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February 17, 2023

The WSJ has a unique solution to combat inflation

By Rajan Laad

Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal carried a piece prescribing a practical solution to combat inflation.

Here's the headline and its lede:

To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast

Several breakfast staples saw sharp price increases due to a perfect storm of bad weather and disease outbreaks — and continued effects from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

We know that Biden's catastrophic misgovernance has placed great hardships on Americans on several fronts.

Crippling inflation is among the gravest problems plaguing Americans.

It affects all Americans, irrespective of economic status, and is particularly punishing to the working class.  For the past two years, the working class have seen their savings depleted while the cost of living is rapidly rising.

When Biden was inaugurated in January 2021, President Trump gifted him with an inflation rate of just 1.6%.  It has to be remembered that it was when COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, causing businesses to either be closed or operate partially.

In just two years, Biden not only undid the fruits of President Trump's sterling efforts, but has made things much worse.

Inflation currently stands at 6.5%.

Under Biden, prices have gone up 4.3 times more.

This number is more troubling considering that restrictions across the U.S. have been eased.

In recent times, the news media are claiming that the economy is improving.  For a change, they are factual.  Last year, inflation was as high as 7.5% — i.e., Biden worsened Trump's economy by 5 times.  The inflation was at its highest in 40 years in January.

Now it stands at 6.4% over the past 12 months (or 13.7% since Biden took office dating from February 2021), so the darkness prevails.

Let's get into the specifics stated in the WSJ article by Gabriel T. Rubin. 

The price of essential things such as bread, cheese, and meat has increased anywhere from 10 to 30 percent.

Eggs have jumped 49 percent to 70.1 percent more in price than their cost last year, which is the largest annual rate since 1973.

Frozen, noncarbonated juices and drinks saw a 1.5% increase in January compared to the previous month, and the 12.4% yearly increase is the largest in more than ten years.

The price of breakfast cereal is 15% higher than it was last year.

Rubin blames a '"perfect storm of bad weather and disease outbreaks — and the continued effects from Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

According to Information Resources Inc, the deadliest avian influenza outbreak on record caused the devastation of poultry flocks across the country.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, egg inventories across the U.S. were 29% lower in the final week of December 2022 than at the beginning of 2022.

All of these factors caused the price of eggs to rise more than any other grocery item in 2022.

The rise of juices and drinks was attributed to Florida orange-growers witnessing their smallest crop in nearly 90 years, due to two hurricanes and a citrus disease that is laying waste to its groves.

The rising price of cereal was blamed on the elevated global grain prices resulting from disruptions related to the war in Ukraine.

Rubin doesn't blame Joe Biden for any of these problems.

The avian influenza outbreak is a recent occurrence, and so was the Florida hurricane.

But inflation was already high before that.  The war in Ukraine began only after Biden hastily withdrew from Afghanistan, making the U.S. look weak on a global stage.  It emboldened Vladimir Putin to intervene in Ukraine.

So the Wall Street Journal provides a solution?

Rubin has the following solution:

Breakfast lovers might be better off just having a cup of coffee — but go with roasted, not instant. Prices for roasted coffee declined by 0.1% last month, but instant coffee rose by a 3.6% monthly increase.

Let's look at this "solution" from the health perspective.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  As the name suggests, breakfast breaks the overnight fasting period.

It replenishes our energy levels, and hopefully, it is balanced enough to provide the essential nutrients required for good health.

There's an old saying: "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper." 

Studies have shown that those who consume most of their calories at breakfast lost two and a half times more weight than those who had a light breakfast and ate heavier meals later.

This is because the energy consumed in the form of a good breakfast is expended during the day of work.

Also, starting your day being hungry can never be good.  It often leads to "hanger" — i.e., hunger causing anger.

Hence, it can be safely said that for most people, particularly those with regular jobs, who begin in the morning and end in the evening, a good but not heavy breakfast is essential.

What the piece could have stated as viable solutions to deal with inflation involves other things.

Perhaps reducing overall expenditure on recreational activities is the best way to begin.  It doesn't mean you stop recreation altogether; you just reduce the quantity.  For instance, you visit the cinemas four times a month — i.e., once every weekend, instead of eight times.  Perhaps you cancel your WSJ subscription.

Perhaps one avoids the number of times dining at a restaurant.  Perhaps one cuts down on the number of adult beverages.  If eggs and meat are expensive, people opt for other sources of protein with legumes such as lentils and soya beans or dairy sources such as cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, etc.

Perhaps the usage of cash-back cards and apps is a good idea.  Perhaps switching to generic or local brands that have a good record is also a good idea.  Perhaps keeping an eye on special offers is a good idea, too.

A long-term way of saving money is to buy food items with a long shelf life in bulk and avail of bulk discount rates.

Now for the reactions to the preposterous piece.

There was obviously copious ridicule. 

What is amazing is that the piece even managed to get published in the Wall Street Journal.

Clearly, a major publication such as the WSJ must have an intricate approval process for any article.  It is surprising that none in the approval hierarchy thought the piece was unsuitable.

In the end, in any country, especially the world's only superpower, you would assume that every working person has the earning capacity to afford the essential three meals of the day.  Even prisoners in the States get three hots with their cot.  Meanwhile, a TIPP poll published last July found that 23% of Americans are indeed skipping meals, with no need for the Wall Street Journal to suggest it for them.

If the likes of the WSJ are recommending cutting down on food, the same way the Venezuelans did when hyperinflation overwhelmed their economy (losing an average of 24 pounds per person in 2018), it is time to press the panic button.

Perhaps this is part of the Democrat project of having a permanent underclass that remains dependent on the government for essentials and hence keeps voting Democrat.

Joe Biden is taking the U.S. into the uncharted territory of suffering and ignominy, where regular people are being ordered to cut down on essentials while the ruling class dedicates funds to myriad non-essential activities.

History has taught us that most popular revolutions are caused not only by rising prices, but by the ruling classes' insensitivity towards those who are struggling.  Look up any book on the origins of the French Revolution, or google the word "cacerolazo," the famous Latin American practice of banging on empty pots and pans to protest hunger in dictatorships.

Some may advise that the working class eat cake; others may recommend avoiding breakfast.

This won't end well.

Image: Francis Bourgouin via Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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