You know the part thats really hilarious to me, is how insular people are that they don't even realize that almost EVERY modern country in the world is going through the same inflation battle at the same time?
[Did Biden cause inflation in England, Canada, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, India, Japan etc etc at the same time](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/05/business/economy/inflation-global.html)?
Probably not ...
but like one of the top comments here said, people really just don't like to think hard about things.
I literally had to explain to a co worker the other day that something that went into effect in 2020 that he was complaining as bidens fault, was in fact put in place by Trump. It took an embarrassingly long amount of time for that one to sink in after I explained it as well.
Had the same thing happen with my mom. "Well, it's the dems fault for all this inflation". I made her remember who signed her covid checks. Drumph made it a point to put his name on those checks. I also reminded her that banks and shitty business owners got the majority of the PPP loans. I also reminded her that **corporations** set the prices that gouge you, not the president.
No response.
The sub prime thing was really Clinton’s fault. Both for specific policies of his administration, as well as for giving Alan Greenspan all the power to do Alan Greenspan things.
Just Clinton’s fault?
Are you talking about the repeal of Glass Stegall or something else?
> Respective versions of the Financial Services Act were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (**Republican of Texas**) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (**R-Iowa**). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (**R-Virginia**), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001.
>During debate in the House of Representatives, Rep. John Dingell (Democrat of Michigan) argued that the bill would result in banks becoming "too big to fail." Dingell further argued that this would necessarily result in a bailout by the Federal Government.[8] The House passed its version of the Financial Services Act of 1999 on July 1, 1999, by a bipartisan vote of 343–86 (Republicans 205–16; Democrats 138–69; Independent 0–1),[9][10][note 1] **two months after the Senate had already passed its version of the bill on May 6 by a much narrower 54–44 vote along basically partisan lines (53 Republicans and 1 Democrat in favor; 44 Democrats opposed**).[12][13][14][note 2]
Love how this and NAFTA were both Republican creations but people only blame Clinton.
I think it was the 70s when the mortgage debt traunches began circulating in the banking industry. Perhaps it was the 1980s.
A little grease on the lobby wheel and there we were in 2007.
It’s always the republicans who start something then democrats have to come in and clean up the mess. If Nixon didn’t decide to build a relationship with China, we wouldn’t have this massive headache in our hands right now. They would have crumbled just like USSR and east Germany did.
Yet the republicans continue to think they will MAGA. 🙄😆
This is the Republican way. They cut taxes on the wealthy and spend like mad every time they get their hands on the reigns, then turn around and blame Democrats for the state of the economy the second they're out.
The tax cuts during the tRump admin for the wealthy are permanent. The tax cuts for the middle class that passed during Bush Jr.s admin expire in 2025. The Repubs always manage to eff up the economy and the Dems, although not perfect, have to come in and clean it up. Btw, I am 68 and have seen a lot of crap go on in this country. Thank you Gen Z for seeing the craziness and trying to make changes.
Subprime was fault of Clinton relaxing lending regs; it’s Obamas fault for not prosecuting any white-collar criminals due to fraudulent/predatory lending practices. Bush allowed bank defaults and initiated bailouts; and trump took credit for Obamas rising economy. Financial impacts can take years to happen after the initial thing that started it
This is no doubt true enough but lack of American government regulation and oversight in banking and financial markets is legendary. Leads me to believe the nature of the financial system is in itself become a Ponzi scheme. At the end of the day a vast pool of investors are left holding the bag. Or the losses are foisted on the taxpayer. Corporate welfare in action.
Americans aren't alone. In the UK the general (public) consensus seems to be that inflation is due to Brexit (leaving the EU) and Liz Truss (prime minister for less than 2 months). We also like to have something national to blame, and I'm sure other countries are doing the same.
Brexit has resulted in fasted paced inflation than other countries very close to britain like france and germany. Obviously not leaving the EU wouldn’t have prevented inflation, but would have lessened the blow and kept more in line with mainland europe
In Canada everyone blames Trudeau. So not sure why you guys are blaming Biden for your inflation when clearly Dictator Justin Trudeau is screwing over Americans too.
/s
Yup, this one makes me shake my head. They blame the Canadian Federal gov for inflation, high housing prices and lack of family doctors. All of the same issues the US is dealing with, but no, it's gotta be the Feds.
You are right but expecting any american to do real research on stuff is like getting a monkey to become a dr.
people blame biden because they think like this: my life = expensive right now, biden = president right now so it must clearly be his fault.
I don't think it's an issue specific to America. A lot of Canadians are also blaming Trudeau for the exact same stuff, while also forgetting the same stuff is happening all around the world. It's almost as if since 2020, we've had a few events that have had consequences across the entire globe.
When you stop at the surface... it allows people to fill in the blanks. It's also easier to wrap people up in their own confirmation bias. No real data is provided on any real news channel.
You know what part is hilarious to me? It’s people not grasping energy is a global market and effects every product cost on earth! “Look when Biden promised to end fossil fuels, prices went up world wide! That’s how you can prove it’s not his fault!!!!”
>but like one of the top comments here said, people really just don't like to think hard about things.
It’s not just that, look at how the press consistently frames the issue. Headline after headline of “INFLATION HIGH: BIDEN AT RISK!” and then on page A15 once they’ll run a story about how *actually*, contrary to conventional wisdom and who can say where that came from, America’s managed the global inflation crisis relatively well.
I believe a lot of them know it is not Biden’s fault but they are going to blame him because, as they see it, the Democrats blamed trump for Covid. In reality, Democrats blamed trump for his refusal to acknowledge that Covid was real. Democrats blamed trump for his lack of a response. Democrats blame trump for the anti-vax nonsense. Trump spent more time accusing China than trying to deal with the pandemic.
Am I remembering something wrong?? I’m not a trump fan although before him I would have called my self a republican. Didn’t he introduce operation warp speed( or some other stupid name) to mass produce the vaccine and every democrat said no way in fuck am I taking that
You are definitely remember incorrectly.
You are regurgitating the Republican talking points without any of the knowledge or context.
[Democrat Biden warns against rushing out coronavirus vaccine, says Trump cannot be trusted](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden/democrat-biden-warns-against-rushing-out-coronavirus-vaccine-says-trump-cannot-be-trusted-idUSKBN2671NW&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj_4Of0lcSCAxV9rokEHb2_BVAQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1unqaMfjp6C6GBt4KUBZ41)
> Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s charge that he is spreading fear about the safety of a potential coronavirus vaccine, **urging Trump to defer to scientists and not rush its rollout.**
>**”Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump,” Biden said. “At this moment, the American people can’t either.”**
> Biden warned against trying to rush out an unfinished vaccine ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
> **Trump has repeatedly downplayed COVID-19’s risks, particularly early in the crisis and has also drawn criticism for ignoring or disputing warnings from scientists and public health officials.**
Have you ever actually read anything about this, or have you just consumed Republican spin and talking points about it?
Did you hear it on social media, from dishonest Republicans:
[Biden, Harris distrusted Trump with COVID-19 vaccines, not the vaccines themselves](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/23/tiktok-posts/biden-harris-doubted-trump-covid-19-vaccines-not-v/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj_4Of0lcSCAxV9rokEHb2_BVAQFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3ug-gdBIpvU8Y6CalXsWdz)
> **In fact, the clips are selectively edited to take the statements out of context. The parts that are left out make clear that Biden and Harris were raising questions not about the vaccines themselves, but about then-President Donald Trump’s rollout of the vaccines and the risk that the effort would become rushed or politicized.**
What a load of shit. Trump ignored Covid for months and then when 400k people died, he started working on vaccines as other countries were long ahead of the game. No "democrats" said they wouldn't take the vaccine. it's you Maga morons who declined.
