"Keep in mind that thanks to President Biden’s ruinous economic policies, cumulative inflation is up 15% since he came into office, with the figure for food, mortgage, utilities and other essentials closer to 25%." AOC’s constituents slam her claim inflation is propaganda: ‘Is she crazy?’ (msn.com) inflation lie hurts the people she represents: New Yorkers (msn.com)
It pretty much is ... if we are at 3% and the target is 2%, then that means you are paying a whole extra $2 for $200 worth of groceries. Seems like that is getting too much attentions, but I get that republicans still want to push that issue for their base, which is largely uneducated and bad at math.
According to the US inflation calculator, inflation stayed below 3 percent all of 2020 until April 2021, when it went over 4 percent and remained above five percent all the way until April 2023, with a peak at 9.1 percent in June 2022. The BLS continues to harp on Shelter as it is a large percentage of the index and it was up 7.7% for the year but...Transportation Services was up 9% for the year and Food away from home was up 7.1% for the year.
And? It's 3% now, and you guys won't stop talking about it. The inflation reduction act worked, and things are almost back to normal. Also, compare wages ... wage growth is about 5% now vs 3% inflation ... so who is hurting? People are getting a raises that outpace inflation.
The Inflation Reduction Act doesn't reduce inflation - So admits Joe Biden US gas prices just hit their highest summertime levels in over a decade even as the driving season comes to a halt. The national average for a gallon of gas rose to $3.80, notching the second-highest level ever, per AAA. Rising crude-oil prices driven by production cuts are largely to blame for the surge in costs at the pump.
This is what I'm talking about when I said "bad at math" ... Look, it's simple ... $200 worth of groceries in August 2022 now costs $206 in August 2023. That's what 3% inflation does. The fed target of 2% means they were aiming for $204, but we got $206 ... a loss of $2. 5% wage inflation means if you were making $1000/wk in 2022, you should now be making $1050/wk ... a gain of $50 to help offset your $2 loss.
So what you are saying is that inflation is being reported the same way it always has, huh? Mind-blowing analysis, there.
The spike in inflation was global, not just in the U.S., and the U.S. actually had relatively less inflation compared to practically every developed economy in the world. Isn’t it odd how they pick their facts or ignore relative performance? It is also notable that inflation has mostly eased. I’m not sure “propaganda” is the correct word since complaining about inflation isn’t necessarily false, and indeed there was about 12 months of high inflation. But to leverage it as a political issue does require fact free morons to not process the whole truth. So in that way, yeah it sort of is propaganda. The funny thing is usual figures were running their inflation stories before it even actually happened, and they will harp on it even if we have 12 months of low inflation. I think on those fringes of truth it’s fair to call it propaganda. (I’m not even saying inflation is 100% in the rear view, but outlets that don’t report that it has eased are indeed not “fair and balanced”).
I think the issue is that for a while it wasnt. Wages were stagnant and inflation was soaring. People have long memories, especially if bills piled up.
Well no, the method to calculate inflation was changed in 1980 to exclude things like the cost of a home and other such things. It also now incorporates product substitution which means you're not measuring inflation at all, just getting a manipulated number that understates what is happening to people who need to buy things like homes, food and energy.
Prices aren't currently high due to inflation. They are high due to corporate price gouging. The Publix heiress is saving up to fund another insurrection.
Yet another who fails to understand supply and demand. If companies can raise prices, they should. They aren’t charities. To the extent they raise prices, they make more money, which causes companies to produce more supply seeking more profit, which in turn stabilizes prices as supply increases. You can kind of see it with rents - a lot of rental housing is being built after a surge in rent prices that is now stabilizing. If companies did not raise prices to the equilibrium point, there would still be supply shortages. If it were not for greedy capitalists then you would govt bureaucrats setting prices and the result is what you got in the Soviet Union. Grocery stores with empty shelves. The whole inflation is due to greedy capitalists - while in one sense literally true, at the same time is really childish argument in terms of identifying causality.