You heard it here. The Biden Inflation Tax.
That‘s what Mr Trump has said all over TruthSocial today. It’s a good strategy because that’s what many voters already believe and everyone can see and feel.
Actually among those who voted for Biden and no longer support him, 76% say the reason is the economy.
Too bad all the facts are missing from this equation, but facts seem of little consequence these days.
In 2023, the average rate of inflation was 4.1%.
In 2022, the average rate of inflation was 8.0%.
In 2021, the average rate of inflation was 4.7%.
In 2020, the average rate of inflation was 1.2%.
The current inflation rate is 3.36%.
During this period we had the COVID pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine and then higher interest rates to bring down inflation.
The events disrupted supply chains, raised agricultural prices especially on wheat and raised oil prices with its multiple impacts on transportation, including food.
These events have a delayed and sustained impact on many prices.
We know food prices are high, but the often stated percentage increase includes eating out which has an inflation rate nearly four times higher than eating at home.
The administration in power gets the blame and the credit for many things it has little ability to affect, increasingly so as our world is more closely linked.
Who else are we going to blame? Certainly not ourselves and our spending buying habits.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
If the US was experiencing more inflation and less economic growth than its peers, other advanced economies, then I would blame the Biden administration. But the opposite has happened, the US has outperformed the other advanced economies. In an interesting correlation, Biden’s popularity, which is abysmally low in America, is still much higher than other current Western leaders. Ironically, the polices that Trump is touting for his next administration would significantly increase inflation over current policy. I think no matter who is elected, we will be in for a bit of a rough ride in the near future, with austerity measures and an economic slowdown. But on the bright side, high unemployment or a recession will definitely bring down the inflation rate too!
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“The administration in power gets the blame and the credit for many things it has little ability to affect, increasingly so as our world is more closely linked.”
That’s the way it’s always been and the way it always will be.
Did Nixon, Ford, or Carter catch a break in the 1970s? Nope. Neither should Biden (and lest you think T-Rump deserves a break, he’s the one that sent out the first “stimulus” checks back in 2020. Biden merely doubled down on them, then everybody acted surprised at the inflation numbers in 2022. Duh…).
Biden and Harris both need to retire. And T-Rump isn’t a much better choice. Suffice it to say that I won’t be voting for either of them – and neither should anybody else that truly cares about this country.
Get us 20 good candidates, all in different political parties. Then force those parties to form coalition governments like they do in Europe to get things done. Get rid of this infernal two-party system that enables two parties to “adequately represent” the political views of 300+ million Americans.
And while we’re at it, let’s take away the right to vote from anybody who says, “My daddy was a Democrat and so am I”. Think for yourself, Americans. Soylent Green is people. You know what I mean.
Let’s kill this illusion of a democracy, disguised as a two-party system, once and for all and start a real one.
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George W. Bush is looking pretty good these days !
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OK, prices are 20% higher than they were when Biden took office for the market basket of goods as determined three years ago (2021). The market basket is only updated based on data that are three years old. So, the CPI misses changes in how each of us react in the short run to changes in price. That is CPI ≠ Inflation!
What that means is that as the price of my take out meal increases, I either elect to stay the course (and spend less elsewhere, or save less), or, I change my personal, individual market basket of goods.
What’s worse – from a political and standard of living perspective?
Where I simply pay more for my take out meal at McDonalds or must give it up because it is too expensive?
Where I can’t afford a dozen eggs, and have to change my breakfast from two eggs and toast to store brand (cheap) bland oatmeal?
I was in my 20’s from 1974 – 1981, most of those years earning less than $9,000 a year. I remember the fallout that continued (higher interest rates) for many more years that made home buying a challenge. And, I remember having to shop for groceries after working a full day of overtime on Saturday to make ends meet – accepting whatever meat and produce (if any) had been put on sale after 4PM (as my grocery store wasn’t open on Sundays, and closed at 5PM on Saturdays). We never ate out – not even McDonalds.
