As russian troops and missiles were lining up at Ukrainian borders, some here were calling it fake news and propanga and saying russia wasn’t gonna attack Ukraine, now they want to sell us on russia might use nuclear weapons, sounds like fearmongering to me.
Ukraine would not be at war today if the west honored its commitment to protect them when Russia took the Crimean Peninsula and annexed it.
When the west stood by and did nothing, russia got embodied, leading to the war today.
Anyone up for a two front war? Seeing how we responded ( or lack of response) in Ukraine, China might just call our bluff, and the confusion from the White House sure is not helping
What is this confusion you speak of?
This story will keep coming back until we get a real investigation. Why has there not been a special prosecutor appointed. This is corruption at the highest level and needs to be exposed
Lets’ Go Branden
It looks like another two years of failure for the GOP as they fight with each other and have no clear plan for the country or their agenda
Six weeks into their majority, Republican leaders have found themselves paralyzed on some of the biggest issues they promised to address as they pressed to win control of the House last year, amid internal policy disputes that have made it difficult to unify their tiny yet ideologically diverse majority.
They have had to pull back even on some measures that were supposed to be easy to pass, messaging bills once described as “ready-to-go legislation” intended to articulate House Republicans’ values and force politically vulnerable Democrats to take tough votes. It is an early indication of the unwieldy nature of the House Republican conference and a mark of how challenging it will be to reach consensus among themselves on far more consequential legislation that lies ahead, such as raising the debt ceiling and funding the government.
Hard-right lawmakers have effectively blocked legislation that would require law enforcement officials running background checks on firearm purchasers to report if a prospective buyer is in the United States illegally.
And House Republicans’ marquee bill to crack down on immigration at the border with Mexico has been derailed by a faction within the party, including some more mainstream GOP members, who regard it as overly restrictive, fearing it would effectively end asylum in the United States.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-legislative-agenda-hits-snags-125336317.html
In a nutshell, this is what it comes down to.
The real cause of inflation
The Fed’s interest rate hikes will have little effect on inflation as long as congress and the president continue to spend like drunken sailors
Reality is that there are many such sailors atm - who do you suppose sits highest on the table?
A clue - in the old days reckoned to be the country most savvy when it comes to risk.
The real cause of inflation is not to be found in Govt’s fiscal policies, nor in global economic/political interactions - the cause is simple - in a 5 letter word.
Generally, the government is not at fault for inflation, in some cases yes, but not by a significant margin, Forbes magazine presents the case in a powerful way.
Historically, economists have largely agreed that the link between government spending and inflation remains weak.
At its root, inflation is driven by too much demand relative to supply. More precisely, as former Fed chair Ben Bernanke writes in his macroeconomics textbook with Andrew Abel: “Inflation occurs when the aggregate quantity of goods demanded at any particular price level is rising more quickly than the aggregate quality of goods supplied at that price level.”
Results of Pandemic Lockdowns -
Supply shocks: Inflation often happens because of supply shocks — major disruptions to an important economic input, like energy. For example, if a lot of oil fields stop producing oil because of a war, the price of energy increases. Since energy is a critical input into almost every other good, prices of other things rise, too. This is often called “cost-push inflation.”
In theory, a decrease in the supply of a good should lead to a higher price, fewer buyers, and a new equilibrium. In practice, things are more complicated. A supply shock might set off a sustained increase in prices because there aren’t many good alternatives and so the price keeps getting bid up. Or it might be because there’s uncertainty around when and whether the supply shock will end, or because the initial price increase changes peoples’ expectations about future inflation.
Results of massive Government Pandemic Fiscal Stimulus -
Money supply: Then there’s the demand side of the equation. An increase in the money supply will tend to cause inflation, as Moss explains. “With more cash in their pockets and bank accounts, consumers often find new reasons to buy things,” he writes in the book. “But unless the supply of goods and services has increased in the meantime, the consumers’ mounting demand for products will simply bid up prices, thus stoking inflation. Economists sometimes say that inflation rises when ‘too much money is chasing too few goods.’” This is sometimes referred to as “demand-pull inflation.”
The money supply theory of inflation was popularized by economist Milton Friedman who famously said that “always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” While it’s true that increases in the money supply can cause inflation, Friedman’s claim was too strong. In fact, if you had to boil the causes of inflation down to one thing, it might be expectations.
Global Inflation -
Most world economies ignorantly played follow the leader and used the same destructive ideology of shutting their economies down, restricting movement and handing out money for their respective workforces to stay at home…
You can try and spin it every which way to Sunday….
Just like the the US Government tried to redefine the Definition of a Recession.
The Covid 19 stimulus package that included extra money for food stamps played a major role on inflation over the years. It was necessary, according to our politicians, and both sides agreed on it
perterma my friend, I can’t believe you would say such a thing, When speaking of modern fiat currency, government fiscal policy is always the number one cause of inflation
Our friend Trendswithbenefits hits the nail on the head with his post.
Reckless use of Stimulus is the root cause of all inflation here in the US and around the world, I and my wife received 3 rounds of Stimulus checks even as we continued working throughout the lockdown.
The government prints money out of thin air
The government gives that money to the people
The government shuts down the production of goods and services
The people flush with cash are biding for goods in short supply
Result “Inflation”
This article from the American Institute for Economic Research suggests we look at government and fiscal policy when it comes to inflation.