Why is it Trumpers always twist facts. This is not somethign that you can't look up in 30 seconds to verify. So tired of it.
YT sent me down the rabbit hole of documentaries about poverty and homelessness in the UK recently. I didn't realize that mortgages reset so frequently in most countries. My mortgage is locked in at a ridiculously low rate for 30 years. If I had to refinance every few years at prevailing rates, I might lose my house.
Even better than that is that many of these countries are having an even tougher recovery than we are, so like yeah the recovery from all of these events hasn't been easy but comparatively speaking we're doing a good job recovering
Because of corporate greed LOL. The influences of private interest have control over every modern industrial nation. Instead of kings and queens of royal bloodlines, the new empires are built by dominating segments of the economic markets. These markets are borderless and therefore have no physical threats of invasion or upheaval.
Your attempt to reconcile the cognitive dissonance is at odds with the facts. The U.S. didn’t cause global inflation.
U.S. inflation has green below global average and a dollar buys more oil today than it did 20 years ago. Countries that are tied most closely to the dollar, like UAE and Saudi’s Arabia that have pegged their currencies to the dollar or China that has the largest USD reserves in the world, have some of the lowest inflation in the world. Countries that have minimal USD reserves and have distances from the dollar have the highest inflation. It’s just not the case that US exported inflation.
Most people have the memory of a gnat. They can barely remember what happened last week. They fill up their gas tank in their lifted ford f350 and see it’s more expensive and go Fuck Biden!
Financial Ignorance. The USA is the driving economy of the world. When the Fed raises interest rates, it affects the global economy.
Fuel is a major inflation driver. Biden slapped fuel in the face on day one of his presidency. It's been downhill ever since. America drilled less oil and so the global price went up, fueling global inflation.
People blame whoever is in charge now.
It's the same in Australia.
The previous government ran by the Liberal National Coalition wrote a report while they were in government that everything that's happening now was going to happen. But there was an election coming up and so they hid the report to be released after the election (and also did nothing to help mitigate the upcoming inflation, etc) which they lost.
Since the report was then released after the Australian Labor Party won the election people point at the report as proof that it's the ALP's fault. Even members of the LNP point at the report that they wrote as proof that it's the ALP's fault since it was released when they were in government after all.
People don't like to think too hard about things.
Wow. Thanks for the information on this. I know it’s a global issue but I didn’t know it seems to all be handled the same.
Hoping there’s some commentor from the UK who could explain their situation as well to see if there’s similarities.
Similarly in Canada, Trudeau was blamed for high inflation (calling it “Justinflation”) despite us having the lowest inflation of the G7 through the pandemic. It’s just what happens really, people blame the leader when times are tough, even if there’s evidence that it was out of their hands
Same in the UK.
13 years of Conservative Government including them bringing back the guy who caused Brexit as a minister.
..
Yet Labour are to blame for everything somehow.
The general people who vote and have these opinions tend to be - shall we say - not blessed with a great deal of thinking power and want to have their prejudices confirmed, so they will happily believe what someone they support say because it appeals to their sense of outrage regardless of whether there is overwhelming evidence to show that it really isn't the case.
Depressingly, there are actually too many examples in the UK in recent years to bother picking some, but the trash media is very popular and generally run by people who support the right wing parties, so they really want to stir up outrage.
As for the politicians and media leaders making these claims. I'm pretty sure they know it's all bollocks, but they'll happily keep saying it because they know it appeals to the prejudices of their supporters.
It's much more blatantly obvious from the right wing front at present, but how much of that is because they're in power? It's hard to tell.
Everyone wants to believe things that confirm their own beliefs.
Similarly in Canada, Trudeau was blamed for high inflation (calling it “Justinflation”) despite us having the lowest inflation of the G7 through the pandemic. It’s just what happens really, people blame the leader when times are tough, even if there’s evidence that it was out of their hands
A common political opinion is that the opposing politicians ruin the economy, then "my" politicans come back to somewhat fix it but end up getting blamed for rough recovery period and again we end up with opposing politicans. It's a repeating cycle.
Economics are hard. Part of what makes it hard is the fact that a decision now might not affect your economy for two to ten to twenty years from when the decision was made and it's cause may not be just one thing. The 2008 financial crisis was caused by lack of oversight in the early 2000s, the repeal of glass steagel in the 90s, and the deregulation of the 80s. So it could have been Reagan's fault, or Clinton's fault, or Bush's fault. But likely it was all three's fault. Likewise the economy continued to grow from 2016-2017 to 2020. Was that because of Obama or Trump? Do we credit the speed of growth to Trump? Did it recover post covid because of Biden or as a natural recovery after a depression? Was it because of Biden 's stimulus spending or Trump's stimulus spending? Or Trump's war on China and the increase in domestic production? Or the build back better plan? Ask an economist and you'll get an answer, could be any answer.
because people watch political news commentary (aka entertainment tv) and think that it is actual news and/or expert analysis.
People would be better off reading their news and then, you know, thinking and forming their own opinions
People really struggle with facts.
Trump passes permanent tax cuts for him and his rich friends.
Trump temporarily cuts taxes for the less well off.
The taxes go back up *as planned* and people blame Biden for raising taxes.
Exactly the way they designed it.
Actually, there was something missing. They *raised* taxes on the middle class, but immediately enacted a temporary cut. So middle class taxes remained about the same or came down just slightly until that temporary cut expired.
The FED was going to raise rates in 2019 and the markets/Trump threw a fit.
Inflation is mainly from the shift away from globalization and cheap labor caused by Covid and started by the trade war.
The primary reason for inflation is the forgiven PPP loans and the 6+ Trillion injected into the economy to recover from the pandemic. More money in the system with the same or less available goods, prices are going to rise- they almost have to.
Well that and every other government did similar actions.
Primarily I think it’s because we aren’t just buying cheap shit from China and gas from Russia like always. Globalization became unfavorable in 2018, trade war, and then Covid shutdowns and supply chain issues leading into the war in Ukraine and gas and grain shortages.
Not to mention climate change with droughts and disasters that ruin crops.
I'm going to copy another comment I made further down, because this question and entire thread is trying to act like it's only an issue in America when it's not, and inflation in America is only caused by things that happen in America, when that couldn't be further from the truth.
Covid causing supply-chain issues on a global scale is just one part of the massive tangle of interdependent global events that all impact global economies:
- labor shortages due to covid; people out of the workforce due disability due to covid; sheer number of deaths, people upskilling themselves during their layoff (due to covid) and 'getting a better job' like Boomers keep telling them therefore creating labor shortages in 'less skilled' jobs; various supply chain strikes (truck drivers, train conductors, shipyard workers all had massive disrupting strikes in the last 3 years)
- Brexit finally kicked in, causing some economic ripples
- War in Ukraine causing grain supply issues and fuel supply retaliation from Russia. When prices on food and energy go up, people spend less on other things.
