how’s Fox being misleading? They aren’t the ones that come up with the inflation rate
and what does Trump have to do with this thread at all?
Also, you might want to try a good Kentucky bourbon…not whisky…but i get its tough to find on the selves and inflation is making things expensive
First, bourbon is whiskey, American whiskey. FOX is keying on one number for one month and comparing it to other countries same one number for the same one month. In almost every other "number" from HICP to CPI without food and energy, the US rates better. I mean check the rate of inflation for the energy sector. The European nations are getting hammered, Britian at 51.9, even Germany at 35.4 is higher than the US. The Netherlands, 83.1.
But it was especially misleading when they keyed on the wholesale inflation number. Who gives a rat's ass. The important number is not what businesses are paying for an item, it is how much of the price increase are they passing on to consumers, and that is where Trump steps in.
But first, a simple explanation as to what inflation really is. It is too many dollars chasing too few goods. Both ends of that equation have now spun out as we begin to recover from the Covid pandemic. First, the too many dollars. As I have explained before, three out of four of the new dollars in circulation over the last two years came from Trump. The additional unemployment benefit, those Covid stimulus checks, two prime examples. You can even see it in some of the claims of Trump's success. Like this one, individual incomes increased. In the midst of an unemployment rate not seen since the Great Depression, rampant job layoffs and millions of people staying at home, personal incomes went up. Only because of the literally TRILLIONS of dollars Trump flooded into the system.
Music interlude,
Nope, people weren't working on the railroad, they weren't working on the farm. They stayed at home rolling in their sweet baby's arms and waited for the mail train to bring their check. They didn't venture out and spend that money, they banked it, and that applied to all income levels, not just the hillbillies in Kentucky. Now, with junior on the way, they are ready to start spending that money. Too many dollars.
But the supply chain, well it's in the song too. They didn't work at the Smithfield packing plant, on the oil rigs, or even driving their big rig, they were "rolling in their sweet baby's arms". Few goods got produced, few goods got delivered, too few goods.
But now to Trump, because I know you have been waiting. It is the corporate tax cut. I was opposed, I still am opposed, because the vast majority of that tax cut went to the shareholders. Hell, that is why the market exploded. Little if any of that savings was passed to consumers, or even employees in the form of higher wages. All those bonuses that were handed out right after passage, they were issued under the old corporate tax rate, a cynical slap in the face of everyday Americans. Did you notice any price drops? Did you get a raise or a bonus after the corporate tax rate went into effect?
But now, with profit margins at record highs and earnings the same, companies are less willing to pass on higher costs to consumers. That has had a dampening effect on inflation in most categories, gas being the one outlier. Mostly because there is little competition in that category. But food, clothing, all durable goods, Trump's corporate tax cut has held back inflation. It could, it would, be worse.
www.foxbusiness.com
