As a young officer in Berlin’s army, I received an unexpected call. A high school friend who was now a junior executive in the hometown bank where I had my college loans (his father was the bank’s hereditary president, so his being on the executive track had less to do with his ability than his chromosomes) on the crackling line. He wasn’t calling out of the blue to catch up; he called to try to convince me to pay off my student loans early. You see, inflation was rocketing along at 13%, and my loans were a demure and innocent 2-point-something APR, and it was worth their time to call me to offer me some “forgiveness” if I would just accelerate my payments. Even as a dumbsh** infantryman, I was smart enough to figure out that holding onto my loans for as long as possible and letting inflation work on them was a damned good course of action, so I declined the kind offer.
This has to do with everything. Well, boys, girls, and sexually undefined things, we’re entering this territory anew.
Inflation continued to impact on the economy, and it is continuing longer than expected by policymakers at Fed and White House heading into 2018. Prices increased by 6.2 percent in Oct compared to a year earlier.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data Wednesday showing that prices increased by 0.9 percent in September compared to October. This was a larger-than-expected increase, which tied June as the largest one-month price rise this year.
Forecasters expected a surge in October’s inflation data, in large part because of soaring gas and energy prices, plus ongoing supply chain backlogs in the used-car market. While the energy index rose by 4.8 percent in October, the gasoline index grew by 6.1 percent.
Yet, inflation expanded to other categories, increasing throughout the economy, with the BLS noting “broad-based” higher prices for energy, shelter, food, used cars and trucks and new vehicles among the larger contributors.
“Along with shelter, used cars and trucks, and new vehicles, the indexes for medical care, for household furnishing and operations, and for recreation all increased in October,” the report read.
(For more coverage, see The Latest inflation Numbers will have you punching walls and voting against Democrats.
The 16¢ the Biden bunch was crowing that it saved you on the Fourth of July has led to a prediction, reported on in the New York Times, no less, that this Thanksgiving will be the most expensive since the Indians gifteYear’sachusetts to the Pilgrims. From This Year’s Thanksgiving Feast Will Wallop the Wallet:
The Thanksgiving 2021 meal could prove to be the most costly in history.
Turkey’s price is higher because corn prices, which are the main food source for commercial turkeys, have more than doubled between July 2020 and July 2021. According to Friday’s weekly Department of Agriculture turkey report, whole frozen birds weighing between 8 and 16 pounds cost 25c per pound more than last year.
Worse than the 6.2% inflation increase annually is the 0.9% October rise. This increase is nearly twice the 0.4% inflation rate recorded in September. This trend, and it is unlikely to continue, could mean an annual inflation rate above 10% next year.
The subject is being pushed to the forefront of national discussion by Democrat operatives, and their fluffers. There’s a lot of stupid commentary. It goes like this, “We were in the throes of a pandemic last year. This is the consequence of the economy roaring back.” No. It really isn’t. If the economy were “roaring back,” inflation would be driven by increases in productivity and wages. That isn’t the case.
After adjusting for today’s new inflation numbers, average hourly wages fell 1.2% from Oct 2020 to Oct 2021. Change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.3% in average workweek resulted in a 1.6% decrease in real avg weekly earnings https://t.co/6ybYIwIHBm
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) November 10, 2021
Inflation means too much money looking for too few goods. It is easy to show that the money component of this equation.
It’s easy to understand pic.twitter.com/I6W8pjB4Ug
— streiff (@streiffredstate) November 10, 2021
We’re witnessing the type of inflation which made the Weimar Republic an economic powerhouse.
If this keeps up, and with the Democrats attempting to pump a few trillion dollars into “infrastructure” and direct payments to people, there is every indication that it will; inflation is going to demolish the American middle class.
With wages falling and working hours decreasing, many people will have to keep at least two jobs in order to sustain their existing standard of living. Families must use more of the income they have to support their basic needs, such as food, fuel, and energy costs. To make matters worse, the Biden bunch seems to be eager to stoke the fire rather than dampen it (READ: Watch: Energy Sec Laughs Her Head off When won’t About Rising Gas Prices and Biden Considers Killing Another US Pipeline as Oil Crisis Continues).
Inflation doesn’t just have a daily impact. Inflation has the potential to change people’s lives. That 401k account that you’d hope would let you check out of the rat race before you developed an insatiable craving for soft-serve Ice cream? Well, it won’t be there for you. Because there isn’t much competition for buyers, your loan interest rate will begin to match the SpaceX quality inflation. An adjustable-rate mortgage might come with a surprise. Do you have a large credit card balance? You aren’t going to like what that looks like when chronic double-digit inflation kicks in.
Unfortunately, unlike the 1980s, we don’t have a Paul Volcker at the helm of the Fed who is willing to take the political heat to save America’s middle class from destruction. We also don’t have a Ronald Reagan in the wings to lead us out of this or any indication that Congress, as a whole, understands what is about to happen to us all.
What is worse, given a lot of other things happening, it is getting harder and harder to believe that this is just the result of some idiots acting out—more on that in the future.
About Post Author
