Biden's Economic Gaslighting

[Steve R.]

This morning, on the Fox Business channel, a video clip was presented where Biden asserted corporate price gouging. Below is an associated article.

‘Stop the price gouging’: Biden hits corporations over high consumer costs

Big business and junk fees prove easy targets for the White House in the inflation blame game.

www.cnbc.com

Below is the unbelievable (gaslighting) statement that gets a somewhat free pass.

“Any corporation that has not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as the supply chains have been rebuilt, it’s time to stop the price gouging,” Biden said.

To its credit, the article does note:

While it’s true that the annual rate of inflation has cooled from its high last summer, this doesn’t translate directly into falling consumer prices. It only means that prices are rising at a lower rate.

Unfortunately, the Fox Business pundits, while slamming Biden, did not explicitly make the above observation. Which may leave many viewers uniformed. Which is my segue to the next point. Fox pundits repeatedly arrogantly assert that the US public sees through Biden's economic gaslighting. Well - if the statements made by the Fox pundits were true; then Biden's approval ratings would be close to 0%, not the approximate 40%. Seems that a massive percentage of the US public is gullible to the Biden lies. Which portends trouble for the Republicans in the upcoming presidential election.

The also brings me to a parallel example of Biden's economic gaslighting. Biden glowingly remarks on how he is bringing down "the deficit". Biden may be spending less, but he is still adding significantly to the national debt. We are still going broke. Biden appears to be purposely conflating deficit spending with the national debt to gaslight the gullible public into believing that by bringing down "the deficit" he is also paying down the national debt. A lie. (Some members of Congress also play that disingenuous game.) Unfortunately, there is a shortage of pundits exposing that Biden lie.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Gas pricing has gotten more rational in the past few years and prices move in closer time to changes in oil prices. The price of oil goes up and the price of gas goes up, even though the gas station just filled its tanks with old oil at a lower price. The price of oil goes down and everyone waits to sell their expensive gas before refilling the tanks with cheaper gas before lowering the prices. In the past the decrease in price was significantly more delayed than the increase. The increase is still almost instantaneous but the drop is always slower. I'm not sure how long the gas pipeline is though. Exactly how long does it take the new oil to go from price rise through the purchase and shipping and refinement and delivery cycle? Should we see gas prices rise the day after oil prices. I don't think so but consumers want the prices to drop the day after the oil price drops so maybe it ends up balancing out.

We are seeing the same type of delay in price adjustments to the cost of goods. You really can't expect the butcher to lower your price until he has sold the expensive meat. There also may be contracts that need to be fulfilled. Sometimes companies will agree to paying a slightly higher price to guarantee stability for a couple of months. They can't lower their cost until their pipeline empties and fills with cheaper goods.

Nevertheless, as a consumer, I always feel cheated when I go to buy something and it is still 30% higher than it was a few months ago.

Regarding budgeting. The way that the government does budgeting is a crime against humanity. Every budget should be zero-based. We don't pay people to be lazy and just say give me 10% more plus an extra million for a special project and leave it at that. What happens is that "million" just gets rolled in and becomes a slush fund since the special project is done and should have been removed from the basis but somehow it never works that way.

 

[Steve R.]

Nevertheless, as a consumer, I always feel cheated when I go to buy something and it is still 30% higher than it was a few months ago.

Simply based on anecdotal observations, given a sufficiently long time period, inflation is always a one way arrow - up.
Inflation, to a degree, has been dissociated from free market principals. That is that the upward inflationary pressure on the price of a product, in many cases, does not really depend on the cost of the underlying components of that product.

The most obvious aspect, is the Federal Reserve System. They have made inflation systemic to the economy, with a 2% target. Less obvious inflationary contributions are government policies that promote inflation such as deficit spending, guaranteed government backed loans, Minimum wage legislation, and welfare payments.

Regarding budgeting. The way that the government does budgeting is a crime against humanity. Every budget should be zero-based.

No kidding. Budgets, if they are ever reinstated, should be limited to a two year horizon. The reason; the members of the House serve a two year term. Budgets that go beyond two years would likely become obsolete and would need to be modified to reflect changes in the composition of the House.

