$5 + 8.6% = 217 + 49
That is the current political math for the Democrats and the Biden Administration when it comes to the U.S. economy.
If a regular gallon of gas is $5 or higher and inflation continues at its 8.6% rate, the Democrats will most likely lose control of the House and Senate for 2023 and 2024.
On Friday, the day the latest inflation report came out, President Joe Biden tried to paint a picture of an economy strong enough to endure the everyday price increases affecting Americans. President Biden is right to say that the price of gas is up due to less oil production both foreign and domestic and that supply chain issues start with three Chinese boat consortiums raising their prices by as much as 1,000%.
Even with the power the President of the United States has, he can not change what private companies do. And sending our troops into a war halfway around the world to reduce the price of oil is out of the question as well.
Economists point to a broad range of issues that are causing inflation—supply chain issues, coronavirus pandemic, energy disruptions caused by the Ukraine war, diseases affecting citrus trees and chickens and drought in areas that grow vegetables and other crops—that are affecting the everyday pocketbook of Americans.
But the Biden Administration and the President himself deservedly shoulder the blame as well. They were admittedly too slow to react to the financial headwinds that they were warned about last year. And the largesse of money (and printing more of it) to help Americans during the pandemic undoubtedly played a role, an overcompensation driven by the underspending by the Obama Administration during the Great Recession.
Additionally, the President has not been his strongest on delivering the message to the American public that he understands the economic pain they are feeling. We would suggest getting out of his Washington-Delaware bubble and play to his strengths of listening to the stories of everyday people. Visit Blue and Red States, rural and urban communities, Midwest and South cities, small business owners and employees, Republican and Democratic districts to hear the stories of what we are all cutting back on due to inflationary pricing.
The President has a case to make that his policies have produced economic success—unemployment is at historical low rates, there has been significant progress when it comes to the back up at the ports, he moved swiftly in using the Defense Protection Act to help combat the current baby formula shortage—as well as Republicans not putting forth a plan to deal with the rising costs consumers are facing.
But Americans don’t want to hear that, they just want some money left in their wallet after filling up their car for a Summer trip.
The Fall elections are setting up to feature an undercard of some of the most polarizing cultural issues this country has seen in years. Voters will be looking for candidates that align with them on a woman’s right to choose, commonsense gun control laws and the fall out of the finding of the Jan. 6 Select House Committee.
But the headliner will be the economy, featuring gas prices and inflation. Under his control or not, this is the defining issue that President Biden must contend with if he wants to have a Congress controlled by his party.
I agree to a large extent with the author’s contentions, save for the part about excessive spending on pandemic economic support, which was/is a lifeline to so many Americans, and which is not the major cause of current inflation. It’s vital that Pres. Biden and his team, as well as members of Congress focus on the successes of the administration, while also acting to slow the pace of inflation through carefully measured interest rate increases. Of course, the Fed, being independent, will do as it thinks best, but the President and Congress can apply pressure to them to convince the Fed to act, which, it appears, they are starting to do. When demand decreases, prices will have to decline, however, production also must increase or remain the same, and that’s something that’s hard to force, given that private companies decide such matters. The exception, of course, involves the Defense Production Act, and that may be something Pres. Biden can invoke, specifically with respect to oil and gas production. The problem is that ramping up capacity doesn’t happen overnight, and it takes 6 mos or more to see the effects of such decisions to increase production.
Check car sellers an makers. How are electric cars selling? Hmm? Are electric sights growing? Hm!
You can blame it on Putin, Republicans, and the oil speculators.
The primary reason for price increases on goods is because of the escalating cost to ship those goods.
Since the first oil embargoes’ of the 1970’s, Democrats have been trying to reign in the oil companies and control the spikes in crude prices. Up until now it was mainly OPEC saying “BOO” and then the price went up. Now you actually have a large amount of crude (Russia’s) being taken out of the market. Republicans keep crying “Free Market” and this is what you get with an oil supply based on “Free Market”.