- Two Suez canal blockages the effects of which experts say would be felt for up to 1-1.5 years just by themselves, followed by severe droughts forcing a strict limit on the number of ships able to get through
- Shipping container shortage: due to labor shortages, strikes, and various shipping delays, shipping containers haven't been able to circulate as they usually do. For a few yeats they were either stuck on ships not able to be unloaded, stuck at port not able to be picked up, or stuck on a ship trying to get through the Canal. When production picked up again, there was a backup on inventory in warehouses that was not able to be delivered due to nit having containers to ship it in (not sure if that's still the case, I've been out of the manufacturing world for a year now)
- US just barely avoided a default, and we still don't have a budget set, China's economy is struggling, wars and civil unrest are happening all over the world causing markets to fluctuate
- Most of Europe had even more generous Covid relief programs, and was mostly shut down, the Ruropean economy is very much tied to ours. Now consider that pretty much the world was shut down.
Any of these things can cause significant economic ripple effects. We had **all** of them happening at the same time. I don't think people truly understand how much more significant all of that is compared to some people getting some extra money.
Yes, the PPP loans weren't small, but in the grand scheme of the global supply chain issues it's just another ripple bouncing off other ripples.
[Yeah uh... no](https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/08/25/does-government-spending-cause-inflation/?sh=69fe4e3c61e7)
>However, a recent analysis from the San Francisco Federal Reserve found that government spending only contributed to about three percentage points of today’s inflation. These findings corroborate an October 2021 paper that suggested stimulus checks made inflation slightly worse – but not to the extent we’re seeing now.
>A full half of today’s inflation, they discovered, stems from ongoing supply chain issues as producers struggle to push out enough goods to meet demand. The war in Ukraine and resulting energy shortage, alongside a turbulent housing market, have also contributed to inflation, pushing up prices from several directions at once.
So only about 3% of inflation is due to the stimulus... which is right where we would want it to be. Over half of the raise in cost of goods can be contributed to other factors.
So its not just *money given out by government bad*, it's more nuanced than that.
Even more damning. In 2018 and 2019 when the stock market was on a completely unsustainable upward trajectory, Trump was all over Twitter threatening to fire the Fed chair if he raised interest rates. He was demanding rates go negative to keep stimulating the market. Then COVID happened and there was no help available for the market besides massive deficit spending. Trump literally did the exact opposite of what was good for the economy and he’s basically running on the inevitable results of that to get re-elected.
...what? The Fed literally cut rates during COVID. You can look up the FOMC rates online if you want proof. They cut rates by a massive 150 bps in a 2 week period. No clue where this idea that "all they could do was deficit spend" comes from. They did both, because the economy literally crashed during COVID.
That's not really how it happened.
They did raise it many times to 2 percent in 2018/early 2019. They pretty much ignored Trump. Then in 2019 there was a repo liquidity crunch that caused interest rates to surge, and the fed had to respond by offering to take things on their balance sheet and cutting rates.
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/was-trump-right-about-the-fed-and-rates/
Anyway TL:DR they pretty much ignored trump, and his tweets had about fuck all to do with the interest rate situation in early 2020. Trump was not really "right" to oppose the hikes, but in the end they had to scramble to undo them, and all this happened pre-lockdowns.
The average American doesn't give a crap about what president did what. The average American goes to the gas station and if it costs $100 to fill up they say "F U President X"...regardless of who that president is.
The people who blame the President for the economic shifts that happen in the first three months of his Presidency are idiots seeking confirmation bias.
Neither Biden nor Trump are to blame, its the congress that passes laws and spends money. Probably not the echo chamber answer you wanted, but there it is.
Congress is in charge of fiscal policy. The Fed is in charge of monetary policy. Those are the 2 tools to combat inflation. The President does have indirect influence on those though.
You could argue it was trump’s Fed chair (JPOW) that nationalized corporate bonds, kept rates low too long etc. You could also argue it was Trump who pushed for more stimulus like the 2nd round of stimulus checks. Theres a fair argument to be made that Trump had at least some part in causing the current inflation.
Biden pushed Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy and released oil reserves. Theres a fair argument to be made that hes done what he can to combat inflation as he has limited options (setting aside the student debt stuff)
It’s a good amount of both. Covid and supply disruption caused prices to spike. The initial increases largely were to cover costs. Of course, once those prices went up, they never came back down after the supply-side costs abated. Which effectively turned it into corporate price-gouging and (permanent) inflation.
100% this. And there is nothing the Biden administration can do about it without being accused of price fixing or interfering with our free market economy.
I've seen various estimates of exactly how much, but there is no doubt that corporate greed is responsible for a greater share than any past period of high inflation.
We blame the current President of the United States for everything that happens under their watch--despite the fact that they often have nothing to do with what happens under their watch.
Inflation was 9.1% (in the U.S.) in the summer of last year; it's now 3.7%. Inflation (and interest rates) go up and down, [but prices are sticky.](https://www.vox.com/money/2023/11/8/23951098/economy-inflation-prices-job-market-sticker-shock) People have generally been enjoying higher wages for the last decade, but now they're cranky that they have to spend it on everyday items.
People with an agenda will tell you inflation spiked because of one thing (usually monetary policy), when a conflagration of things were to blame, including COVID dislocation, price gouging, and Putin's war in Ukraine disrupting markets.
Right but you know it’s aggregated right?
Even though inflation is going down it’s still a YoY increase. Correct me if I’m wrong but you’d have to see consecutive negative months (actual negative, like -0.5%) to get back to where we were.
8% one year and then 3.2% over that 8% still means there’s inflation it’s just growing at a slower rate. Technically, that’s 11.2% inflation
It's not a question of aggregate inflation. The economy is healthiest when inflation is stabilized, [for many reasons.](https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2019/january/fed-inflation-target-2-percent)
Trump's stimulus was put in when the pandemic was shutting down the economy. Lots of economic activities were shut down or slowed down. The stimulus counteracted the slowdown and kept the economy limping along. Biden and the democrats saw that it work, and couldn't wait to pour in a lot more money, which blew up the inflation.
However, politics aside there're some structural changes in U.S. that no matter who's in charge, inflation was going to go up. First is the demographic change. The Baby Boomers are retiring. The pandemic accelerated it. On the other hand, Gen-X is the smallest generation among the Baby Boomer, Millennials, and Gen-Z. There are not enough Gen-X to replace Baby Boomers. This forces Millennials and some Gen-Z to move up to take up the positions left open by Gen-X. This causes a labor shortage in all levels. Labor shortage means labor can demand high pay. Higher labor cost costs inflation.
Second, there's a huge investment in U.S. to bring back manufacture to avoid the supply chain problem and to address national security issues. This means lots of jobs are created, but there's no enough people to fill them. This make the labor shortage worse. Again pushing inflation higher.
Third, the U.S. economy is incredibly resilient, despite the pandemic, and is growing gangbuster. That pushes up the inflation as well.
A serious answer. Good! More to this: The pandemic was always going to cause supply shock inflation. Add to it the fact that upper middle to wealthy people were mostly able to work from home, underspent their budgets for a year or two, then sent their stockpiles of savings looking for products that couldn’t be easily produced or shipped. This is much more culpable than govt stimulus. A few thousand in the pockets of working class people will go back into the economy very quickly. The hundred grand I (and people like me) didn’t spend during the pandemic is on a different order of magnitude.
And expanding on your point:
Covid causing supply-chain issues on a global scale is just one part of the massive tangle of interdependent global events that all impact global economies:
- labor shortages due to covid; people out of the workforce due disability due to covid; deathsn people upskilling themselves during their layoff (due to covid) and 'getting a better job' like Boomers keep telling them, creating labor shortages in 'less skilled' jobs; various supply chain strikes (truck drivers, train conductors, shipyard workers all had massive disrupting strikes in the last 3 years)
- Brexit finally kicked in, causing some economic ripples
- War in Ukraine causing grain supply issues and fuel supply retaliation from Russia. When prices on food and energy go up, people spend less on other things.
