I paid $4.25 per gallon for mid-range gasoline today. It’s about a buck more per gallon than I was paying at the start of the year. That’s a 30% increase in just a few months. Dog food, that not long ago I used to get for $1.25 per can, is now $1.82. And that’s when it’s on sale.
Look around and you’ll see a lot of other similar examples. Housing costs more, vehicles cost more, utilities cost more and food costs more. In fact, practically everything costs more today than it did in January.
The inflation rate has climbed steadily since January. And, you know what happened in January don’t you? That’s right. Biden took office (I think “took office” is more correct than “was elected”).
In January, the inflation rate was 1.4%. Now it’s 5%. For those of you who aren’t familiar with how inflation works, the only thing you need to know is bigger is bad. The higher the inflation rate, the less stuff you can buy with your money than you previously could.
The current 5% inflation rate is the highest it has been in the last 12 years. And it’s going to get much worse.
How does this happen?
Forcing companies to pay unskilled laborers more money is one. Eliminating our energy independence is another. Creating a massive deficit that will push our national debt to nearly $30 trillion is yet another. So is increasing the corporate tax rate.
Sound familiar? These are all things Biden has done, or is threatening to do, since he took office.
Biden and his team don’t seem to understand the law of unintended consequences. That is, doing something to get an expected result oftentimes results in something unexpected, and bad, happening instead.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say the government increases the taxes owed by corporations. Sounds good. Right? After all, why should those big companies get tax breaks. They’re make big profits so it’s only fair that they pay a boatload more taxes. Right? What’s more, Biden can point to that and convince his supporters that he’s done a good thing.
OK. Let’s go with that. Now we’ve forced companies to pay more taxes. Great. What do you think is going to happen?
Will the company executives take a smaller salary? Nope. Will the company’s suppliers accept less for their products and services? Nope.
What’s going to happen is that the company is going to raise their prices. And, what happens when companies raise their prices? That’s right, consumers pay more for goods and services.
That’s called inflation.
But it’s not just the big guys. Every single extra expense the government forces onto any company will ultimately result in higher prices for the consumer. And, in case you haven’t been paying attention, “consumer” is just a fancy way of saying “customer”, which includes you.
Everything is interconnected. Why are you paying more for vegetables at the farmer’s market? Because fuel prices have gone up. Why is McDonald’s charging you more for a Big Mac? Because it costs the farmers more to produce the beef and vegetables that goes in your sandwich. And, it costs more for the trucking companies to ship the beef and vegetables to McDonalds.
Screwing around with our fuel supply has unintended consequences for the entire economy. Everyone is going to pass along their increased costs until it gets to the one person that can’t pass it to anyone else. And that person is you.
Inflation is the direct result of bad decisions.
There are unintended consequences to electing someone just because Orange Man Bad. Those consequences are now starting to become apparent.
In just a few short months, the inflation rate has soared. The policy changes Biden has already made brought us to where we are today. The policy changes he’s proposing will propel our economy further and faster toward ruin.
But hey, at least there are no more mean tweets.
