April 12, 2022

"Prices climbed 8.5% in March, compared to last year, amid growing fears of economic slowdown."

WaPo reports. 

Just a few months ago, officials at the White House and Federal Reserve hoped that inflation was starting to tick down month by month. But those projections were quickly dashed by Russia’s invasion, covid shutdowns at major Chinese manufacturing hubs, and the bleak reality that inflation continues to spread through every crevice of the economy.

“One cannot escape it, even if one wanted to,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. “This is going to continue for a while.”

81 comments:

Temujin said...

Economics by crossing fingers.

"This inflation is transitional."

Watching Dems do economics is like watching a slow motion car crash. You can see it happening as it unfolds seemingly before your eyes, and all you can do is watch and duck.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"There is no inflation"

"If there is, it's in line with the CPI"

"Ok ok, there's inflation, but it's transitory"

"The inflation may not be transitory, but it won't amount to much"

"Ok...the 'not transitory, not small' inflation is Russia's fault"

"There are many ways to deal with the inflation, like eating lentils!"

"We are putting tips on how to cook your cats and dogs on the whitehouse.gov website"

gilbar said...

Did you Miss the Carter Admin? Long for the glorious days of Stagflation?
Guess WHAT? It's BACK!!!

Beasts of England said...

But the experts said inflation was going to be transient! lol

Enigma said...

Biden lived through Jimmy Carter's presidency, stagflation, and his ironic Misery Index. He then lived through the necessary Reagan recessions of the early 1980s (but then, the 8.5% inflation number was coming down).

Biden has no apparent memory of this today, but that the only cure for inflation is to literally do exactly the opposite of his 2021 policies.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Original Mike said...

"Just a few months ago, officials at the White House and Federal Reserve hoped that inflation was starting to tick down month by month."

That was always a fantasy.

TheDopeFromHope said...

From Iowahawk: If you repeat "Putin's price hike" in a bathroom mirror 3 times the bad polls will go away.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Still not accepting responsibility that throwing all that "free money" into the system is the biggest factor.

Critter said...

But never worry. Brandon has a very effective policy against inflation - spend more fiat money for his political supporters and blame Putin. Putin - what can’t he be blamed for?

Robert Marshall said...

The WaPo won't assign any responsibility to the US Government, for the inflation problem?

Sounds like they're the 'company newspaper' in the DC 'company town.'

Amadeus 48 said...

When those savants on TV (augmented by the fetching AOC batting her eyes) were talking about "Modern Monetary Theory", I was rolling on the floor laughing. MMT involves the highest levels of wishful thinking.

If you pay people to stay home, there is no way that production of goods and services can keep up with the money you dumped into the economy. Result: inflation.

It isn't Team Putin. It is Team Biden. That last $1.9 trillion* on top of all the other trillions was a killer.

*For perspective on how large a trillion is, if you spent a dollar every second, it would take you 32,000 years to spend a trillion dollars. 32,000 years ago our ancestors were living in the last Ice Age with several thousand years to go before the glaciers retreated.

Ralph L said...

Printing trillions of dollars just might have more to do with it than Russia or China.

We have a kleenex shortage here during peak pollen. Walmart and Aldi are totally out and Food Lion had a dozen of their store brand only. Is that national? Did the pulp all go to toilet paper?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

chi com get democrats elected virus

biden's war. Hillary's re-set. at least the American Oligarchs have theirs.

Humperdink said...

How many experts does the Federal Reserve employ? In the fall of 2021, the Fed labeled inflation "transitory". Were they slightly wrong? They were a mere 180 degrees off. These experts are in control of the US economy.

Reminds me of the 50 former intelligence officers claiming the information on the Hunter laptop was Russian sourced. Is there anything our central planners can't screw up? These clowns are not worthless, they are a net negative (as in below worthless).

I fear for our country.

Jersey Fled said...

Meanwhile Village Idiot Biden announced that he will allow up to 15% ethanol to be added to gasoline, thereby announcing that he knows nothing about food inflation.

Dave Begley said...

