U.S. senators have to forgo the posh Capitol dining rooms and go food shopping within the shoes of ordinary Americans. Shoppers are panicking at the meat counter, where beef costs are up more than 20%. Nearly all things in the basket costs more.
Most pols are clueless concerning the pain inflation causes.
The Biggest Victims
Retirees would be the biggest victims. Inflation is decimating them. With interest rates near zero, retirees are watching the purchasing power of the cash they've in the bank literally shrink. They’re getting punished for his or her many years of thrift, prudence and self-reliance.
For the 65-and-up crowd, it’s a double whammy – the brutal impact of COVID and then inflation. Three-quarters of american citizens who died from COVID were for the reason that age group. The survivors are becoming whacked with price hikes on from warming oil to groceries. In Maine, where my twin brother lives, fuel to heat homes is up by as much as 50%.
Understanding the Inflation Spike
To understand the inflation spike, consider this amazing fact: One-fifth of all dollars in circulation happen to be created since February 2022. Congress spent excessively on COVID-related benefits using borrowed money, and also the Federal Reserve purchased your debt created and flooded the nation with increased dollars.
The result: too many dollars chasing too few goods.
Everywhere, retirees are being forced to re-plan how they live their final years as their savings pay for less.
Social Security is raising benefits having a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment – the highest in decades but not enough to offset price hikes.
Inflation’s other victims are wage earners. Wages went up during the last year but under inflation for most workers. Wages tends to buy less this Christmas.
Bidenflation and just what Which means for Consumers
President Joe Biden campaigned on a promise never to raise taxes except on the rich. But the Bidenflation raging now's the cruelest tax of.
Dec. 10’s Consumer Price Index put inflation at 6.8%, the greatest since 1982, but even that likely understates it: CPI critics point out that single family rental costs are up 17% nationwide this year. It’s worse in Manhattan, where median rents are up 20%.
Even so, Biden and Senate Democrats are attempting to ram through the Build Back Better Act before Christmas, ignoring warnings that it will make prices soar higher still because that’s what deficit spending does.
In fact, not passing the balance goes a long way toward calming inflation expectations and in the process avert widespread demands for wage hikes that could trigger a wage-price inflation spiral. Organized labor is already demanding quarterly cost-of-living adjustments and better wage rates because of inflation.
But Democrats wish to pass what they claim is “transformative” legislation. It’s not about helping the individuals who work, save and take care of themselves. It’s about politics and buying votes with new government giveaways before the 2022 midterm elections.
Inflation pain be damned.
Some Democrats Push Back
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) seems to get it. His state has among the oldest populations, and that he says they’re feeling the brunt of price hikes, including in the Dollar Store. Dollar Store Inc. announced that products it's sold for $1 in excess of 3 decades will be costing $1.25.
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Manchin repeated his concerns Monday when asked if he'd capitulate to pressure from his party to aid Build Back Better. In a 50-50 divided Senate, the bill can’t pass without his vote.
Manchin responded, “Inflation is real. It’s not transitory. It’s alarming. It’s rising, not down. And I think that’s something you should be worried about.”
Americans agree. Hold the line, Senator.
The Public Isn’t Buying the Propaganda
The White Home is producing endorsements for Build Back Better from partisan economists, however the public isn’t purchasing the propaganda. An astounding 69% of american citizens disapprove of Biden’s handling of inflation, including 71% of independents, based on an ABC/Ipsos poll published Dec. 12.
As long as prices carry on up, rely on Democrats to go down in defeat within the midterm elections.