Bad journalism. Inflation is around 8% worldwide. This has zero to do with Biden’s policies. The lies about his energy policies are so pathetic only a MAGA clown could believe them. Things like “he shut the Keystone pipeline and that’s why gas prices are so high”. Of course the Keystone pipeline opened in 2010 and continues to send Canadian tar sand oil to the Gulf as it always has. Biden did shut down XL, not scheduled to open until 2030. Glad he did. It wouldn’t even increase the amount of oil shipped (most of which is loaded onto China bound ships). XL was a new “shortcut” to get the oil to its destination more quickly but it would run through sacred Native American land and put at risk aquifers now more precious than ever since climate change is producing record droughts. Then there are the lies about Biden “stopping new oil drilling”. In fact, 2022 will set a record for new domestic oil drilling a FACT anyone can find online published by the industry itself. Of course helping Ukraine to fight the 21st Century Hitler (the foreign one) is our duty and most Americans support the effort but it is causing gas prices to further rise. Of course MAGA people forget that Trump made a deal with the Saudis to CUT oil production through April of 2022–just a few months ago–because shale oil prices had fallen so far due to Covid that many shale ol producers faced bankruptcy. Yes, Trump was messing with the market to lower Saudi production and shore up domestic prices and he succeeded and now these same MAGA fools accuse Biden of doing what Trump did and Biden didn’t. Biden did stop off shore drilling in some places and that’s good. And it has nothing to do with prices at the pump. NO PRESIDENT AFFECTS THE PRICE OF OIL AND GAS ON THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET. Unfortunately, Biden and Democrats are pathetic at messaging. They are weak and apparently enjoy playing the victim. They are also platitudinous and love to moralize. Compare Liz Cheney’s laser focused brilliant take down of the traitorous former President, free of platitudes and moralizing, compared to the “dueling rabbis” Raskin and Schiff. Of course everything they said was true but they couched it in piety more appropriate for a college lecture or a house of worship. And on social media the GOP posts LIES using the rhetorical equivalent of gasoline soaked rags, never explaining what they would do to solve the problem of inflation, while Democrats post meek, passive voice, mini-lectures, never fighting back..they like having that “kick me” sign pasted on their backs, and Biden, remember: NEVER talk about the infrastructure jobs created or the projects Republicans who voted against the bill now tout. Remain passive and obsequious. BLECCCHHHH
@notatrumper, something you said really troubles me. You made apparent references, intentional or not, to Schiff and Raskin’s religious backgrounds, which borders on anti-Semitic tropes, by implicitly equating secular, non-clergy Jews with their clerical leaders, i.e. rabbis. Please re-think these sorts of comments going forward, as they detract from your otherwise accurate and insightful comments regarding the limited role presidents play in establishing oil prices, regarding the US’s recent record of fossil fuel production, and regarding the Democrats seeming inability to fight back.
When Trump was in office, the U.S. became the world’s largest energy producer. When the Biden Regime was installed, they did everything they could to discourage domestic production to pander to the radical environmental lobby, and began pushing a transition to “sustainable” energy–that doesn’t exist. Good grief, Biden SAID SO IN PUBLIC: “…we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over.” Yes, this is all intentional, and yes, they ARE that stupid.
Of course the public will blame Biden.
Because they are MORONS!
I really enjoyed blaming Obama as well.
Nothing about the unbalanced maniac we just endured for the last 4 yrs
It’s amazing how consistently wrong you are. Completely and utterly incorrect. None of the pandemic spending was necessary. The proper response of the government to the pandemic was: no response! The the measures employed by governments around the world to “mitigate” This pandemic like school closures which were unnecessary, lockdowns which did nothing and harmed millions of people, asymptomatic testing which was useless… forced masking which once again in case you don’t already know masks don’t do anything to stop the spread of Covid . And of course this incredibly harmful ineffective vaccine. Then of course there are the widespread attempts by governments all over the world to deny people effective early outpatient treatment which resulted in hundreds of thousands of people ending up in the hospital and dying needlessly
The government response to the pandemic has been a complete disaster. And all… Every single penny of the pandemic spending… It was inflationary
There is only ONE Cause of inflation: government deficit spending, monetization of government debt through the federal reserve system
This is the only cause of inflation always and everywhere
And the fault lies entirely with government not just Biden but every Single administration since at least Nixon
https://thegoodcitizen.substack.com/p/i-am-uncle-sams-inflation?s=r
The inflation crises and how to solve it
https://mises.org/library/inflation-crisis-and-how-resolve-it
An unhinged rant by a lunAtic
There is one cause of inflation always and everywhere: government deficit spending in debt monetization through the central bank
https://mises.org/library/inflation-crisis-and-how-resolve-it
Not everything is so simple, but to a libertarian cultist like Dirk, it is, because they have all the answers in a simple form — the very definition of a cult.