Not as bad as expected.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

While the tag “Biden economics” is appropriate let’s not let the Federal Reserve off the hook at all. They were on a dangerous path since the Obama years, printing dollars like crazy and super-fixated on keeping interest rates low even in the midst of their dubious “quantitative easing” endeavor. So long as no economic disruption or crazy increase in US Government spending the danger was manageable.

Oops COVID!

So we get both severe economic disruption and a flood of Federal spending just as supply chains are breaking domino-style around the world. Of course sudden “free money” for many people was chasing too-few goods and the results are predictable. But even then the Fed would not acknowledge reality and only after the third shoe dropped— war — did they take a hesitant first step towards sanity. But the Fed is timid now. There is no Volker with the balls to confront inflation head on. There is no Reagan willing to risk his whole agenda helping the Fed reverse inflationary spiral. So yeah it’s Biden’s economy ironically hampered by the Obama era “easing” that he cheered back in the day. But I urge Althouse to respect Milton Friedman and his admonition “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.” And add a tag for the Fed, which royally fucked up our money supply.

Tommy Duncan said...

Some of us are so old we remember the "transitory" inflation before Russia invaded Ukraine. I'm so old I remember energy prices rising after Biden killed the Keystone pipeline.

As we all now know, the transitory inflation is gone and the temporary effects of Biden's clean energy policies have abated. Any remaining inflation is being caused by Putin and the Russians.

Russia, Russia, Russia...

Jersey Fled said...

BTW I like the way WAPO blames it all on Russia’s invasion and covid shutdowns at major Chinese manufacturing hubs and neglects to mention the trillions of dollars in imaginary (borrowed) dollars that the Democrats doled out to people for producing nothing at all.

jaydub said...

"“This is going to continue for a while.”

Yeah, at least until 20 January, 25. But, in Biden's defense, who could have guessed that killing the energy industry and spending money like a drunken socialist could precipitate inflation? Certainly not the WaPo which mentioned neither as a factor.

MadisonMan said...

officials at the White House and Federal Reserve hoped
So there you have it. Leadership by Hope. I guess Obama is still in the Building.

Joe Smith said...

My understanding is that under the 'old' CPI it is much higher...closer to 15%.

But let's say new rules, new numbers.

My everyday experience says it's much more than 8.5%.

I see prices at the supermarket changing on a weekly basis, always higher.

In some instances the prices are higher when you check out because the workers can't keep up with the tags on the shelves...this happened at an Ace Hardware recently.

We have a 'comfortable' income and money in the bank, so we will be fine. But if it scares me, what does it do to a young family of four with a single income, or a family making less than $80k?

Rusty said...

Congress really doesn't like people who work for a living.

Iman said...

They’ll continue their ineffectual countermeasures as they continue to take the actions that are harmful to the nation.

Mr Wibble said...

I could sure go for some mean tweets and 2% inflation right about now.

J Melcher said...

Again with the mind-reading! The WashPost reports "officials" (God forbid the media names names of these geniuses) "hoped" that inflation would trend down.

The officials, if any such exist, SAID that they "hoped". But deep in their hearts and according to their expert computer models and according to their plans, well, who knows what they actually thought or expected or predicted or advised?

I get that "hoped" in this usage is as much a reified metaphor as a report but honestly it's annoying that so much journalism goes to the emotional portraits of hopes and dreams and fears and worries --- what happened to facts and logic and trends and "science"?

wendybar said...

It is because of the regressive progressive policies Joe Biden ushered in. This started before Putin attacked Ukraine. You can't blame him for Bidens idiocy.

0_0 said...

Oh, sure, blame everything except Biden.
WaPo readers should also watch Fox News.

Achilles said...

People think this is happening because the regime is incompetent.

This is happening because they are evil tools of the .0001% and they are trying to destroy the middle class.

Quayle said...

They “hoped”. They had a “projection”. All speculation, as all market forecasts are, albeit some speculations more informed than others.

But then the claim of certainty that Putin and the Ukraine war dashed those hopes and speculation. See the mismatch - the weaseling?