Here we are 40 years later, and, well over half of American adults have no memory of living with inflation … sure, it is a shock, and yes, it merits significant criticism of the beltway pigs and idiots who have us on a path to accumulate $146 Trillion in national debt by 2054 – even if they fail to address Social Security or Medicare sustainability!
But, Trump was no better – from Obama to Trump to Biden, they all combined to add $24+ Trillion to our national debt. I always laugh when I remember President Obama calling President George W. Bush “unpatriotic” because he averaged $600B a year in deficits, increasing the national debt from $5.7T to $10.6 Trillion. Obama, Trump and Biden then increased it an average of $1.6 Trillion a year (almost 3x Bush) over the next 15 or so years.
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If you don’t understand that inflation is too much money chasing too few goods then blaming fuel, food,
and shortages is just pure baloney (has that gone up in price too?). Everything else is just a symptom of the money supply. Rising prices are like a high temperature, a symptom of something gone wrong.
The Federal Reserve pumped up the money supply after Biden sent us all a check or two. He was warned by prominent economists of what would happen and it did.
Interesting that inflation is being fought by the Federal Reserve because it is a monetary phenomen not something the 3 branches of government can do much about once the genie is out of the bottle.
Who was the slayer of inflation that brought down President Carter? Of course, Paul Volcker head of Federal Reserve.
Mozambique has slashed money supply dramatically to deal with runaway inflation same in Argentina. Two recent Journal articles. No shortages just printing up money.
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6/18/79 Federal Funds Rate was 10.28%
Volker appointed 8/6/79
Federal Funds rate – 8/27/79 – 11.29%
Federal Funds Rate on 8/10/87 – 6.75%
Left Fed 8/11/87
From Marketwatch, 5/18/24: Shoppers are taking on credit-card debt to buy groceries. That’s ‘a canary in a coal mine.’ As grocery prices rise, one in four adults who pay for food with credit cards are carrying debt. More than one in four people who use their credit cards to pay for groceries are unable to pay off their balances in full, according to an Urban Institute report about food debt. Many Americans have housing debt and automobile debt. Now, many are also taking on grocery debt.
20% of adults who paid for groceries with a credit card in 2023 didn’t pay off their full balance — meaning they would likely accrue interest — but always made the minimum required payment. Another 7.1% paid for groceries with a credit card and did not make the minimum payment, meaning they would likely accrue interest and also incur fees.
The cost of this debt is now at a record high, with the average interest rate on credit cards reaching 21.59% in February, compared with 14.75% (up almost 50%!) in February 2021.
Average household spending on groceries increased to $5,703 per year in 2022, the most recent year for which data were available, from $4,935 in 2020 (up 15.56%), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey.
So, that’s 15+% in just two years, even after Americans changed their shopping habits – probably 20% – 25% more during the entire Biden Administration.
I think the government should increase spending/subsidies on health care, student loans, chips, climate change, electric cars, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, car charging stations, first two years of homeownership,
Can you think of anything else our beltway pigs and idiots should be spending money we don’t have?
Separately, what gives the Fed the authority to buy up all this debt, do quantitative easing, etc.
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Personal inflation is always different from the CPI
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Now we have “personal inflation “. Rising prices are a result of too much money chasing too few goods. We monetize the debt and eventually you get inflation.
Remember how Germany paid for reparations after World War 1? Printed money !!
Our Fed financed debt from the 2008 debacle and covid by quantitative easing, thus buying debt and injecting money into the system. Once it got out of hand they did the opposite and started raising rates.
Japan with no natural resources so forced to buy oil, as an example, had inflation at 2.4% in 2022, far less than ours. You would think it would be far higher if you believed it was shortages and a myriad of other reasons we read from the article.
Monetize the debt and you have issues. Just ask Sleepy Joe. Joe thinks he inherited 9%, so that says it all.
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