Welcome to Biden's inflation tax, America
Consumer prices have broken the 7% inflation barrier for the first time since the last days of Jimmy Carter
Bankrate senior economist Mark Hamrick and Seaport Securities president Teddy Weisberg break down the opportunities available for consumers in the inflationary market.
It’s official. Consumer prices have broken the 7% inflation barrier for the first time since the last days of Jimmy Carter. Call it déjà vu all over again for those of us who are old enough to remember the malaise and hardships of the 1970s when we used to see bumper stickers that read: "My take-home pay won’t take me home."
Gas prices last year were up more than 50% in 2021. Used car prices more than 30%. Hotel and motel prices up more than 25%. Beef prices up 15% with chicken and pork up 10%. It’s hard to point to any items that have FALLEN in price over the past year.
INFLATION SURGES 7% IN DECEMBER, HIGHEST RATE IN 40 YEARS
Here’s the biggest curse of this inflation contagion. Wages and salaries for most workers are up over this same time period by between 4.5% to 5%. This means that real wages – the purchasing power of Americans’ paychecks SHRANK by an average of 2.4% in 2021. Most Americans were poorer. Government benefits made up for some of that shortfall, but how much longer can Uncle Sam with its $2 trillion annual deficits make up the difference.
Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., reacts to inflation rising 7% over the past year and its negative impact on the American people.
Some of these rising prices are due to the reopening of the economy in the wake of the COVID shutdowns in 2020. But that reopening began in the late summer of 2020 – long before Joe Biden was sworn in. This time last year the inflation rate was – ready for this? – 1.7%.
There are two villains in this story. One is Biden for launching a $3 trillion spending spree in his first months in office – saturating the economy with spending, debt and cheap money. Now he wants $5 trillion more with his $4.9 trillion Build Back Better bill. This would be like giving a cancer patient a pack of Marlboros.
FED DOUBLES TAPER RATE, EYES THREE INTEREST RATE HIKES IN 2022
The other villain is Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell who has been a co-conspirator in the Biden spending and money-printing scheme. Powell has had the inflation story wrong, wrong, wrong over the last nine months.
Real Investment Advice CIO and editor Lance Roberts reacts to the markets wild gyrations post-Fed minutes on 'Making Money.'
First, he said inflation was "not a problem." Then in the summer and fall he said inflation was "transitory." Now he admits that we have to make sure that inflation does not become "entrenched." Yes, but then why he has he waited six months too long to take this spiked punch bowl away from the inflation party?
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Ironically, just last Friday Joe Biden gave a victory lap speech proclaiming that he has had the best first year of any president in modern time when it comes to the economy. Really?
Are Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris so out of touch with what is happening in real Americans who buy gas, groceries and home supplies every week? They are immune from the Biden Inflation Tax inside the White House.
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The worry is that to drain all of this inflation out of the system could trigger a gut-wrenching recession like we had in 1981 and '82. The story of rising prices and declining real incomes NEVER has a happy ending.
Carter lost because of runaway inflation. If this inflation isn’t tamed immediately, Biden and the Democrats are likely to suffer the same fate.
Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at Freedom Works and served as a senior economic adviser to Donald Trump.