PrintDemocrats have some weird ideas about how to whip inflation now
Remember President Gerald R. Ford, and his hapless "Whip Inflation Now" campaign?
Ford advocated buying cheaper stuff and consuming less in his ill-fated 1974 WIN campaign. According to Wikipedia:
Suggested actions for citizens included carpooling, turning down thermostats, and starting their own vegetable gardens.
"WIN" buttons immediately became objects of ridicule; skeptics wore the buttons upside down, explaining that "NIM" stood for "No Immediate Miracles," "Nonstop Inflation Merry-go-round," or "Need Immediate Money."
Now inflation is back, brought on by monster government spending, and Democrats have cooked up far more dimwitted inflation"cures" than the hapless Jerry Ford.
Start with what they have already legislated and signed into law -- the mis-named "Inflation Reduction Act" of 2022.
This so-called inflation cure is nothing but a slush fund where they raise taxes, hand out mass subsidies to their political contributors. The only potential to reduce one component of inflation is down the road on prescription drug prices which haven't been rising very fast compared to other necessities like food, gas, utilities, and housing.
In any case, most of the inflation-hit poor already get their drugs for free so it doesn't help them, either now or in the future. Historic experience shows that slapping price controls on those drugs, or any consumer product, is far more likely to produce shortages, which won't help the poor at all.
The poor also don’t have enough money to buy electric cars or solar panels, which the slush fund dangles out so that greenie political cronies can be rewarded with contracts, no matter what the subsidy is.
Now, television talking head Chuck Todd is supporting the non-enforcement of immigration laws and pretending that more illegal immigrants will solve inflation.
I kid you not:
NBC's Chuck Todd: Bring in More Migrants to Solve Inflation!
I wonder if Todd understands that inflation was low when President Trump was enforcing immigration laws. We had far fewer illegal immigrants, and inflation was low.
Todd's nutty idea will probably have the opposite effect on inflation actually. Does Todd understand the inflationary pressures on food, housing, schools, water supplies, hospitals, and other things when you flood the United States with millions of people? There are already shortages as it is.
It appears that Todd, like most journalists who are campaigning for Democrats, have a miniscule knowledge of economics and a very limited understanding of supply and demand. They certainly don't understand the difference between cost push-inflation and demand-pull inflation, let alone the problem of big-government public spending. They don't know where inflation comes from.
Another fallacy we hear from these Democrats is that getting rid of the tariffs will lower inflation.
Inflation Isn’t the Only Reason Biden Should Lift China Tariffs
Inflation didn't go up with the tariffs, so why would it go down without them?
Reliance on China for so many of our products has contributed greatly to our supply chain and inflation problems. Getting rid of the tariffs will increase that reliance It is an ignorant and dangerous solution, as China hates us and will gladly cut us off from rare Earth minerals and other things if they get a chance. Inflation -- from the monstrous costs of higher education, to the skyrocketing price of oil, to inflated housing costs, to the soaring prices at the grocery, to the ever-bigger hospital bills doesn't come from tariffs. It's directly linked to government spending.
Here's another one for the 'laughable' file, courtesy of former Obama secretary of labor, Robert Reich, a supposed economist:
On Wednesday, policymakers at the Federal Reserve – America’s central bank – continued their battle against inflation with a third straight supersize interest-rate increase. And they warned that they’re not done. They’ll continue to raise borrowing costs until inflation is tamed.
They assume that the underlying economic problem is a tight labor market, causing wages to rise – and prices to rise in response. And they believe interest rate increases are necessary to slow this wage-price inflation.
This is dead wrong.
Wage increases have not even kept up with inflation. Most workers’ paychecks are shrinking in terms of real purchasing power. Rather than causing inflation, wages are actually reducing inflationary pressures.
What a pinhead. Not once does he name the real cost of inflation, which is federal money-printing. Inflation has nothing to do with either corporations or worker wages. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. Reich is a dog chasing its tail.
This guy knows what he's talking about -- and his Twitter feed shows that he's the author of a book on political cronyism:
Robert Reich, as usual, is wrong. Corporations did not cause inflation: since 2019 nominal spending rose 15% and consumer prices increased 14%. It’s that simple—we printed too much money, people spent it, demand curves increased, and so did prices!!! pic.twitter.com/2Xa2gtRbNq
— Patrick Newman (@DrPatrickNewman) September 26, 2022
What we rarely, if ever see, is the recognition by the media of the disastrous inflation that is caused by the Democrats' intentional destruction of industries that supply plentiful, practical, affordable, and reliable energy. That's contributing to high prices and shortages, and is the elephant in the room. Until they get rid of these policies where they falsely claim they can control temperatures, sea levels and storm activity forever to justify the destruction, inflation will continue.
The reason the media rarely mentions those destructive policies is because they support them.
The high price of gasoline in 2008 contributed greatly to the deep recession in 2008 because it was destroying the purchasing power of everyone, but especially the poor, middle class and small businesses.
The price of crude had soared to $132 per barrel in June 2008. By Jan. 16, 2009, when President Obama took office it was below $36. The retail price of gasoline in June 2008 was $4.10 per gallon. By the time Obama took office it was $1.84.
So what caused the rapid drop in prices and the massive stimulus for everyone? Bush lifted the ban on offshore drilling.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday lifted a White House ban on offshore drilling to try to drive down soaring energy prices, a largely symbolic bid unlikely to have any short-term impact on high gasoline costs.
The media was as economically illiterate in 2008 as they are today. Reuters called it "a largely symbolic bid unlikely to have any short-term impact on high gasoline costs."
The media and other Democrats don't care about facts, inflation, or the poor.
There is another way to solve inflation: go back to Trump’s policies of smaller government, fewer regulations and lower taxes that produced rapid real income growth for those at the bottom and low inflation.
Of course, the media and other Democrats have never cared about good results. They care about power.
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