Dirk, the pandemic spending kept people fed and housed during time of sudden unemployment. Had we not engaged in mitigation measures, there would have been hundreds of thousands if not more deaths than there have been. You are not an MD, as much as you try to claim to be through vague assertions of being in “health care” over a long series of posts. I’ve investigated you thoroughly, and you don’t have a medical license. Moreover, you’ve probably not read peer reviewed journal articles that clearly show the efficacy of vaccines at preventing severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths. Earlier in the pandemic, which is ongoing, the vaccines were more effective at preventing infection, but as the virus has mutated, the current vaccines are not working to prevent infection, while continuing to help keep people out of the hospital. We need updated vaccines, and unless the government spends money to purchase them, we won’t have them come fall when we will need them most. As for masks, your assertions are ludicrous, as study after study has proven that properly worn high quality masks are up to 83% effective at preventing infection.
If you are a democrat it isn’t Biden’s fault, if Republican, everything is Biden’s fault. Numbers for inflation are high all over the world, everything is more expensive. Why? How many theories are conjured for this answer? if you think it is one man’s fault, you have no concept of global politics and just may be part of the problem. Nothing is ever one man’s problem, but the simple minds of most Americans, more worried about producing rapid answers than actually finding solutions to our problems seems to be where we are. Please look at the gun control debate where the senate has reportedly already blocked parts of what was sent to them. This isn’t the way we work things out and it will only make things worse. Biden had sound policies that would have helped get our pathetic country moving, but they were blocked. I don’t know if inflation started with Trump, but i know it did not start with Biden. And, looking at the big picture I believe he and his and the Republicans that find a backbone and realize what their jobs really are, will fix us.
Masks don’t do anything?!
Dirk, when you have your next brain surgery, make sure to tell your operating team to save money by not wearing any masks.
Crown, pay Dirk no mind. His mother dropped him on his head when he was a baby, causing him to become a libertarian cultist.
But the headliner will be the economy, featuring gas prices and inflation. Under his control or not, this is the defining issue that President Biden must contend with if he wants to have a Congress controlled by his party.
Editorial is Misleading article the only 2-presidents that experienced this level of inflation, aka exploitation of the masses aka consumers new name for it’s citizens after 911, were FDR, who ended it with wage and price freezes, and yes Nixon who in 1974 prevented inflation, until the bought out Legislatures over-ruled him..So this is obvious the whole system is the cause..It would only get worse with republicans as they are now.
Don’t forget Reagan. Inflation was around 12% and mortgage rates were up in the loan shark territory of 18%!! Unemployment went up to 10%. They caused a recession to “cure” inflation back then.
Mr. Biden; This advice mite be helpful: Have you ever considered shutting Down Wall~$treet, until they stop Negatively impacting the American Economy!! This was 0nce’t just a Play Ground for’n the Rich but now has many Forced & not wanting participant’s in this Debauchery for’n the Elite’s!! Which Has Repeatedly caused Economies to seesaw, Economies to Fail & is constantly creating Havoc’s with the daily lives of all American’s.. I have Full confidence that the former President Donald Trump, would Not hesitate if’n it would help & save the Nation!!//
well again it is biden fault an yes there is a simple solution, reverse his policies that cripple the economy, allow the oil companies to produce more domestic oil which is 2 fold, excess fuel we ship in can now go to europe to supply them and our oil supplies can deal with our thirst for power which in turns brings the price of oil across the world down
Name the policies that “cripple the economy”.
Could they be:
All the infrastucture jobs created…No.
Giving oil companies the permits to drill more…No.
Releasing oil from strategic reserves to boost supply…No.
Defending democratic countries against invasion by dictators…No (despite right wing fascists in our gov’t).
As you can see Biden’s policies do NOT “cripple” the economy. His policies are why you have a job that pays more now than before.