The better view: The Fed has been pumping out east credit for years - a couple of decades now. The new fashion among many Econ-government types was that inflation was extinct. Trump and Biden signed off on bills from congress to spend many trillions in the span of a only couple of years. Yellen and Powell made a huge blunder thinking inflation had been finally slayed long ago and what we saw emerging last summer was only a transitory effect left over from COVID. Now they are chasing the curve and blaming others - blaming Putin.

And if you want to really get a feel for where we are and what is ahead if we want to solve the problem, as I am told, think back to or learn of what it took Paul Volcker to stop the inflation 40 years ago - how much personal and family suffering that inevitably occurred from his having to choke the economy almost to death to stop the inflation. The tiny bites and half measures that Powell is signaling are late, first of all, and secondly will never stop this inflation train. It is my understanding that we’ll - the Fed - will have to get interest rates higher than the inflation rate to have any effect. Think of that. Fed prime rates above 8%. And for every percentage point you increase interest rates, you wipe out another set of business cases that don’t work (I.e. businesses that aren’t profitable) at that higher rate.

Once again in the world’s history, an arrogant and profligate leadership and society is learning what the Greeks warned long ago, that hubris always brings Nemesis.

TreeJoe said...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine certainly has caused energy and food prices to spike, among other impacts, but the underlying reasons for high rates of inflation were already in place and already showing month after month after month of 40 year high inflationary rates.

Too much demand (money)
Not enough supply (production)

I would invite folks to look at the government policies around rent, housing, construction, loans, property taxes, and direct payments....

- The government prevented evictions for non-payment, causing huge strain on property owners who rent their properties.
- The government did NOT suspend property taxes on those properties, further straining property owners.
- The government put in place rent-payment programs which landlords could secure for their tenants, meaning non-paying tenants could now stay and landlords could get paid rent while not securing another more credit-worthy tenant (this is a form of subsidization of a market).
- Non-paying renters could also secure significant direct payments from the government while not needing to pay rent, meaning their money could now go towards securing goods and services.

- The government continued to keep super low interest rates and subsidizing mortgages heavily, which caused an enormous spike in housing demand.

- New construction is extremely saddled with taxes, regulations, and red tape. I've been building a residential property since early 2021. The local township has charged >$15,000 in fees associated with permits and inspections to date and now is requiring an Asbuilt survey to compare the build vs the plan at a cost of another $3200. This does not include the cost of meeting their requirements for stormwater management, preparing the engineering plans for them, etc...Oh, and a new sewer pump had to be installed which only they provide and, as monopolies will, that simple pump cost $18,000. This is further slowing construction and supply

- The government began more restrictive policies around energy/petroleum in early 2021, which led to a 60% spike in Diesel prices from November 2020 to February 2022. This directly impacts every aspect of construction and supply delivery including raw material procurement, shipping/delivery, and construction itself for examples.

....

I could go on, the bottom line is the government is messing with markets to an insane degree in both long-term policy and short term knee jerks. The idea that inflation was transient was always just a hopeful reaction to delay people from becoming worried; it was never benchmarked against actual assessment of long-term supply and demand.

AlbertAnonymous said...

Peppermint Patty warned us about these high numbers that were coming in today. Twice she used the phrase “Putin’s Price Hike”.

These people have Zero credibility. How do they do what they do with no shame? Seriously.

Sebastian said...

Transitory was transitory.

Hey, Fed: you had one job. Actually two, according to misguided law--but still: one main job.

Rather than fight inflation, already evident a year ago, the Fed was in denial and kept rates low, while progs used more spending to prime the pump that didn't need priming. Conclusion: they wanted this.

One problem: voters don't like it. Can Dem gerrymandering and voter fraud keep the scam going and stem the red tide? Will even Althouse get off the sideline?

Levi Starks said...

“If one wanted to”
Now there’s a true statement.
Who benefits the most from inflation?
The nations largest debtor.

Quaestor said...