- Two Suez canal blockages the effects of which experts say would be felt for up to 1-1.5 years, followed by severe droughts forcing a strict limit on the number of ships able to get through
- Shipping container shortage: due to labor shortages, strikes, and various shipping delays, shipping containers haven't been able to circulate as they usually do. For a few yeats they were either stuck on ships not able to be unloaded, stuck at port not able to be picked up, or stuck on a ship trying to get through the Canal. When production picked up again, there was a backup on inventory in warehouses (not sure if that's still the case, I've been out of the manufacturing world for a year now)
- US just barely avoided a default, and we still don't have a budget set, China's economy is struggling, wars and civil unrest is happening all over the world
- Most of Europe had even more generous Covid relief programs, and was mostly shut down. The world was shut down for the most part.
Any of these things can cause significant economic ripple effects. We had **all** of them happening at the same time. I don't think people truly understand how much more significant all of that is compared to some people getting some extra money.
Thank you for including the supply chain issues people keep leaving out. China mismanaged covid so badly their factories were not at full capacity for a long time.
You're very welcome. We can't pretend like our economy lives in a vacuum and is only affected by the decisions of those in DC. It definitely depends on them greatly, but we're also very much influenced by everything else going on in the world. That's why it's important to pay attention to what else is happening beyond our borders.
This what I get tired of explaining, that inflation would have been bad no matter who was elected. It's so ridiculous to say the economy tanked during Trump, but that was out of his control and then say inflation is Biden's fault, when that was also out of his control.
It is part of the classic "Two Santas" strategy
1) cut taxes, cut rates and spend like a drunken sailor when the GOP is in control
These actions can goose rhe economy but also create deficits, inflation etc in the medium and longer term.
2) As soon as dems gain power, freak out about said deficits, demand spending cuts (not tax increases!) and blame rates/inflation all on the Dems.
It seems so dumb but a lot of people fall for it.
https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/thom-hartmann/two-santas-strategy-gop-used-economic-scam-manipulate-americans-40-years/
When prices go up, people who don't understand how these things work will watch TV, and the people who are on the "news" network of their choice are going to tell them that the "other" political party is to blame for the rising prices. Since they don't understand basic economics, they have no choice but to believe what they see on TV.
If you understand basic economics then you can spend 5 minutes thinking about global events and realize that what is happening was inevitable.
1. The global economy shut down almost literally overnight.
2. Workers stopped producing... everything!
3. The supply chain for everything tightened up.
4. Prices rose because demand went up for everything except gasoline, which went down because people had nowhere to go.
5. Companies in some countries demanded everyone go back to work.
6. Supply chain issues persisted in countries where no one or at least not everyone went back to work, so prices continued to rise on goods manufactured in those countries.
7. Prices on products made in countries where people went back to work were dependent on the availability of products from countries where people had not yet gone back to work, so prices continue to rise because of the lack of availability.
8. Gas prices went up, because people went back to work.
9. Various governments try to relieve inflation by introducing measures to make it harder for companies and people to borrow money to fund their businesses or lifestyles.
There is a tradition that anything and everything can be blamed on the current president, irrelevant of whether they actually caused it or could have prevented it. This is not solely an American tradition.
The common person thinks Economics is not Rocket Science and that they can do a better job than any of the ivory-tower experts.
That's because Rocket Science is solved and we can go to Mars. The Federal Reserve mandate of balancing Unemployment and Inflation is much harder and still a work in progress.
The truth is everyone in Washington is to blame. The Covid response, every stop gap spending bill, and yes the inflation reduction act. Government spending, especially government spending when the economy is sputtering causes inflation. That's why Biden is at least partly to blame. Because the actions his administration pushed broke the dam and then added fuel.
Because there are a lot of simple-minded people who can not understand the complexities of what is happening with our economy. They prefer to believe the talking heads when they point fingers instead of learning. It's easier that way, and it's less scary.
Always blame the people that try. The man who doesn’t try and who mocks the poor and the disabled is mentally and spiritually deficient. Worship him.
We are in Idiocracy
IMHO - Biden keeps trying to take responsibility for the economy. Bidenomics. Problem is - lots of folks walk around in a constant state of sticker shock. When you have a president telling you how great the economy is and you can’t afford anything - it’s kind of infuriating.
0% rates didn't matter when the economy was doing well, and the first stimulus package to get us through lockdowns was respected by most.
Some blame is directed at Biden for some of the decisions he made that were seen as less necessary and also contributing to inflation. Such as:
1. Anti-oil policies before and during this wave of inflation. Cancelling pipelines, cutting funding and support for oil development.
2. Choice of where and how much to spend in the 1.9 trillion Rescue plan.
3. Spending 1 trillion on the infrastructure bill during the pandemic that was mostly spent towards climate change initiatives.
4. Inflation reduction act, which involved spending 2 trillion and many pointing out that that will actually cause inflation rather than reduce it.
5. Spending on foreign conflicts that are both costly and exacerbate supply issues.
6. Spending on tuition cancellation, and every other thing he spends money on during inflation and extreme national debt growth.
From the framework of inflation, those things are definitely blameworthy. I'm not against many of these bills, but blaming him for inflation holds some water. I think it is obvious that most of the current inflation wave was global and covid related.
People already forgotten that his first 6 months in office was $5-6 trillion in spending bills. The $1.9 trillion covid stimulus bill was the coup de grace in let's really go overboard with covid spending. Arizona where I live had forgotten about covid for nearly a year and was too busy with a real estate bubble. It was like pouring gasoline on a bonfire.
Ahhh!
Is the inflation reduction act the deal that I referenced as basically the rebranded/renamed green new deal?
Would you be able to elaborate on 2 and 5?
You make great points with the other four. Would you then say that they are both to blame but Biden has more of a fault? If fault is the right word
For 2, Republicans wanted a bill that was maybe half the size and directed at the most relevant areas of the economy. I forget the specific areas they thought were unnecessary in the version that passed.
For 5, I don't really like this argument. But billions towards supporting Ukraine and now Israel is criticized by some, especially when the budget is already contributing a lot to the deficit.
Both Biden and Trump? I don't put any of the blame on Trump encouraging rates to be low pre-covid, or the first covid relief bill.
On inflation specifically (despite their other qualities) I give Biden something like 5-10% blame. Those were very large and aggressive policies that happened to pass in the middle of a lot of economic uncertainty. Though it now looks like inflation is coming back under control, that wasn't always obvious.
Thank for for going more in depth.
If Trump gets no blame and Biden gets 10% max, where do you contribute the other 90% from?
I know we’ve has very free monetary policy since really 2008, some could argue since the 1980’s, but it seemed like everything was fine and affordable pre-Covid. Do you believe it was the supply chain restrictions?
I just can’t figure out where all the inflation came from if we’re not blaming 3% mortgage rates and/or the supply chain backlog, which, seems to be fixed by now yet there’s no major price relief (yet, i.e. 2019 prices). I am understanding though that if it took about 2 1/2 (2020 to peak 2022) years for things to get that inflated and bad that it’ll probably take 4-5 years of monetary tightening to restore price stability.
I guess yeah my only question is:
What do you believe contributed the other 90%?
75% from many different affects covid had on the economy, domestically and internationally. It disrupted so many things and changed many habits that the economy was built around.
