am praying for an honest mid-term election.

More Pinocchios For The White House

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the Biden administration’s claim that the biggest driver of American inflation in the war in Ukraine. It is interesting that this claim is coming out as many economists believe that the economic growth numbers that will come out at the end of this month will show that America is in a recession according to the classical definition of the word recession.

The article notes:

Inflation was high and rising long before the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.6 percent in May of 2021 after rising 0.8 percent in April., On an annual basis, prices were up 5.0 percent, the largest 12-month increase since a 5.4-percent increase for the period ending August 2008.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 3.8 percent over the previous 12 months, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending June 1992.

The article concludes:

The biggest factor in the rise of energy prices has been increased global demand and a lack of capital investment. The latter was caused, in part, by ESG investing, Biden’s promise to end fossil fuels, and regulators discouraging fossil fuel production.

Yet inflation is still very high even with energy excluded. Absent energy, the CPI is up 6.6 percent year over year and rose 0.7 percent in May from April. This demonstrates that Putin has very little to do with the bulk of U.S. inflation.

People who normally invest in finding oil are being very cautious right now. Banks have slowed lending to oil companies for exploration because the government is not allowing the exploration needed to keep America energy independent. The first step toward ending inflation would be open up drilling (and the necessary pipelines) to keep the income from the energy market in America. The next step would be removing at least one in three government regulations on business and people trying to start businesses. Don’t look for either solution under the Biden administration.

 

Creating More Inflation

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On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about one plan proposed by the White House to help Americans cope with the high cost of gasoline. After all, there is an election in November. Aside from the fact that this plan would further fuel inflation by putting more dollars into the economy, it does nothing to help the truckers who transport everything and have no choice but to pass on their increased costs to the consumer resulting in rising prices on nearly everything.

The article includes the following chart:

On Friday, The Washington Post reported the following:

Gas prices have been one of the most visible signs of inflation. The White House has taken a number of actions to try to address the problem, such as committing to a historic release of the nation’s oil reserves and, on Wednesday, sending a letter to the nation’s refineries calling for more production and criticizing their profits. President Biden has also tried to increase production internationally, prodding the world’s oil producers and coordinating the release from national reserves with U.S. allies.

But those measures appear not to have helped substantially. The average gas price nationally rose above $5 a gallon for the first time this weekend, a roughly 11 percent increase from just last month, according to AAA, although some industry analysts say it could fall back to $4.55 in the weeks ahead. Polling suggests widespread frustration with rising prices, increasing the likelihood that voters punish Democrats this fall and give Republicans control of at least one house of Congress next year.

We desperately need an honest election in November.

I Think The Fact-Checkers Went Home

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President Biden and his administration members have been claiming for the past few days that inflation in America is lower than inflation in other industrial countries. The claim is made with the assertion that because America has lower inflation it can’t be President Biden’s fault. The only problem with the claim is that it isn’t true.

The chart below was posted by The U.K. Daily Mail on Friday.The article reports:

In an interview with the Associated Press that was conducted Thursday, he (President Biden) slapped back suggestions he is to blame.

‘Isn’t it kind of interesting? If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher? You ask yourself that? I’m not trying to be a wise guy,’ he told AP reporter Josh Boak in the Oval Office.

While prices having been rising across the globe, the inflation in the U.S. has been higher than the G7 nations and China for most of the year.

The United Kingdom with a four-decade high of 8.6 percent has only just surpassed inflation in the United States.

But nations including Germany, France, Japan and Canada are Sall still behind the U.S. when it comes to prices.

Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from April 2021 until April 2022 shows U.S. inflation has been rising steadily above all other nations.

The data runs only until April as it is where the fullest data was available. 

It should also be noted that President Biden has consistently criticized the profit margins of the oil companies. A website called Macrotrends includes information of both oil company profit margins (and for comparison) the profit margin of Apple.

Here are portions of those charts:

I don’t think oil profit margins are the problem.