Budgets, should never go beyond a four year time horizon, which is the term of the president. The validation of that concept, is that Biden shredded Trumps budgetary objectives to impose a radical "green energy" budget. Should Trump win the next election, Biden's budget goals will be unceremoniously sent to the garbage dump. These types of budgetary swings point to how ludicrous it is to have a long term static budget.

It is simply irrational to project a ten year budget horizon. Promises that the government will magically "save" $XXX Trillion dollars sometime in the vague future is absurd.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Trillion dollars sometime in the vague future is absurd.

And yet they keep telling us stuff like that. Guess they think we're pretty stupid. Guess they would be right for the most part.

I was in my 20's when I realized what a farce governmental budgeting is. I was building an accounting system for the State of Tennessee. When it got close to the end of their fiscal year, they would "encumber" unspent funds by "ordering" stuff they had no intention of actually purchasing just so they could spend their current money to "0" rather than have to give it back.

 

[Steve R.]

The figures below are bewildering. Biden's economic policy is incomprehensible. Nevertheless, these figures contain "facts" worth pondering.

Americans need an extra $11,400 today just to afford the basics, Republican analysis finds

Compared with 2021, the typical household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain their standard of living, analysis shows.

www.cbsnews.com

Such figures underscore the financial squeeze many families continue to face even as the the rate of U.S. inflation recedes and the economy by many measures remains strong, with the jobless rate at a two-decade low. The analysis, from Republican members of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee, taps government data such as the Consumer Price Index and Consumer Expenditure Survey to examine the impact of inflation state by state.

Even so, many Americans say they aren't feeling those gains, and this fall more people reported struggling financially than they did prior to the pandemic, according to CBS News polling. Inflation is the main reason Americans express pessimism about economy despite its bright points, which also include stronger wage gains in recent years.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Here's a microcosm of price increases that will never go back. Last year chicken nuggets (the only thing I ever buy at Burger King) were $1.50 for 10 - including the barbeque sauce which is pretty much the only reason to buy the nuggets. Today they are $2.59 for 8 - plus $.50 for the bb sauce so that makes them $3.09. That is an increase of 257%. Granted, the old price was low because it was a loss leader but charging extra for bb sauce now is what is so aggravating. I get that they couldn't keep selling the chicken at a loss but don't try to fool me. NO ONE eats chicken nuggets without sauce. The whole point of chicken nuggets is as a delivery mechanism for sauce

 

[Isaac]

This morning, on the Fox Business channel, a video clip was presented where Biden asserted corporate price gouging. Below is an associated article.

‘Stop the price gouging’: Biden hits corporations over high consumer costs

Big business and junk fees prove easy targets for the White House in the inflation blame game.

www.cnbc.com

Below is the unbelievable (gaslighting) statement that gets a somewhat free pass.

To its credit, the article does note:

Unfortunately, the Fox Business pundits, while slamming Biden, did not explicitly make the above observation. Which may leave many viewers uniformed. Which is my segue to the next point. Fox pundits repeatedly arrogantly assert that the US public sees through Biden's economic gaslighting. Well - if the statements made by the Fox pundits were true; then Biden's approval ratings would be close to 0%, not the approximate 40%. Seems that a massive percentage of the US public is gullible to the Biden lies. Which portends trouble for the Republicans in the upcoming presidential election.

The also brings me to a parallel example of Biden's economic gaslighting. Biden glowingly remarks on how he is bringing down "the deficit". Biden may be spending less, but he is still adding significantly to the national debt. We are still going broke. Biden appears to be purposely conflating deficit spending with the national debt to gaslight the gullible public into believing that by bringing down "the deficit" he is also paying down the national debt. A lie. (Some members of Congress also play that disingenuous game.) Unfortunately, there is a shortage of pundits exposing that Biden lie.

Boy, Biden's not much of a lawyer if he really has no idea that statutory crimes have elements to them which must be met - and "not lowering you prices with inflation" does not constitute "price gouging"

What it DOES constitute is a man desperate to convince people, with unconvincing baseless assertions, that the Inflation Reduction Act reduced inflation, whether it did or didn't!

A man currently LOSING TO DONALD TRUMP, even after EVERYTHING, in polling! Wow!!