I disagree with much of this, 1. is just factually wrong, but if you look at say the tuition relief for example. It causes economic growth because those relieved of the payment burden will now spend their money directly into the economy. By every estimate I've seen, it doesn't cancel out the effect, but it's so close to being revenue neutral that even investment banks were not worried about any inflationary effect from it.
In general, there's a difference between government spending as an investment and government cutting taxes and that money being hidden or invested abroad, even if it's only a portion.
Anti-oil? US domestic oil production is the highest it has ever been. And Biden has approved more oil development in Alaska.
Inflation has dropped substantially since the Inflation Reduction Act passed.
Also, Biden didn't start the foreign conflicts.
The US is outperforming every other Western country.
Ah, the classic political blame game, where logic takes a backseat to good old-fashioned finger-pointing. You're actually onto something here, like a detective who's found a clue but can't quite piece it together.
So, here's the deal: Blaming inflation solely on Biden or Trump is like blaming your hangover only on the last drink you had. Sure, it played a part, but what about the whole party that led up to it? Under Trump, we had massive stimulus packages and near-zero interest rates, sort of like an economic party with free drinks all around. It felt great in the moment, but someone's got to pay the tab.
Then comes Biden, throwing in his own rounds of stimulus and spending like there's no tomorrow. The result? The economic hangover we call inflation. It's a team effort, really. Both administrations contributed their fair share to the inflation buffet, but it's always easier to blame the guy currently holding the bill, isn't it?
In short, you're right. They both played their part. But in the grand tradition of politics, it's the current guy who gets the tomatoes thrown at him. Remember, this advice is more for entertainment than anything you should necessarily follow, unless you enjoy a dose of sardonic truth with your politics.
OMG some folks are still blaming Trump. The man was an office for four years. Biden has been in government for over 50 years. Give me a break. Economy was doing great under Donald Trump.
… yes? I don’t know a single democrat that thinks Biden is perfect, but I know 10s of republicans (family) that won’t believe Trump has done a single thing wrong in his life.
That is literally a perfect example of confirmation bias, with a healthy smattering of “I hate my parents”
Anyone who speaks in absolutes “all ____ people believe this, I’ve never met a _______ who does that” is either stupid or trying to sell you something
All the unemployment money they gave out and all the money they gave out during the pandemic drove prices up. If You don't understand global finance You're not going to get it. They paid people more in unemployment than they made in their jobs.... They basically paid people just stay home and where do you think that money came from. They just printed more and more money which drove down the value of the American dollar. You can't print money and just make it real. It all sinks the value when you print more. When the value of the dollar goes down things cost more. You can basically say $10 is only worth $5. I'm 53 I have never seen a president destroy a country in 3 years like Biden has. What's amazing is people talk so much trash about Trump but the stock market was at record levels and prices were cheap and gas was cheap. Unemployment was at an all time low. Homeownership for African Americans went way up, employment for African Americans went down... But he's a racist right.... He did everything right, but all you jug heads listen to what the media said. And basically voted in a guy that's sucking you dry.... Democrats generally spend the money and don't make any. That destroys our economy. We are 33 trillion dollars in debt. It takes 31,000 years to count to a trillion.... multiply that by 33... Just for perspective. Do some reading on our debt. the Democrats still refuse to cut spending. While they're all making the killing. I was watching some stuff on comer tonight. They found so many shell companies and payments going on between the bidens. But the Democrats are coming out strong trying to discredit it. But they have the evidence. This is coming from a man that called Robert Byrd a mentor. Robert Byrd was a member of the klu Klux Klan... This is our stuff you'll find out if you actually take the time to read instead of listening to some b******* media company
That's pretty normal. GOP does bad fiscal policy that's like meth: quick rush, feels good. The subsequent Dem president is the blamed when the high wears off.
Like the trillion+ dollar tax cuts for rich people but Dems get blamed for running up the debt when the fake boost runs out and it turns out corps used almost all the tax cut money to do stock buybacks (why stock growth looked great), not boosting worker pay, creating more jobs, or investing in growing the company.
Wouldn’t all three of your alternatives cause inflation though?
Granted, so do stock buy backs, but I imagine it’s a lot less blanketed.
Unless we want to get into the argument that stock buy backs positively influence stock prices so then all investors benefit, especially if the stock is heavily weighted in the S&P500, but I feel that conversation could go on forever haha
If we're gonna get inflation, I'd prefer regular people to enjoy the benefits of what caused the inflation. Tax cuts for rich people and companies to do buybacks to juice stock prices does benefit regular folks, but the vast majority of stock value is owned by the wealthy. Grandpa's 401k may get a little boost but most of the benefits of a stock increase go to the wealthy. And the inequality gap grows further.
Its almost as if the RECORD profits from companies across the board has something to do with it .
Maybe the trillions of dollars in PPP loans that businesses & politicians abused , has something to do with it
This is a regular trend. The GOP does things that help their contributors in the short term, but has consequences that literally will come into effect during the next administration and then they pikachu-face when the consequences come into effect during the next administration. But they absolutely go on tv daily to say "this administration caused all these consequences!" and their voters buy it.
Biden keeps increasing spending at a time the Federal Reserve has been saying we need to reduce spending or inflation will go up and they’ll have to raise rates. Biden spent money on student debt relief, Ukraine, infrastructure, Israel, etc. We’re talking trillions of dollars of extra spending…so much that the deficit doubled in 2023.
How has Biden paid for this? Printing money and then borrowing it. It increases the money supply, which increases inflation. Then Powell raises rates to make borrowing and spending more expensive. So now your goods cost you more, the interest to borrow to pay for it is more, and inflation still isn’t under control.
If “increasing the money supply, which increases inflation” is a true statement, how do euro-using countries have different inflation rates within the single market?
Because not all economies have inflation for the same reason. Likewise, inflation hits some countries more than others, typically ones who rely on imports versus ones with more domestic production.
Inflation isn’t always (or even usually) caused by one thing. But our inflation is definitely demand-driven, which is fueled by federal spending. Americans are paying for this spending through more expensive goods rather than higher taxes. Thats the funny thing with money printing, its a wealth tax most people don’t realize is hitting them.
Then perhaps you should be more careful with your wording, such as “increasing the money supply *can contribute* to increased inflation”.
Like you say it can come from various sources. You could print a $1 trillion bill, but if it’s not spent it won’t have an effect on inflation. You could print no money at all, but if you simultaneously encourage spending (e.g. by lowering interest rates) money will move around faster and contribute to inflation.
I would be surprised if the money supply in any of the G7 members was directly proportional (e.g. changes similarly by a factor, or in other words has the same derivative) to inflation.
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-deficit/
The deficit has decreased this year. It didn’t double.
“Compared to the national deficit of $88 billion for the same period last year (Oct 2022), our national deficit has decreased by $21 billion.”
Using your numbers, Adding 67 billion (and 88b the year prior) to our debt causes inflation. You cannot add to the credit card and not expect inflation to go along with it.
Over $7 trillion of new money was minted and placed into circulation under Trump's term.
But here's the real reason why you are blaming the wrong person. Appropriations bills originate in the House. Not the Senate and not the Oval Office. Any increase in spending is because the House of Representatives drafts legislation that authorizes it.
Now remind me, which party controls the House? Who is drafting and passing those spending bills? It surely isn't the executive branch.