So, that "new economics" thing has nothing to do with the price of bread... gotcha, Mister President. Shame on me and everyone else for thinking that just printing dollar bills could have any untoward consequence, but it does make those so-called counterfeiting laws seem just slightly arbitrary. After all, Mister Biden, what's the practical difference between you calling the Bureau of Engraving to order up a dozen tons of Ben Franklins and me running off a few Andrew Jackson facsimiles with my HP DesignJet, other than my 12-year holiday in La Tuna? Not much it appears. In fact, my effort saves The People the cost of materials.

So, put your complete faith behind your decisions, Mister President. Throw away those silly and unjust currency laws! No? Well, what will you do? If Putin's to blame, why not send Zelenskyy a dozen or so Tomahawk cruise missiles, complete with W80 warheads unlocked and ready to go boom? That ought to make Putin think about a peaceful solution. Afraid of public opinion are we, Mister President? Then do it anonymously. Just wrap 'em up in pretty paper and leave them on Zelenskyy's doorstep with an unsigned Happy Birthday! card.

No? Wadda ya mean, no? We pay you to solve these problems, Mister President, not to sit on your widest part, squint, and say, "No." You say you have a plan? Something about revaluation?

Owen said...

The Rule of 72's says 8.5% inflation [and we are far from maxing out, people] will cut your purchasing power in half in...***checks notes***...8 years. For those of us on fixed incomes and savings likely to shrivel with surprise expenses in coming years, this is just the best possible news.

If we were to pitch Biden and his spendaholic troupe of clowns, right now, we might start to see an improvement in, I dunno, 3 or 4 years?

Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

Gk1 said...

Gee, who could have thought that printing trillions of dollars would have caused such inflation? Where are all of these economic "experts" Biden was touting that said it was all transitory? Are these the same "experts" saying Joe's 1.8 TRILLION DOLLAR "Build Back Better" plan will not cause more inflation? Fuck. Is anything ever the fault of this administration?

Leland said...

Just a few months ago, officials at the White House and Federal Reserve hoped that inflation was starting to tick down month by month.

Unexpectedly, it did exactly the reverse, just like everyone not the White House and Federal Reserve predicted.

Maynard said...

Putin is an amazingly powerful guy for being a tinpot dictator of a second world country.

First, he cheats Hillary out of the Presidency after his henchmen gave the Clintons tens of millions of dollars.

Second, he causes inflation that threatens the lifestyles of the American middle class.

Third, he has taken over the Republican Party and turned them into White Supremacists.

The gaslighting will continue until all obey and morale improves.

rhhardin said...

There's too much money but not necessarily from printing too much, when the supply falls for other reasons. Nevertheless the correct response is to reduce the amount of money, which the Fed seems to be too tentative about.

Reducing the amount of money would mean selling more debt and burning the proceeds instead of spending it; or raising the reserve requirement, as used to be done.

The response to either will be higher interest rates, but that's a side-effect.

FullMoon said...

Remember the good old days during Carter Catastrophe when msm reported poor people could only afford to eat cat and dog food?

Was that on odd/even days?

hombre said...

WaPo, livin' the dream and ignoring the economic realities of government spending and money creation.

Joe Smith said...

'Twice she used the phrase “Putin’s Price Hike”.'

She is Baghdad Bob without the beret at this point...

Yancey Ward said...

Biden (staring at ceiling, raising fist) "PUUUUUUUTIIIN!!!!"

Yancey Ward said...

One unexpected benefit to Jimmy Carter living until he is literally melting away- he got to see the title of worst president passed on to Joe Shit For Brains Biden.

wendybar said...

If you want to take down America...just do EXACTLY what Joe Biden has done so far. China and Russia are applauding Joe and will probably erect statues in his name.

Michael K said...

This has been years in coming. The zero interest rate ploy kept billionaires solvent but screwed everybody else. Elon Musk is a smart guy but his fortune was originally based on green subsidies. Windmills do nothing but kill eagles. Wind and solar depend on subsidies. The subsidies are created by the Fed, not as "printing money" unless you count pixels as "print." The US economy has resembled a Ponzi scheme since 1965. The "balanced budget" of Clinton was a scam by raiding the Social Security contributions of Baby Boomers in their working years. Now those bills are coming due.

