• [ network ]
  • goatmatrix.net
  • gvid.tv
  • img.gvid.tv
  • games.gvid.tv
  • apps.gvid.tv
HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Biden Is Clueless About Inflation

Views:1176
@ReasonVids

"My dad had an expression," said President Joe Biden as he announced his budget plan for FY 2023. "Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value."
------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?subconfirmation=1
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
So at the very moment that we're experiencing the highest inflation in 40 years, what does Biden value? The same sort of government spending that is already sending prices through the roof.

You'd figure that with Covid receding, debt rising, and a tidal wave of unfunded liabilities staring us right in the kisser, Biden would take the opportunity to radically reset the federal government's balance sheet. Instead, his budget plan could be titled Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic.

The president wants to spend $5.8 trillion, which would include jacking spending on defense, education, and police. He talks about levying a controversial—and probably unconstitutional—wealth tax on billionaires to help pay for it all but still expects a budget deficit of $1.2 trillion (see Table S1 in Summary Tables)! If you're going to tax unrealized capital gains, President Biden, at least spend it on something pretty!

It's debt-financed spending that helps spur inflation in the first place. Rather than cutting spending and reforming entitlements, the government borrows and prints money so it can keep giving more goodies to its favored citizens. You get more dollars chasing the same amount of goods, and that leads to price hikes.

Meanwhile, at least a dozen states—including such far-flung places as California, Georgia, Hawaii, and Maine—are thinking about giving residents money to spend on things like gas, the price of which has gone through the roof. "Direct relief will address the issue that we all are struggling to address," says California Gov. Gavin Newsom. "That's the issue of gas prices, not only here in our state, but of course, all across this country."

Is he serious? Doling out tax dollars to alleviate the pain of inflation is like drinking a beer in the morning to ease your hangover. It's only setting up the next binge.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has announced a series of interest rate hikes to help tame inflation, but in a recent speech, he made no mention of the increase in the money supply measured by M2, which has risen by a record 41 percent in two years, or of the Federal Reserve's holding of U.S. debt, which has jumped $3.5 trillion over the same time period.

Powell's interest rate hikes will be small enough that it's unclear whether they will have much impact. Back in the 1980s, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker allowed the fed funds rate to more than double in less than two years' time to over 20 percent, which helped kill inflation but also caused the most severe recession since the Great Depression.

Worse, serious hikes by the Fed today will not just likely cause a major economic downturn, they will devastate the government's balance sheet, requiring either massive tax hikes on everyone, huge reductions in government services, or a combination of both.

According to recent conservative estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, as the federal budget grows, the cost of paying interest on the debt will keep increasing until it accounts for about 24 cents of every dollar spent by 2050. And that's assuming interest rates will remain historically low.

So even moderate increases in the fed funds rate would push the cost of servicing the debt much higher, causing the government to borrow more money and kicking us into a vicious cycle of economic despair.

Biden can talk a good game about "returning our fiscal house to order," but it's clear he doesn't understand why prices are going up—and that his policies will keep them high for the foreseeable future. That might cost Democrats control of the House and the Senate in the fall and perhaps Biden the White House in 2024.

That will be too bad for him and his party. But his unwillingness to confront massive spending and debt is going to cost all of us a lot more than that.

Music Credits: "Dark Fantasy," by IamDayLight via Artlist.