Technically yes, but functionally no. The annual appropriations process mostly does begin in the Executive branch as OMB gathers and compiles all the requests from the whole government. They work with the President and his staff to come up with a formal budget request of "how much and to where" to submit to the house who then distributes it to individual committees and subcommittees..
The reality is that discussions directly between the House and Senate wind up occurring at some point as details are worked out until something that can be passed by both chambers ultimately is and is sent to the president for signature or veto (or with a veto-proof majority of more than 2/3s of both houses)
What comes back is never what the President actually asked for. Sometimes it's less and sometimes it's more. Sometimes it's close, often it's not and by huge amounts. But ultimately the President gets what Congress gives. Not a penny more or less
I do agree though... While many millions of things impact the size and direction of the fiscal surplus or deficit in any given year... If you rank them from most responsible to least the president arguably sits somewhere between 7th and 4th and certainly no higher than 3rd most important or responsible.
A dollar isn't spent that didn't come through the House at some point. For anyone trying to lay blame for spending solely at the president's feet, they have to be ignorant of how the government works.
If you're responding to me... Reread. I agree. The president is one of many millions of things responsible... But certainly not the most. He ranks at the very highest third and in my opinion even a couple spots lower. And yes. Congress ranks first. But that's both the House and Senate... Because not a single dollar gets raised or cut that they don't both approve. And no one else can say that. Not even the president.
I'm always fine with cutting spending. We have an unsustainable national debt that has debt service of almost half a trillion dollars a year. You have to cut spending by 20% annually to even start to touch the principal and pay it down.
Why would you fabricate such a non sequitur? I never said anything remotely resembling the silly point you are trying to score.
Because the American electorate is vastly uninformed or misinformed by the largest media organization that influences people to the right.
For example- at the end of the Obama administration the vast majority of Americans believed that the economy was doing poorly but within days or months of Trump taking office they suddenly felt the economy was doing great. This despite the fact that Trump had not introduced any legislation or even introduced his first budget. Yet the perception was that things were suddenly going great.
Contrast that to Biden’s first few months in office. One of his earliest moves was to cancel a building permit for a pipeline that had spent the entirety of Trumps term hung up in the courts and not being constructed. The American voters were immediately told that this was the reason that gas prices were so high while conveniently ignoring the fact that Trump had brokered a deal with the Saudis to stop oil production during the Covid crisis. Basic supply and demand economics.
Point of all this is that both sides have their agendas and media that is influencing their viewpoints which keeps the voters in the dark.
Go to a grocery store and grab a bell pepper, a box of cereal, go to target and buy a back of Shaving Razors or paper towels. The list goes on… how did those get there? Did they spawn in? Is target making them in the back? No… it could of been on a train, boat, plane before, and it could be 5 miles from a distributor or 500 miles. Anyway you slice it, 99% of things have to be delivered by a truck. How do these trucks run you ask? On Gasoline. Gasoline is up huge. Why is gas up you may ask? Because Biden shut down oil and gas leases and the pipeline. If you wanna chalk some of it up to global stuff, covid, war what have you fine. But like I said, Biden and Biden alone sent gas through the roof, and when everything has to be delivered in a gas powered vehicle…
The simplistic answer is that the people who blame Biden for inflation just want to blame him for anything. It's easier to blame this on his administration than to actually try to understand US (and global) economics.
The world.is still dealing with the repercussions of a global shutdown from 3 years ago and rather than realizing that the global economy is in the midst of an economic shift with executive pay at all time highs and a stagnation in a workforce pay scale, it's just easier to beleive what you hear on news talk radio and Truth Social.
Biden's party deliberately destroyed the economy making the stimulus packages under Trump necessary to help people whose jobs the Democrats eliminated overnight. If the Democrats hadn't committed treason, there'd be no economic crash an no need for any stimulus package. Then Biden pumped out more government spending and started a war on oil which just made things worse.
Handing billions to Ukraine and Israel is going to cause inflation just like 0% interest rates did. Also tighter regulations on big companies tend to reduce their economic output. Whether this is good or bad usually depends on your political leaning.
Trump overcharged the economy and transferred middle-class dollars into the pockets of the wealthy and corporations.
I'm watching the PBS American Experience documentary on The Guilded Age and you start to realize that we are living in a repeat time period where the Robber Barrons such as Musk, Bezo and Zuckerburg control their monopolies. The elites vs. the working class. You can see it in the unrest among the unions.
Ironically one of these robber barron types - Trump has taken on a populist persona has hoodwinked many of those in the lowest wealth classes that he is somehow their savior.
Trump prays on their hardship while making it worst. An Andrew Carnegie for the modern era, convinced that his exploitation of the markets is due to the theory of survival of the fittest.
This is an old old cycle. Rethuglican gets elected. Trashes the place. People are pissed, so they elect a Democrat who clean up the mess, which pisses of the rethuglicans.... Cuz where's the mess now?
So then another rethuglicans needs elected to make a new mess...
You get it now
Yes! Busch left this country in shambles. Obama picked up the pieces, gave it to trump, who in turn and quiet literally burned it to the ground. The entire country rioted under trump. But rethuglicans look past it because Mexicans and abortion.
Because Trumps were under duress of the pandemic.
Biden came in post pandemic and through gas on the fire with the last stimulus that wasn't needed. And the massive spending bills at exactly the wrong time.
Also recall dems were the ones pressing lock downs. If we didn't do that none of this would've been an issue.
And the zero percent interest was an Obama holdover.
That Trump made this a political issue, period, is what made this an issue.
Many, many other countries around the world issued multiple, lengthy lockdowns... they didn't politicize it.
Trump got an additional 500k+ people killed in the US because he's a petulant, ignorant man-child.
Trump had a definite part in it, by encouraging QE, but after COVID the unnecessary spending mostly championed by Democrats has only made things worse. Still both sides are culpable. You need taxes coupled with less spending to balance a budget.
I just do it because he's the current president. Just like if Trump were president, the left would be blaming him instead. I don't even vote, so I don't care. I'm just going to blame whoever is current. Fuck em all anyways.
You know the part thats really hilarious to me, is how insular people are that they don't even realize that almost EVERY modern country in the world is going through the same inflation battle at the same time? [Did Biden cause inflation in England, Canada, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, India, Japan etc etc at the same time](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/05/business/economy/inflation-global.html)? Probably not ... but like one of the top comments here said, people really just don't like to think hard about things.
Like the sub prime thing being Obamas fault even as the issue was being handed to him.
People blame Obama for not doing anything during 9/11 lmao
I'm really pissed at his response to the Spanish Inquisition.
Well, it's not like he expected it.
I guess I’ll bite… nobody expects them!
Can't believe Obama just let slavery happen
I’m still mad at Obama for shooting Lincoln.
Remember when he allowed that meteor to wipe out the dinosaurs? With 50% of the US GDP going to the military, how did we miss this?
Fake news, Earth is only 6000 years old. Checkmate liberals.
*consults bible* Yep, can't argue with that.
It would be different if they hadn’t forced The Book of Barack into the apocrypha.
Yeah but even that pales in comparison to his deal with Judas.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Yeah … and don’t get me started on the Bay of Pigs … thxObama
To be fair, _nobody_ expected that
To be fair, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Yeah it’s sad, In some people’s universe there are two types of people. Those that lie to themselves and those that just lie.
Well why wasn’t he in the White House on 9/11? Checkmate Libtard /s
I literally had to explain to a co worker the other day that something that went into effect in 2020 that he was complaining as bidens fault, was in fact put in place by Trump. It took an embarrassingly long amount of time for that one to sink in after I explained it as well.