Dude1394 said...

This inflation is primarily the result of democrat policies. Mainly purposeful doubling of energy costs. You would think the Ivy League morons might realize that energy costs are baked into everything.

Then tremendous increase in money supply.
Throwing dollars all over the place.

Thanks Brandon, you moron.

CJinPA said...

This is cynical wording:

Just a few months ago, officials at the White House and Federal Reserve hoped that inflation was starting to tick down month by month. But those projections were quickly dashed by Russia’s invasion, covid shutdowns at major Chinese manufacturing hubs, and the bleak reality that inflation continues to spread through every crevice of the economy.

Shorter: "Democrats hoped inflation would stop spreading until they realized it continues to spread."

Inflation is impacted by Russia and COVID but existed independently of them as well. The writer deliberately clouded that fact.

Jersey Fled said...

Didn't Pelosi tell us a month or two ago that spending all those trillions would actually reduce inflation? I mean, with all that "investment" increasing productivity and all.

Or was that just a bad dream.

Real American said...

Biden should have learned this when he was VP, but Hope is not a strategy.

Jersey Fled said...

And what kind of idiot would actually vote for these fools in November?

I mean, knowingly.

Bruce Hayden said...

“ While the tag “Biden economics” is appropriate let’s not let the Federal Reserve off the hook at all. They were on a dangerous path since the Obama years, printing dollars like crazy and super-fixated on keeping interest rates low even in the midst of their dubious “quantitative easing” endeavor. So long as no economic disruption or crazy increase in US Government spending the danger was manageable.”

Inflating the money supply to bring interest rates down was precisely why we had such bad stagflation during the Carter years. Didn’t work then. Doesn’t work now. Money is a veil, and MV=PQ - by necessity.

Changing direction a bit though, the Russian invasion of Ukraine probably did make things worse. It’s a bit simplistic to say that excess (deficit) spending directly causes inflation. That is because the mechanism isn’t necessarily direct. What happens is that the Treasury issues US debt to cover deficit spending. Over the last several decades, much of that was bought by foreigners and non US banks. This was largely because it was believed that the US$, as the world reserve currency, was one of the safest place to park money. The ChiComs did this a lot. It’s only the amount of Treasury debt that these other purchasers don’t buy, that has to be purchased by the Federal Reserve. And most of it is bought, not by printing currency, but by crediting the accounts of banks that they regulate. Unfortunately, esp when interest rates start to rise, banks need to lend this money out in order to make money, and will do so up to their reserve limits. And that money, in turn, is loaned out, etc. A 20% reserve requirement will ultimately result in a 5x (1/20%) increase in the money supply.

What the FJB Administration did with the Russian invasion of Ukraine was use whatever sanctions were available to it. This included denying Russia the ability to sell its oil and gas for US$, which up to then had been the world’s reserve currency. More and more trade around the world is being conducted with other currencies. This makes the sovereign debt of the US less attractive, as well as holding large quantities of U$. And forces the Federal Reserve, as the purchaser of last resort, to buy even more of the $Trillions$ In Treasury debt squandered by FJB and Democrats over the last couple years. Which means that the FJB Administration made a bad situation worse.

Earnest Prole said...

There's a hilarious recent New York Times podcast that features ingenue journalist Ezra Klein interviewing economist Larry Summers. “There is a chance that macroeconomic stimulus on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation,” Summers wrote in February 2021. Klein, like the rest of his colleagues, believed the laws of economics had been suspended solely by virtue of a Democrat occupying the White House. Some lessons can only be learned the hard way.

Mr Wibble said...

And what kind of idiot would actually vote for these fools in November?

Upper-middle-class white women.

ccscientist said...

"free money" in the form of all the freshly printed bills the gov sent out for covid relief has to be repaid almost immediately. It isn't even like borrowed money. We all are paying now for the spending last year. How bad can it get? Remember that hyper-inflation (in many countries) can lead to needing $1000000 just to buy a coffee. Or worse. It will wipe out your savings. And we KNOW this.

