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It's Not Putin's Inflation ...

Luckyone said:
Oh my gawd. Another Biden fault's OP. Sickening!

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Is this Biden's fault also?

Inflation rates are rising around the world​


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Understanding why the rate of inflation has risen so quickly could help clarify how long the surge might last – and what, if anything, policymakers should do about it. The recent acceleration in the rate of inflation appears to be fundamentally different from other inflationary periods that were more closely tied to the regular business cycle. Explanations for the current phenomenon proffered to date include continuing disruptions in global supply chains amid the coronavirus pandemic; turmoil in the labor markets; the fact that today’s prices are being measured against prices during last year’s COVID-19-induced shutdowns; and strong consumer demand after local economies were reopened.
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For the US being in the lead, In part, yes. Sorry if that troubles you.
 
Trying to be as objective as possible...

NatMorton said:
What you fail to appreciate is that the fed and federal government injected stimulus into an already recovering economy.
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I'll concede that the stimulus in early 2021 was probably not necessary in retrospect. That wasn't an easy call to make at the time because nobody knew whether the pandemic was coming or going. As it turned out, we had more waves but we more or less learned to live with the virus once we had the vaccines. Even so, there were still major disruptions in critical areas both abroad and at home, with seaports and shipping infrastructure impacted by worker stoppages due to COVID.

NatMorton said:
That is proving to have been a disaster, and there’s no getting around that.
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Biden's stimulus is just one of many factors contributing to inflation. As others have posted, inflation is hardly a US problem. The combination of stimulus, extended lockdowns, and working from home resulted in a $2 trillion savings among US households (according to one estimate I've read/heard). If there's a lesson to be learned from this it's that we need to be better prepared to deliver economic stimulus that's better targeted to suit the needs of the entire population. Much of the stimulus went to middle and upper middle class households with jobs that paid fairly well and also allowed the flexibility to work from home. Conversely the lower-wage earners - Uber & Instacart drivers and supermarket employees - had income support but they've been impacted by the inflation much more so than the middle and upper income earners who were eligible for the stimulus. Future stimulus programs ought to keep this in mind. Worth noting that most of the stimulus came in 2020, before Biden took office.
 
NolanVoyd said:
It's just a fact.

Are you saying it's not global.
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No, I'm saying the inflation rate globally is not uniform. Ours is worse, and it's worse for reason, no matter how politically inconvenient some may find that reason.
 
multivita-man said:
Trying to be as objective as possible...



I'll concede that the stimulus in early 2021 was probably not necessary in retrospect. That wasn't an easy call to make at the time because nobody knew whether the pandemic was coming or going. As it turned out, we had more waves but we more or less learned to live with the virus once we had the vaccines. Even so, there were still major disruptions in critical areas both abroad and at home, with seaports and shipping infrastructure impacted by worker stoppages due to COVID.
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I simply don't agree with that. The signs of recovery were there. The Biden administration and the Democrats on The Hill decided those signs were no reason to let a good crisis go to waste, and they presented the spending as needed relief. They were wrong (or more likely, lied).

multivita-man said:
Biden's stimulus is just one of many factors contributing to inflation. As others have posted, inflation is hardly a US problem. The combination of stimulus, extended lockdowns, and working from home resulted in a $2 trillion savings among US households (according to one estimate I've read/heard). If there's a lesson to be learned from this it's that we need to be better prepared to deliver economic stimulus that's better targeted to suit the needs of the entire population. Much of the stimulus went to middle and upper middle class households with jobs that paid fairly well and also allowed the flexibility to work from home. Conversely the lower-wage earners - Uber & Instacart drivers and supermarket employees - had income support but they've been impacted by the inflation much more so than the middle and upper income earners who were eligible for the stimulus. Future stimulus programs ought to keep this in mind. Worth noting that most of the stimulus came in 2020, before Biden took office.
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Yes, all those savings ... and we still sent most of those savers relief checks. You're only proving my point.
 
NatMorton said:
No, I'm saying the inflation rate globally is not uniform. Ours is worse, and it's worse for reason, no matter how politically inconvenient some may find that reason.
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It's only slightly worse and that is because our economy bounced back quicker. More demand, limited supply, equals higher prices.

That is basic economics.

You seem confused.
 
NatMorton said:
For the US being in the lead, In part, yes. Sorry if that troubles you.
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Do you know of any other countries that helped their people through the pandemic with stimulus checks?

BTW and talking about presidents being blamed for inflation. How come you have not incorporated this fact into your failed OP?

But the annual inflation rates for dozens and dozens of goods routinely purchased by American households - including food - were already at their highest levels in a decade before Biden entered the White House early this year.

That's in large part because of the COVID-19 relief spending enacted under Republican Donald Trump's administration with overwhelming Republican support in the Senate. It exceeds what Democrats have allocated so far by roughly $1 trillion.
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Shouldn't you also blame Trump for inflation going up?

Oh and by the way, one big reason for inflation being high is Oil prices going up to $130 per barrel and that is nothing that Biden could do anything about. In fact, he did bring into circulation 180,000 barrels of oil from our reserves. It caused oil to drop from $130 to $95. You don't give him credit for that move? You think Trump would have done the same?
 
NatMorton said:
I can point fingers at the policies that made it worse, some of which have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
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Sure you can point, but can you prove?
 
NatMorton said:
I simply don't agree with that. The signs of recovery were there. The Biden administration and the Democrats on The Hill decided those signs were no reason to let a good crisis go to waste, and they presented the spending as needed relief. They were wrong (or more likely, lied).
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I've already conceded that the Democrats probably didn't need to inject that stimulus into the economy. It could have been more targeted, but I don't fault them as much as you do. The lessons from 2008-9 was that we were too weak with our stimulus. The failure, IMO, was a failure to recognize the differences between 2008-9 and 2020-21. There were differences that weren't accounted for. But that being said, a pandemic like this is a once in a century event. Being objective, being fair, I'm willing to acknowledge that the Dems made these errors -- the Fed IMO made even worse ones.

At the same time, there were a lot of 'known and unknown unknowns' as Donald Rumsfeld might have said. Some signs of a recovery were there, but it wasn't clear for how long. We can look at data on a graph and say "They should have known, what were they thinking?" But it's more complicated than that. This is a virus that had shown an ability to mutate quickly - that was known even before people were vaccinated. The concern was that a nightmare mutation would cause another shutdown.

NatMorton said:
Yes, all those savings ... and we still sent most of those savers relief checks. You're only proving my point.
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I'm partly proving your point, admittedly. But as I said above, I think economic downturns, whether they're the result of bubbles, credit freezes, or pandemics, differ from one to the next and there's rarely a single prescription that will work for all of them in the same way.

Right now, about the most obvious 'prescription' for the current mess is that the Fed is likely going to have to induce a recession, which it says it won't have to do, but the writing is on the wall IMO. This is especially problematic because with ongoing global supply chain disruption, we'll still likely have persistent inflation. The lower wage earners, particularly those that have debts, and the small to mid-sized businesses that might have used cheap credit for buying opportunities....(sigh) it's an ugly forecast I'm afraid.
 
NatMorton said:
This is not a partisan thing. It's a policy thing.
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Democrats could have made it a partisan thing but didn't. Republicans could have made more stimulus a policy thing but didn't, just like Republicans could make balanced budgets a policy thing but usually make it a partisan thing.
 
multivita-man said:
Democrats could have made it a partisan thing but didn't. Republicans could have made more stimulus a policy thing but didn't, just like Republicans could make balanced budgets a policy thing but usually make it a partisan thing.
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I don't speak for them; I speak for me.
 
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