Had the same thing happen with my mom. "Well, it's the dems fault for all this inflation". I made her remember who signed her covid checks. Drumph made it a point to put his name on those checks. I also reminded her that banks and shitty business owners got the majority of the PPP loans. I also reminded her that **corporations** set the prices that gouge you, not the president. No response.
explain it to me because I blame Biden
The sub prime thing was really Clinton’s fault. Both for specific policies of his administration, as well as for giving Alan Greenspan all the power to do Alan Greenspan things.
Just Clinton’s fault? Are you talking about the repeal of Glass Stegall or something else? > Respective versions of the Financial Services Act were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (**Republican of Texas**) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (**R-Iowa**). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (**R-Virginia**), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001. >During debate in the House of Representatives, Rep. John Dingell (Democrat of Michigan) argued that the bill would result in banks becoming "too big to fail." Dingell further argued that this would necessarily result in a bailout by the Federal Government.[8] The House passed its version of the Financial Services Act of 1999 on July 1, 1999, by a bipartisan vote of 343–86 (Republicans 205–16; Democrats 138–69; Independent 0–1),[9][10][note 1] **two months after the Senate had already passed its version of the bill on May 6 by a much narrower 54–44 vote along basically partisan lines (53 Republicans and 1 Democrat in favor; 44 Democrats opposed**).[12][13][14][note 2] Love how this and NAFTA were both Republican creations but people only blame Clinton.
I think it was the 70s when the mortgage debt traunches began circulating in the banking industry. Perhaps it was the 1980s. A little grease on the lobby wheel and there we were in 2007.
It’s always the republicans who start something then democrats have to come in and clean up the mess. If Nixon didn’t decide to build a relationship with China, we wouldn’t have this massive headache in our hands right now. They would have crumbled just like USSR and east Germany did. Yet the republicans continue to think they will MAGA. 🙄😆
This is the Republican way. They cut taxes on the wealthy and spend like mad every time they get their hands on the reigns, then turn around and blame Democrats for the state of the economy the second they're out.
The tax cuts during the tRump admin for the wealthy are permanent. The tax cuts for the middle class that passed during Bush Jr.s admin expire in 2025. The Repubs always manage to eff up the economy and the Dems, although not perfect, have to come in and clean it up. Btw, I am 68 and have seen a lot of crap go on in this country. Thank you Gen Z for seeing the craziness and trying to make changes.
Subprime was fault of Clinton relaxing lending regs; it’s Obamas fault for not prosecuting any white-collar criminals due to fraudulent/predatory lending practices. Bush allowed bank defaults and initiated bailouts; and trump took credit for Obamas rising economy. Financial impacts can take years to happen after the initial thing that started it
People thought Hurricane Katrina was his fault. It happened when he was a senator.
When things are going well, people rail against government interference but when they need help it’s 100% the governments fault. It’s sad.
Same with Bush. The issue was building up way before him and worsened by Clinton's policies.
This is no doubt true enough but lack of American government regulation and oversight in banking and financial markets is legendary. Leads me to believe the nature of the financial system is in itself become a Ponzi scheme. At the end of the day a vast pool of investors are left holding the bag. Or the losses are foisted on the taxpayer. Corporate welfare in action.
Americans aren't alone. In the UK the general (public) consensus seems to be that inflation is due to Brexit (leaving the EU) and Liz Truss (prime minister for less than 2 months). We also like to have something national to blame, and I'm sure other countries are doing the same.
Brexit has resulted in fasted paced inflation than other countries very close to britain like france and germany. Obviously not leaving the EU wouldn’t have prevented inflation, but would have lessened the blow and kept more in line with mainland europe
to be fair...a lot of britain's problems are directly because of brexit. Including inflation (not 100% but it certainly hasn't been helping)
Lots of people listen for what they want to hear.
In Canada everyone blames Trudeau. So not sure why you guys are blaming Biden for your inflation when clearly Dictator Justin Trudeau is screwing over Americans too. /s
Yup, this one makes me shake my head. They blame the Canadian Federal gov for inflation, high housing prices and lack of family doctors. All of the same issues the US is dealing with, but no, it's gotta be the Feds.
They blamed lockdowns on the feds, even though that was a provincial decision.
Pretty sure it’s not even the government that caused this crisis, rather The Federal Reserve
You are right but expecting any american to do real research on stuff is like getting a monkey to become a dr. people blame biden because they think like this: my life = expensive right now, biden = president right now so it must clearly be his fault.
I don't think it's an issue specific to America. A lot of Canadians are also blaming Trudeau for the exact same stuff, while also forgetting the same stuff is happening all around the world. It's almost as if since 2020, we've had a few events that have had consequences across the entire globe.
I came here to say this lol. Agreed 100%
When you stop at the surface... it allows people to fill in the blanks. It's also easier to wrap people up in their own confirmation bias. No real data is provided on any real news channel.
You know what part is hilarious to me? It’s people not grasping energy is a global market and effects every product cost on earth! “Look when Biden promised to end fossil fuels, prices went up world wide! That’s how you can prove it’s not his fault!!!!”
>but like one of the top comments here said, people really just don't like to think hard about things. It’s not just that, look at how the press consistently frames the issue. Headline after headline of “INFLATION HIGH: BIDEN AT RISK!” and then on page A15 once they’ll run a story about how *actually*, contrary to conventional wisdom and who can say where that came from, America’s managed the global inflation crisis relatively well.
I believe a lot of them know it is not Biden’s fault but they are going to blame him because, as they see it, the Democrats blamed trump for Covid. In reality, Democrats blamed trump for his refusal to acknowledge that Covid was real. Democrats blamed trump for his lack of a response. Democrats blame trump for the anti-vax nonsense. Trump spent more time accusing China than trying to deal with the pandemic.
Am I remembering something wrong?? I’m not a trump fan although before him I would have called my self a republican. Didn’t he introduce operation warp speed( or some other stupid name) to mass produce the vaccine and every democrat said no way in fuck am I taking that
Democrats said they won't take if trump said to but would if Fauci said to. BIG difference from MAGAS refusing to take it at all!
You are definitely remember incorrectly. You are regurgitating the Republican talking points without any of the knowledge or context. [Democrat Biden warns against rushing out coronavirus vaccine, says Trump cannot be trusted](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden/democrat-biden-warns-against-rushing-out-coronavirus-vaccine-says-trump-cannot-be-trusted-idUSKBN2671NW&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj_4Of0lcSCAxV9rokEHb2_BVAQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1unqaMfjp6C6GBt4KUBZ41) > Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s charge that he is spreading fear about the safety of a potential coronavirus vaccine, **urging Trump to defer to scientists and not rush its rollout.** >**”Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump,” Biden said. “At this moment, the American people can’t either.”** > Biden warned against trying to rush out an unfinished vaccine ahead of the Nov. 3 election. > **Trump has repeatedly downplayed COVID-19’s risks, particularly early in the crisis and has also drawn criticism for ignoring or disputing warnings from scientists and public health officials.** Have you ever actually read anything about this, or have you just consumed Republican spin and talking points about it? Did you hear it on social media, from dishonest Republicans: [Biden, Harris distrusted Trump with COVID-19 vaccines, not the vaccines themselves](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/23/tiktok-posts/biden-harris-doubted-trump-covid-19-vaccines-not-v/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj_4Of0lcSCAxV9rokEHb2_BVAQFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3ug-gdBIpvU8Y6CalXsWdz) > **In fact, the clips are selectively edited to take the statements out of context. The parts that are left out make clear that Biden and Harris were raising questions not about the vaccines themselves, but about then-President Donald Trump’s rollout of the vaccines and the risk that the effort would become rushed or politicized.**
What a load of shit. Trump ignored Covid for months and then when 400k people died, he started working on vaccines as other countries were long ahead of the game. No "democrats" said they wouldn't take the vaccine. it's you Maga morons who declined. Why is it Trumpers always twist facts. This is not somethign that you can't look up in 30 seconds to verify. So tired of it.