Static Ping said...

And the current administration wanted to spend trillions more in this environment, which would have meant easy double digits inflation now and for the foreseeable future.

I am starting to think they believe their own BS. Someone who was intentionally trying to sabotage the country would at least try to be a bit subtle. This is cartoon villainy.

Narayanan said...

Critter said...
But never worry. Brandon has a very effective policy against inflation - spend more fiat money for his political supporters and blame Putin. Putin - what can’t he be blamed for?
=========
meanwhile Putin is implementing commodity / gold standard for ruble ... etc.
Biden is going Nixon one better >>> buy rubles and hide them.

Skeptical Voter said...

Ah Brandon--it may be unfair since it's not at all certain that you are able to understand and grasp what's going on---but the bad economy chickens are coming home to roooost!!! on your shoulders. Hat tip to the Reverend Wright re the chickens.

Narayanan said...

the correct term is debasing the currency : "inflation" = prices going up is consequence

mikee said...

My son has worked at a company for 4.5 years without a raise, and recently refused to take on (even more) added responsibilities versus when hired, without a pay adjustment for his certifications, security clearances, work performance and COLA.

When his supervisor told him nobody got a raise over the past two years, my son just asked what the profits were for the company over the past two years (HUUUUGE.). When the supervisor told him he was being paid competitively with others at his job across the industry, my son explained that he knew that four and half years ago, but why should the company expect him to keep working for less and less pay since then, considering the highest inflation of his lifetime (14% inflation since hiring to December 2021, with 8-12% for 2022 alone, by end of year). When the supervisor told him it would take time, perhaps 3 to 6 months, to get approval, my son told him that was fine, but he would not travel on business until the issue was settled, as the past two years had 250% more travel than he had been hired to perform and he would not continue doing that at his present salary (HQ work is always available and necessary, at hiring travel was 3 months per year, for 2020 & 2021 it was 8 months each). When the supervisor asked if my son would resign over not getting more money, my son told him this was solely an issue of employee valuation by the company, and employee retention only if his request wasn't answered soon.

My son's supervisor has a manager. That manager just happens to be visiting the city and site where my son is working tomorrow, and my son looks forward to speaking with him.

Multiply this sort of thing by that part of the 157,000,000 long-suffering employees in the US given "COVID" as an excuse for stagnating salaries.

Narayanan said...

Yancey Ward said...
One unexpected benefit to Jimmy Carter living until he is literally melting away- he got to see the title of worst president passed on to Joe Shit For Brains Biden.
==========
Carter personally handed off the trophy-crown during that visit

Jupiter said...

"Rachel Siegel
Washington, D.C.
Federal Reserve and domestic economy

Education: Yale University, BA in History

Rachel Siegel is an economics reporter covering the Federal Reserve. She previously covered breaking news for the Post's financial section and local politics for the Post's Metro desk. Before joining the Post in June 2017, Rachel contributed to The Marshall Project and The Dallas Morning News."

Why are you quoting this dim bulb? Because Jeff Bezos hired her?

Chris Lopes said...

Reality always wins.

Brent said...

There is literally no thinking person alive who truly believes - no matter their opnion of, love or hatred for - that Putin would have staged this under a Trump Presidency.
I even have Trump-hating friends who begrudgingly admit this. Heck, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Talibi, et al agreeing?

This did not have to occur. But hey, We're all out of the chaos now, right?

n.n said...

Progressive prices through single/central/monopolistic solutions, unreliables ("renewables"), reduced return labor and environmental arbitrage, sanctions boomerang effect, and profligate credit/debt emission.

minnesota farm guy said...

Mike's comment is worth repeating: “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.” M. Friedman

I am convinced that a meeting of those who have commented here could address pretty effectively what needs to be done right now: remove all restrictions on drilling for oil and natural gas, pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure; raise the prime rate by half a point every month for the next six months or until we see some slowing of demand; sequester all funds from the various Covid spending bills that have not been spent; RIF 25% of the Federal employees in DC; do not ( as Joe just did) use food corn for ethanol production. That would be a good start and easy to do. The next steps would be tougher because they would mean making the lobby pig squeal.

