Posted on 12/15/2021 5:15:01 AM PST by Kaslin
U.S. senators need to forgo the posh Capitol dining rooms and go food shopping in the shoes of ordinary Americans. Shoppers are panicking at the meat counter, where beef prices are up more than 20%. Nearly everything in the basket costs more.
Most pols are clueless about the pain inflation is causing.
Retirees are the biggest victims. Inflation is decimating them. With interest rates near zero, retirees are watching the purchasing power of the money they have in the bank literally shrink. They're getting punished for their years of thrift, prudence and self-reliance.
For the 65-and-up crowd, it's a double whammy -- the brutal impact of COVID and then inflation. Three-quarters of Americans who died from COVID were in that age group. Now the survivors are getting whacked with price hikes on everything from home heating oil to groceries. In Maine, where my twin brother lives, fuel to heat homes is up by as much as 50%.
To understand the inflation spike, consider this amazing fact: One-fifth of all dollars in circulation have been created since February 2020. Congress spent excessively on COVID-related benefits using borrowed money, and the Federal Reserve purchased the debt created and flooded the nation with more dollars.
The result: too many dollars chasing too few goods.
Everywhere, retirees are being forced to replan how they live out their final years because their savings pay for less.
Social Security is raising benefits with a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment -- the highest in decades but not enough to offset price hikes.
Inflation's other victims are wage earners. Wages went up over the last year but less than inflation for most workers. Wages will buy less this Christmas.
resident Joe Biden campaigned on a promise never to raise taxes except on the rich. But the Bidenflation raging now is the cruelest tax of all.
Dec. 10's Consumer Price Index put inflation at 6.8%, the highest since 1982, but even that likely understates it: CPI critics point out that single family rental costs are up 17% nationwide this year. It's worse in Manhattan, where median rents are up 20%.
Even so, Biden and Senate Democrats are trying to ram through the Build Back Better Act before Christmas, ignoring warnings that it will make prices soar higher still because that's what deficit spending does.
In fact, not passing the bill will go a long way toward calming inflation expectations and in the process avert widespread demands for wage hikes that could trigger a wage-price inflation spiral. Organized labor is already demanding quarterly cost-of-living adjustments and higher wage rates because of inflation.
But Democrats want to pass what they claim is "transformative" legislation. It's not about helping the people who work, save and take care of themselves. It's about politics and buying votes with new government giveaways before the 2022 midterm elections.
Inflation pain be damned.
Manchin repeated his concerns Monday when asked if he would capitulate to pressure from his party to support Build Back Better. In a 50-50 divided Senate, the bill can't pass without his vote.
Manchin responded, "Inflation is real. It's not transitory. It's alarming. It's going up, not down. And I think that's something we should be concerned about."
Americans agree. Hold the line, Senator.
The White House is churning out endorsements for Build Back Better from partisan economists, but the public isn't buying the propaganda. A staggering 69% of Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of inflation, including 71% of independents, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll published Dec. 12.
As long as prices keep going up, count on Democrats to go down in defeat in the midterm elections.
Let them eat cake.
I wouldn’t put it past those in power to have engineered COVID to disproportionately target seniors to help cut the Social Security rolls. If 2/3 of victims where over 65, then nearly 500,000 Social Security recipients have died, saving the system nearly $9 billion annually, based on an average benefit of $1500/mo, with an similar saving to Medicare.
Knowing they can’t reduce actual payments, because of the political price, I wouldn’t put it past them.
Bump. The leftists are going to ruin the nation. They’re bent on that goal. How evil.
BUT I got that big stimmy check. and one of these days I will be enjoying the saving of Obamacare.
Manchen will fold. It is all Kabuki.
Bacon has nearly doubled in the past year!
$6 a pound for Wally World bacon.
Why save when the .gov will give you what it decides you need?
Atlas Shrugged
Exactly, and don’t forget the government charges you taxes, unlike Germany when you have a savings account. So what is the use?
I get it and don’t see how some others do not. I have a CD coming due in a few weeks. The reissue would be like .6% for 18 months. At least the last one was 1.5%. Anyway, no way I do that. I’d rather cash it in and put the cash in my safe. I was considering finding an oil stock that paid around 6% dividend, like say Xxon but with the all out rush to kill off the OandG industry, not sure that is even safe these days. I already have more ammo than I can use up in a life time of revolutions so what to do.
” Dollar Store Inc. announced that products it has sold for $1 for more than 30 years will be priced at $1.25.”
That’s 25% inflation right there. Bet the givernment’s official basket (case) numbers will be much lower.
“As long as prices keep going up, count on Democrats to go down in defeat in the midterm elections.”
In the political world, 11 months is a long time. Expect the race card to be used, and big tech/corp demonkkkrap media to censor, prevent paypal contributions to GOP, not run ads, etc. Then there is the mail in votes, etc.
My late husband and I got each a stimulus check from President Trump but not from Biden.
“The leftists are going to ruin the nation.”
The left has already ruined the nation. It seems those of us with a memory of what America was might be trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again? This is why we need to stop using the word “conservative” to describe certain political beliefs. There are many things that need to be changed permanently that the left has institutionalized and is working hard to conserve and expand.
I suppose we will find out.
“Why save when the .gov will give you what it decides you need?”
Save and invest. Investing may include buying tangible and real assets. Keep a low profile too. Getting in a line to receive what the givernment decides one is entitled to receive is no life for me. Becoming a gib-me-dat reminds me of the pledge scene in the movie Animal House, where the pledge is bent over, and smacked hard with a wooden paddle, only to say “thanks, may I have another?” We have many many people who are willing to endure that treatment in order to get a handout from the givernment.
Buy crypto
Inflation lags one year behind government spending.
Trump signed the $900B stimulus bill Dec 2020. The “skinny” plan
We have Biden’s stimulus (American Rescue Plan $1.9T) AND his “infrastructure” $1.2T in Nov 2021.
This is only the beginning of our inflation woes. TINSTAAFL.
It's in his hands. He either gets credit or all the blame for the upcoming economic disaster around the bend.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.