Fiscal policy doesn’t usually cause inflation. In the old-school Keynesianism model, deficit spending increases aggregate demand, raising output and prices in the process. But the evidence suggests this effect is minimal. Government spending, even if it’s deficit-financed, shuffles around resources. It doesn’t usually mobilize additional resources. Since deficit spending doesn’t boost aggregate demand, it doesn’t cause inflation.
A recent radical experiment in fiscal policy might prove the exception to the rule. Various rounds of Covid-19 stimulus contained extensive direct transfers to households. Since the beginning of the pandemic, “the IRS has successfully delivered more than $1.5 trillion to people across the nation through Economic Impact Payments, tax refunds and advance Child Tax Credit payments.” Perhaps stimulus checks work differently than other forms of federal spending.
So do you prescribe to Keynes or Hayek fiscal policy
this is one rap I can get down too
I don’t prescribe to anything, but I do like the video / rap
In the face of inflation, how should America approach giving more money to social security beneficiaries?
On Feb. 13, Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) formally reintroduced The Social Security Expansion Act to Congress, and this time, he had a lot more support from fellow lawmakers pushing the initiative.
While the initial June 9 introduction of the measure has remained dormant, Sanders and a new coalition of supporters — including cosigners Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) — have renewed interest amid proposed cuts to Social Security as the U.S. faces its latest debt ceiling crisis.
The latest draft of the bill also provides a way forward for the severely underfunded program, ensuring that future generations can receive benefits through 2096 by taxing the highest earners in the country. According to a press release from Sanders’ office, this will be done “all without raising taxes by one penny on over 93% of American households that make $250,000 or less.”
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/social-security-bill-could-seniors-145812838.html
two more examples of the US government causing inflation
Education and Healthcare
Back before the pandemic, the Fed had a target rate of 2% inflation. but two sectors of the economy, (Higher Education and Healthcare) saw inflation many times ( 6 to 12% depending on who"s data you look at) the Fed’s 2% target rate. What both of these sectors have in common is massive government programs designed to put money in the hands of people to buy healthcare or attend Collage
Healthcare inflation was caused first by Medicare and then by the Unaffordable Care Act
Collage tuition soared as a result of the government-guaranteed loan program
In both cases, the government greatly increased the number of people accessing these products and did little or nothing to increase the supply, add that too little or no price control measures and you have inflation over the national average
Yes the US government is the cause of US inflation
I have already stated this
Good morning Mr. Paul, I love your new avatar, it fits you.
Perhaps a better question is where was this coalition of supporters back in June when Democrats had the votes to pass it? My view is Dems are just playing politics with a bill they do not really want to pass.
Now to answer your question as an American receiving S.S. , this 2400 or 200 a month would be about a 12% increase, add that to the 8% COLA we received last month and we have a 20% increase which would be in line with the real inflation we saw last year. So all this would do for seniors is restore our buying power back to Jan. 2022 levels. So it would be pretty much a wash, would it add more inflation, Absolutely it will!
I would rather see congress stop all their reckless inflationary spending, If the Fed can take actions that is clearly causing pain for some Americans, then congress can too. Good government and strong leadership mean sometimes you have to say no.
Less government is the cure
Even better, would these Republican proposals curb inflation? They haven’t delivered on any of them yet, so the case is still open
What would Republicans do? It’s worth considering how the economy will be different with Republicans in charge of the House or Senate.
Republicans on the campaign trail have tried to capitalize on the ongoing sticker shock and laid primary blame for inflation on government spending, an argument that overlooks the energy spike caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine and the supply chain issues caused by the lingering Covid-19 pandemic.
Here’s an extended riff from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – who is in line to be speaker of the House next year if Republicans win in November – when he appeared on Fox on Tuesday:
“Every American needs to be asked this one question: ‘Could you afford to give up one month of your wages?’ Ninety-five percent of Americans will say no. But that’s what the Democrats have taken from you. Because one month of your wages is 8.3% of you r overall year – inflation is higher than that.
That’s why when you go to the store, eggs are higher. You ‘ve got milk higher, your gasoline prices higher. It is the Democrat policies that brought that. That’s why in the Commitment to America, we will be energy independent, that lower your prices. We’ll take away this runaway spending. We’ll make America more productive to curve inflation, what the Democrats have b r ought us.”
Controlling the House and/or Senate would certainly give Republicans the ability to squash any more spending pushed by the Biden administration. And for an idea of what they support, check out McCarthy’s Commitment to America website. It contains few specifics, but has three basic tenets:
While Holtz-Eakin said it is not accurate to say Biden and Democrats created the inflation, they certainly helped accelerate it.
“It’s quite clear in the data that there’s a sharp ramp up of inflation in April of 2021 immediately as the checks go out, to implement a $2 trillion stimulus in our economy,” he said.
The first thing to know, Holtz-Eakin said, is that the primary job of controlling inflation belongs to the Federal Reserve, not Congress or the White House.
However, he’s of the opinion – along with other economists like the Democrat Larry Summers – that government spending, and in particular the American Rescue Plan Act passed without help from Republicans shortly after Biden took office, helped drive inflation.
“Not committing the same mistake is something Republicans can control, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “They can block things if they control the House, and that would be beneficial” to curb spending.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/19/politics/republicans-inflation-midterm-what-matters/index.html
Republicans promised to address inflation, so let’s see how they do
