What Has This Latest Inflation Cost You Personally?

[Grumblenuts]

Nixon froze wages and stopped an inflation dead. Dr. Richard Wolff discusses how things could have been done differently. Harriet Fraad reveals who has needlessly suffered most and why.

How does capitalism affect our personal lives? How does the economy affect life at home, relationships at work, romance and dating? Capitalism Hits Home with Dr. Harriet Fraad explores what is happening in the economic realm and its impact on our individual and social psychology.

 

[Grumblenuts]

 

[Manonthestreet]

Richard Nixon's War on Inflation Was a Total Economic Disaster

On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon went on television and announced a three‐part New Economic Policy supposedly intended to stop inflation and increase economic growth. By executive order he would “close the gold window,” thus preventing foreign nations from exchanging U.S. dollars for...

www.19fortyfive.com

 

[Moonglow]

I lost my ability to make an income in 2010 because of health problems, and I just went back to work full-time in August after three operations...Life is a blessing, start enjoying it and stop bitching about it.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Life is a blessing. Inflations are not.

 

[shockedcanadian]

It's made it easier to practice intermittent fasting, I often skip a meal a day too.

 

[JoeB131]

Nixon froze wages and stopped an inflation dead. Dr. Richard Wolff discusses how things could have been done differently. Harriet Fraad reveals who has needlessly suffered most and why.

Most people agree that Nixon's attempt to freeze wages and prices was an absolute failure, which is why no one has tried it since.

 

[Rambunctious]

Basically we are back to the Obama economy... so anyone above 30 has seen this before....

 

[Dekster]

We can afford all the things we normally get and do, so not really costing us anything in a practical sense other than we have less at the end of the month to throw into the bank. I do want to buy a new to me truck but used vehicle prices are outrageous, not that used truck prices have been cheap in forever. I mean sure I will spend $25K on a truck if it is decent, but not $25K on a truck that has 200K miles. Geez.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

The Wife and I have lost 25% of our 401K and our bank stocks are hurting.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Chevron announced a $75 billion stock buyback and raised its dividend to 3.44%, while ExxonMobil paid $30 billion in dividends and buybacks in 2022

Dr. Wolff says you needed a 20% income increase since the early days of the pandemic (over the past three years) just to keep up with the inflation. The vast majority got no such increase. Employers are less than 1% of the American people. Employers decide who to hire and fire, whether to move a factory overseas, whether to increase wages or award their corporate officers bonuses. Employers alone decide if and when to increase prices. An inflation results when they do so in general.

Exxon Mobil reports a $8.9 billion fourth-quarter profit as oil prices soar.​

The employer Exxon decided to buy back their own stock and raise their prices. Investors reacted to this obvious inflationary practice by rewarding Exxon with higher share prices.

By the end of the fourth quarter, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the American benchmark, had risen more than 50 percent, reaching an average of $67 a barrel. Oil prices have continued to climb to more than $80 a barrel because of tightening supplies and tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Natural gas prices rose more than 40 percent from 2020 in the quarter, and have picked up again in recent weeks as temperatures have dropped in many regions.

The company reported that it had increased its production of oil and gas by 2 percent from 2020

Raise in prices 50%
Increase in production 2%
Raise in wages (13% for a third of the workforce) ?

 

[JoeB131]

The Wife and I have lost 25% of our 401K and our bank stocks are hurting.

You gamble, you take the risk of losing.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Most people agree that Nixon's attempt to freeze wages and prices was an absolute failure, which is why no one has tried it since.

I'm sure Dr. Wolff would agree. He was just lauding Nixon for doing something to freeze prices, and suggesting Biden could do that too. Certainly not for freezing wages. Nixon's Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 was a complex, mixed bag for sure, insultingly handing the wealthy tax breaks while screwing lots of workers. But it was Johnson who first cut the top marginal tax rate drastically.

I see now. Instead of "Nixon froze wages and stopped an inflation dead." I meant to say "Nixon froze prices and stopped an inflation dead." Effed it all up in my first line -- Mea culpa.

 

[JoeB131]

I'm sure Dr. Wolff would agree. He was just lauding Nixon for doing something to freeze prices, and suggesting Biden could do that too. Certainly not for freezing wages. Nixon's Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 was a complex, mixed bag for sure, insultingly handing the wealthy tax breaks while screwing lots of workers. But it was Johnson who first cut the top marginal tax rate drastically.

I see now. Instead of "Nixon froze wages and stopped an inflation dead." I meant to say "Nixon froze prices and stopped an inflation dead." -- Mea culpa.

Except Nixon didn't do that, either. the reason why you had runaway inflation in the 1970s, and it plagued not only Nixon, but Ford, Carter and even Reagan was because the government kept printing money to fund big government programs, including the Space Race and the Vietnam War.

This is completely different than the inflation going on today, which is happening because of a worldwide increase in the costs of commodities and a massive labor shortage due to the retirement of baby boomers.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Except Nixon didn't do that, either. the reason why you had runaway inflation in the 1970s, and it plagued not only Nixon, but Ford, Carter and even Reagan was because the government kept printing money to fund big government programs, including the Space Race and the Vietnam War.

This is completely different than the inflation going on today, which is happening because of a worldwide increase in the costs of commodities and a massive labor shortage due to the retirement of baby boomers.

"Printing money"? Not happening today? Really??

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Basically we are back to the Obama economy... so anyone above 30 has seen this before....

Our family income quadrupled during the Obama years. I would be ok with that happening again.

 

[Rambunctious]

Our family income quadrupled during the Obama years. I would be ok with that happening again.

Why hasn't it?... we are right back to Obama's economy....

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

You gamble, you take the risk of losing.

Only when a lefty is president.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Only when a lefty is president.

The facts do not agree with your feelings.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Interesting graphics, though seemingly deliberate distraction from the topic. Why judge Presidents based upon stock market performance to begin with? Aren't there more important measures? In any case, such charts generally depend upon where one chooses to begin. Where's Reagan, for example? But they can still reveal useful information if allowed to run long enough. In the short term, Biden's performance appears to be nothing to crow about. Then again, neither was Clinton's particularly at the same juncture. Of course, GWB proved to be a real loser no matter how one looks at it.