Michael K said...

I am convinced that a meeting of those who have commented here could address pretty effectively what needs to be done right now: remove all restrictions on drilling for oil and natural gas, pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure; raise the prime rate by half a point every month for the next six months or until we see some slowing of demand; sequester all funds from the various Covid spending bills that have not been spent; RIF 25% of the Federal employees in DC; do not ( as Joe just did) use food corn for ethanol production. That would be a good start and easy to do. The next steps would be tougher because they would mean making the lobby pig squeal.

In the end much of this will be done but too late. The recession will be well on it's way.

By the way, 1.2% per month on month inflation pencils out to 14% annual rate./

Michael K said...

Blogger Mr Wibble said...

And what kind of idiot would actually vote for these fools in November?

Upper-middle-class white women.


Bingo ! The class most triggered by mean tweets.

cfs said...

Next up to bat is, guess what?..........



A recession. Which will be blamed on Republicans.

minnesota farm guy said...

@ Michael K

Given the Biden track record so far I am not sure any of the things I mention will be done. The detachment from reality so far exhibited by the Biden administration gives me little hope that common sense - and obvious -actions will be taken. Those people ( as R. E. Lee would say) are such prisoners of their own dogma that I don't think reality will have any effect on them. Even if the Rs take over both the House and Senate there is not all that much that can be done until a new executive is elected ( I don't think the Senate will be veto proof.). The new rule by executive order and regulation needs to be curtailed somehow.

Earnest Prole said...

Another hilarious New York Times podcast today: Kara Swisher interviewing Paul Krugman about why the Biden economy is ackchyually doing really great despite Republican naysaying. His entire schtick is undercut by the first words out of Swisher’s mouth: Inflation is costing the average American household $300 a month. Since 6 in 10 Americans have less than $500 in the bank, Krugman’s advice sounds an awful lot like “Let them eat cake.” Elite Democrats increasingly resemble Rich Uncle Pennybags, utterly out of touch with ordinary people.

Michael said...

I would hold off buying bonds. The fed will have to push then
M higher. Much much higher.

wendybar said...

Notice they aren't blaming this on White Supremacists and RACISTS like everything else. Now that those cards are played out...it's the monster PUTIN who is causing everything that Biden is doing wrong. Who knew Putin had so much power, he could change our elections and make us suffer through a terrible inflation??

Chris Lopes said...

"Didn't Pelosi tell us a month or two ago that spending all those trillions would actually reduce inflation?"

To be fair, I don't think Pelosi really believes that shit. Members of the Squad might, but they're idiots. Pelosi has been around too long not to know basic economics. She just said what she said to get rid of the question because she was sure there wouldn't be any follow up.

R C Belaire said...

Blaming Trump has transitioned to blaming Russia. Perhaps Trump can still get a cameo role.

Ralph L said...

Back when more lefties commented here, someone (Garage Mahal?) actually believed the Fed could just keep printing money without consequence. William Jennings Bryan would be so proud.

Michael K said...


Blogger minnesota farm guy said...

@ Michael K

Given the Biden track record so far I am not sure any of the things I mention will be done.


That may well be true but it would require mass psychosis on the left, meaning the people running Biden. Surely some of them still posses an instinct of self preservation.

Iman said...

Peppermint Pisshockey Promotes Putin Price Hike…

She’s banking on the sub-normal intelligence levels of the Dem “Dimographic”

ken in tx said...

If people don't have enough money to pay the higher prices, print more money. That's what Mugabe did in Zimbabwe. We know how that turned out for them. Yet that is the same thinking that has been displayed in the current White House.

minnesota farm guy said...

@Michael K

I am afraid the recent history indicates the Democrats in DC are suffering from mass psychosis. Any party that places Bernie Sanders in charge of the Senate Budget committee has serious serious psychological problems. I think what the Dems are doing to this country exactly fits the definition of "psychosis": "Psychosis occurs when an individual loses touch with reality".