Written and narrated by Nick Gillespie. Edited by Regan Taylor.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for CDC: The Movie (COVID parody)2:36
    CDC: The Movie (COVID parody)
    ReasonVids
    1034 views
    Thumbnail for The Future of Libertarian Politics (better resolution)9:55
    The Future of Libertarian Politics (better resolution)
    ReasonVids
    952 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons Health Care Reform Won't Cut The Deficit By One Thin Dime.2:20
    3 Reasons Health Care Reform Won't Cut The Deficit By One Thin Dime.
    ReasonVids
    1006 views
    Thumbnail for Why You Should Support Reason: Al Sharpton Edition0:31
    Why You Should Support Reason: Al Sharpton Edition
    ReasonVids
    893 views
    Thumbnail for Neuroscientist Carl Hart: Science Says We Should Decriminalize Drugs22:17
    Neuroscientist Carl Hart: Science Says We Should Decriminalize Drugs
    ReasonVids
    1014 views
    Thumbnail for The HARDEST Pokemon To Shiny Hunt, Apparently! | Newsteevie1:00
    The HARDEST Pokemon To Shiny Hunt, Apparently! | Newsteevie
    invidious
    223 views
    Thumbnail for What Should Have Happened at the Amy Coney Barrett Hearings5:31
    What Should Have Happened at the Amy Coney Barrett Hearings
    ReasonVids
    940 views
    Thumbnail for How Government is Destroying the Medical Profession: Q&A with Dr. Jeffrey Singer6:11
    How Government is Destroying the Medical Profession: Q&A with Dr. Jeffrey Singer
    ReasonVids
    944 views
    Thumbnail for Rep. Jeff Flake on How the GOP Can Get Its Groove Back3:23
    Rep. Jeff Flake on How the GOP Can Get Its Groove Back
    ReasonVids
    925 views
    Thumbnail for Why Gay Marriage is Winning2:29
    Why Gay Marriage is Winning
    ReasonVids
    1009 views
    Thumbnail for The Truth about Public Servants: A presentation by Reason Foundation's Adrian Moore33:30
    The Truth about Public Servants: A presentation by Reason Foundation's Adrian Moore
    ReasonVids
    991 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons to Get Rid of the Death Penalty2:00
    3 Reasons to Get Rid of the Death Penalty
    ReasonVids
    981 views
    Thumbnail for What We Saw At The Anti-NSA "Stop Watching Us" Rally3:18
    What We Saw At The Anti-NSA "Stop Watching Us" Rally
    ReasonVids
    1047 views
    Thumbnail for Detroit Threat Management: #Anarchy in Detroit, Part II3:06
    Detroit Threat Management: #Anarchy in Detroit, Part II
    ReasonVids
    1171 views
    Thumbnail for ‘One Child Nation’ Exposes the Tragic Consequences of Chinese Population Control13:26
    ‘One Child Nation’ Exposes the Tragic Consequences of Chinese Population Control
    ReasonVids
    963 views
    Thumbnail for Guantanamo Bay in 54 Seconds: What Every American Should Know1:20
    Guantanamo Bay in 54 Seconds: What Every American Should Know
    ReasonVids
    965 views
    Thumbnail for David Stockman on TARP, the Fed, Ron Paul and Reagan [FULL VERSION]42:06
    David Stockman on TARP, the Fed, Ron Paul and Reagan [FULL VERSION]
    ReasonVids
    1054 views
    Thumbnail for Inside Sharknado 2: Mockbusters, Remix Culture, and the Earnestness of Camp4:09
    Inside Sharknado 2: Mockbusters, Remix Culture, and the Earnestness of Camp
    ReasonVids
    1016 views
    Thumbnail for CPAC: The Conservative Case for Criminal Justice Reform3:51
    CPAC: The Conservative Case for Criminal Justice Reform
    ReasonVids
    1021 views
    Thumbnail for Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Sparks White House Protest1:28
    Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Sparks White House Protest
    ReasonVids
    895 views
    Thumbnail for Why Ventura Residents Were Kept From Voting on Pension Reform in the Midterm Elections11:16
    Why Ventura Residents Were Kept From Voting on Pension Reform in the Midterm Elections
    ReasonVids
    1096 views
    Thumbnail for Poker Champion Annie Duke on Making Smart Bets in Life, Politics, and Football18:56
    Poker Champion Annie Duke on Making Smart Bets in Life, Politics, and Football
    ReasonVids
    1010 views
    Thumbnail for Are You an Independent Thinker?  Try Reason!0:30
    Are You an Independent Thinker? Try Reason!
    ReasonVids
    961 views
    Thumbnail for If these rules seem a bit arbitrary, it's because fuck you, they are!2:33
    If these rules seem a bit arbitrary, it's because fuck you, they are!
    bestofupgoat
    224 views
    Thumbnail for 🚨LIVE: Teachers Unions in Shambles | The Daily Signal51:23
    🚨LIVE: Teachers Unions in Shambles | The Daily Signal
    invidious
    158 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle