inflation

A new Siena College Research Institute poll released Thursday finds 70% of New Yorkers say inflation is either having a “very” or “somewhat” serious negative impact on their finances.

According to the US inflation calculator, the inflation rate in the US averaged below 2 percent a year from 2012 through 2020. Then it shot up to seven percent in calendar year 2021 and so far in 2022 is running at a 7.9 percent annual rate. Why? It depends on who is talking. If you listen to right wing idiots, it’s because President Biden has cancelled the Keystone Oil Pipeline. If you listen to many mainstream economists, it’s because of supply – chain disruptions. If you listen to Republicans in Congress, it’s because the Biden Administration is running astronomical deficits. Finally, if you check out public opinion polls, it’s because corporations are greedy and are jacking up prices.

It’s becoming more likely that New York could see a suspension of some gasoline taxes in the new state budget to help ease steeply rising gas prices linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Biden is criticized for high oil prices, but that price is set on the world market. He’s being criticized for using socialist measures to raise prices. But socialists would buy us the oil we need, which would ease the burden, not raise it. In other words Biden’s critics sling whatever sounds bad whether it makes sense or not.

When I wrote my book, Surrender, back in 1998, I was focused on what I called “right wing economics.” As early as 1978, when Representative Jack Kemp introduced what came to be known as a “supply side” tax cut, I had been fascinated by the resurgence of what I had learned in college was a backward and wrong-headed approach to economics

I just became aware of an outstanding blog written by the economist Martin Hart-Landsberg. The blog is called REPORTS FROM THE ECONOMIC FRONT and I urge listeners to check it out. It is available here. The entry I am referencing was posted on January 17 and it is entitled: “Once again, the austerity proponents tell it like it isn’t.”

Have you heard that inflation is raging and is likely to destroy Biden’s presidency? Have you heard Senator Joe Manchin complain about the spending in Biden’s BUILD BACK BETTER BILL? He argues that spending so much money is likely to make the inflation worse and speed the “bankruptcy” of Social Security and Medicare trust funds?

The Stock Market recently took a tumble as inflation has increased somewhat dramatically over the last 60 days. We’ve also seen an increase in long term treasury yields which have made, on a percentage basis, a substantial increase which is based upon inflation and the anticipation that the Feds will increase rates in the very near term if inflation continues at its current pace.

In The Real Crash, New York Times bestselling author Peter D. Schiff argues that America is enjoying a government-inflated bubble, one that reality will…

We are bombarded every day with numbers that tell us how we are doing, whether the economy is growing or shrinking, whether the future looks bright or…