How Biden and the Democrats Reignited Inflation
Their wild spending created excess demand during a major supply chain disruption.
by David Catron
February 13, 2022, 11:13 PM
As has been widely reported, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the latest inflation numbers last Thursday, and they were ugly. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 7.5 percent during the 12-month period ending in January, its largest one-year spike in 40 years. This dwarfs the inflation rate of 1.4 percent that President Biden and the Democratic Congress inherited in January of 2021. BLS also reported that real earnings decreased 1.7 percent from January 2021 to January 2022. All of this is directly attributable to the incompetent economic policies of the Biden administration and wild spending by congressional Democrats in the midst of a supply chain crisis.
By July, inflation had risen to 5.4 percent, but Biden assured Americans that the increase was only “temporary.”
Inflation on this scale is new to most Americans. According to the Brookings Institution, more than half the current U.S. population had not yet been born the last time prices were rising at such an alarming rate. Moreover, considering the decades-long decline in the quality of public education, the direct relationship of reckless Democrat spending to the skyrocketing cost of living may not be clear to most Americans. The source of inflation isn’t difficult to see — if one has been taught basic economics. As Milton Friedman famously put it, “Inflation is caused by too many dollars chasing after too few goods.” And the result is by no means abstract. As Gwynn Guilford explains in the Wall Street Journal, you are living it right now:
The average U.S. household is spending an additional $276 a month because of inflation that is rising at its fastest rate in 40 years, a new economic analysis showed. The squeeze stems from higher prices across a range of products and services, including cars, gasoline, furniture and groceries.… Research shows that inflation is also squeezing some groups, on average, more than others.… Those ages 35-44 saw their costs rise 6.9% in 2021, higher than any other age group, though the rate for younger age groups was just slightly less.
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https://spectator.org/how-biden-and-the-democrats-reignited-inflation/
