Inflation Misdirection Hysteria

[Steve R.]

Inflation erodes the value of value of the dollar. Consequently it is a major problem. Consider that the current inflation rate, for most wage workers, decreases the value of their take home pay. For the consumer, they have to pay more for their purchases, especially grocery items.

The Democrats are playing a game of idiotic misdirection.

WH press sec mocked for linking inflation rise to spending bill, saying relief starts ‘early next year’

President Biden's spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Americans won't feel economic relief from the Inflation Reduction Act until next year.

www.foxnews.com

Karine Jean-Pierre, as the spokesperson for the White House, made the absurd claim that providing subsidies for installing green energy saving materials would lower inflation. Totally wrong. Providing subsidies to "force" (encourage) people to buy more does not reduce inflation. Moreover, subsidies increase inflationary pressures by "cheapening" the value of the dollar. Manufactures and colleges have been known to increase the price of their products as a response to government subsidies.

GM, Ford say electric vehicle price increases have nothing to do with Dem spending bill

Two large U.S. automakers refuted criticism Tuesday that recent price hikes were related to the Inflation Reduction Act which extends the electric vehicle tax credit.

www.foxbusiness.com

Of course the manufactures would deny such a linkage.

As a side-note. The usual narrative for inflation is too much government government spending. There is a twist. When the Covid pandemic became an issue, the government paid people to stay home. The labor participation rate is now around 62.3%. As you may have notices, many business have help wanted signs. Businesses in response have begun to raise their wages. The price of a product, especially for labor intensive products, contains a significant labor cost. As labor costs increase, businesses are forced to raise their product prices. The government by interfering with the labor pool (paying people to stay home instead of working) has caused inflation.

As a word of caution to Republicans should they win control of Congress; inflation will continue. Inflation can not simply be turned-off, it is embedded in existing government programs that cannot simply be de-funded. The Democrats will be quick to blame the Republicans for that continued inflation. Democrats totally outclass Republicans when it comes to devious messaging to the gullible public. The Republicans will have a very difficult time attempting to explain that continued inflation had its source with Democratic policies. Republicans need to be prepared, after the elections, with a public education campaign that would keep the focus of why inflation is occurring on the Democrats.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Inflation becomes permanent. If a 1/2 gal of milk is now 2.35, it will still be 2.35 when inflation drops to a more rational 2-3%. It won't go back to last year's price of 1.80. It will take years for workers' salaries to catch up, if they ever do. Workers lost thousands of dollars of buying power in the past two years. I'm sure they lost all the gains from the Trump years and more.

Raising the minimum wage just makes some things more expensive (like eating out) but it also costs many low-wage workers job opportunities. The fast food companies are automating as fast as they can. My BJ's never has any carts by the door. I have to scour the parking lot for a cart. They never have anyone working the desk who is trained to sell lottery tickets. They also never have any registers staffed with actual people and they've changed all their old self serve registers to a different kind which are so low it kills my back. Plus, I can't put a bag on the out platform so I can just put things directly into bags. It just screams at me to take the item off the scale. I've tried putting the first item in the bag before putting it on the scale but that doesn't work either. That scale know what everything ways and even the < ounce of the bag sets it into a frenzy. So, I am forced to take the item out of the cart. Put it on the scanner. Pick it up and put it on the output platform (which is a scale and that's why it knew I put a grocery bag on it). Pick it up again to put it in the bag. Then put the bag into the cart. The old stations were all about 10 inches higher so there was no bending involved.

One of the fast food places I used to frequent hasn't got back to "normal" since COVID. They closed their dining room. They closed their outside ordering stations that you used from your car. They only have the drive through open. When I asked, the answer was - we can't get anyone to work. And yet, not 100 feet away at the end of the exit is someone claiming to be out of work and begging. Most of the "good" exits on this shopping strip have beggars now but minimum wage jobs aren't good enough. My grocery store used to hire mentally challenged young people as baggers. A couple of them always remembered me and said hi. I miss their friendly faces.