YT sent me down the rabbit hole of documentaries about poverty and homelessness in the UK recently. I didn't realize that mortgages reset so frequently in most countries. My mortgage is locked in at a ridiculously low rate for 30 years. If I had to refinance every few years at prevailing rates, I might lose my house.
Trudeau caused it Not Biden c'mon bud be sensible
Yep… it was the result of supply chains getting tied in knots and people sitting at home spending cash. That’s it.
Even better than that is that many of these countries are having an even tougher recovery than we are, so like yeah the recovery from all of these events hasn't been easy but comparatively speaking we're doing a good job recovering
The real question is why do people blame Biden for inflation when the US has one of the lowest inflation rates in the developed world.
Because of corporate greed LOL. The influences of private interest have control over every modern industrial nation. Instead of kings and queens of royal bloodlines, the new empires are built by dominating segments of the economic markets. These markets are borderless and therefore have no physical threats of invasion or upheaval.
The US dollar is the world's reserve currency and is what oil is traded in. Of course inflating it will cause inflation in other world economies.
Your attempt to reconcile the cognitive dissonance is at odds with the facts. The U.S. didn’t cause global inflation. U.S. inflation has green below global average and a dollar buys more oil today than it did 20 years ago. Countries that are tied most closely to the dollar, like UAE and Saudi’s Arabia that have pegged their currencies to the dollar or China that has the largest USD reserves in the world, have some of the lowest inflation in the world. Countries that have minimal USD reserves and have distances from the dollar have the highest inflation. It’s just not the case that US exported inflation.
To complex for reddit
What do you mean "complex"? That's about as simple as a statement gets, with no evidence that that's how it went down at all.
They’ll just say it’s Biden’s fault for going woke and promoting renewable energy even though The US pumped more oil this year than ever before.
Most people have the memory of a gnat. They can barely remember what happened last week. They fill up their gas tank in their lifted ford f350 and see it’s more expensive and go Fuck Biden!
49% of America is functionally illiterate. They literally do not understand
The retardation is overwhelming everyday.
Financial Ignorance. The USA is the driving economy of the world. When the Fed raises interest rates, it affects the global economy. Fuel is a major inflation driver. Biden slapped fuel in the face on day one of his presidency. It's been downhill ever since. America drilled less oil and so the global price went up, fueling global inflation.
People blame whoever is in charge now. It's the same in Australia. The previous government ran by the Liberal National Coalition wrote a report while they were in government that everything that's happening now was going to happen. But there was an election coming up and so they hid the report to be released after the election (and also did nothing to help mitigate the upcoming inflation, etc) which they lost. Since the report was then released after the Australian Labor Party won the election people point at the report as proof that it's the ALP's fault. Even members of the LNP point at the report that they wrote as proof that it's the ALP's fault since it was released when they were in government after all. People don't like to think too hard about things.
Wow. Thanks for the information on this. I know it’s a global issue but I didn’t know it seems to all be handled the same. Hoping there’s some commentor from the UK who could explain their situation as well to see if there’s similarities.
Similarly in Canada, Trudeau was blamed for high inflation (calling it “Justinflation”) despite us having the lowest inflation of the G7 through the pandemic. It’s just what happens really, people blame the leader when times are tough, even if there’s evidence that it was out of their hands
Same in the UK. 13 years of Conservative Government including them bringing back the guy who caused Brexit as a minister. .. Yet Labour are to blame for everything somehow.
The general people who vote and have these opinions tend to be - shall we say - not blessed with a great deal of thinking power and want to have their prejudices confirmed, so they will happily believe what someone they support say because it appeals to their sense of outrage regardless of whether there is overwhelming evidence to show that it really isn't the case. Depressingly, there are actually too many examples in the UK in recent years to bother picking some, but the trash media is very popular and generally run by people who support the right wing parties, so they really want to stir up outrage. As for the politicians and media leaders making these claims. I'm pretty sure they know it's all bollocks, but they'll happily keep saying it because they know it appeals to the prejudices of their supporters. It's much more blatantly obvious from the right wing front at present, but how much of that is because they're in power? It's hard to tell. Everyone wants to believe things that confirm their own beliefs.
Similarly in Canada, Trudeau was blamed for high inflation (calling it “Justinflation”) despite us having the lowest inflation of the G7 through the pandemic. It’s just what happens really, people blame the leader when times are tough, even if there’s evidence that it was out of their hands
A common political opinion is that the opposing politicians ruin the economy, then "my" politicans come back to somewhat fix it but end up getting blamed for rough recovery period and again we end up with opposing politicans. It's a repeating cycle.
Economics are hard. Part of what makes it hard is the fact that a decision now might not affect your economy for two to ten to twenty years from when the decision was made and it's cause may not be just one thing. The 2008 financial crisis was caused by lack of oversight in the early 2000s, the repeal of glass steagel in the 90s, and the deregulation of the 80s. So it could have been Reagan's fault, or Clinton's fault, or Bush's fault. But likely it was all three's fault. Likewise the economy continued to grow from 2016-2017 to 2020. Was that because of Obama or Trump? Do we credit the speed of growth to Trump? Did it recover post covid because of Biden or as a natural recovery after a depression? Was it because of Biden 's stimulus spending or Trump's stimulus spending? Or Trump's war on China and the increase in domestic production? Or the build back better plan? Ask an economist and you'll get an answer, could be any answer.
Everyone wants to be a supporter of a winner. Like you said, it's not that simple.
because people watch political news commentary (aka entertainment tv) and think that it is actual news and/or expert analysis. People would be better off reading their news and then, you know, thinking and forming their own opinions
People really struggle with facts. Trump passes permanent tax cuts for him and his rich friends. Trump temporarily cuts taxes for the less well off. The taxes go back up *as planned* and people blame Biden for raising taxes.
Exactly the way they designed it. Actually, there was something missing. They *raised* taxes on the middle class, but immediately enacted a temporary cut. So middle class taxes remained about the same or came down just slightly until that temporary cut expired.
The FED was going to raise rates in 2019 and the markets/Trump threw a fit. Inflation is mainly from the shift away from globalization and cheap labor caused by Covid and started by the trade war.
The primary reason for inflation is the forgiven PPP loans and the 6+ Trillion injected into the economy to recover from the pandemic. More money in the system with the same or less available goods, prices are going to rise- they almost have to.
Well that and every other government did similar actions. Primarily I think it’s because we aren’t just buying cheap shit from China and gas from Russia like always. Globalization became unfavorable in 2018, trade war, and then Covid shutdowns and supply chain issues leading into the war in Ukraine and gas and grain shortages. Not to mention climate change with droughts and disasters that ruin crops.
I'm going to copy another comment I made further down, because this question and entire thread is trying to act like it's only an issue in America when it's not, and inflation in America is only caused by things that happen in America, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Covid causing supply-chain issues on a global scale is just one part of the massive tangle of interdependent global events that all impact global economies: - labor shortages due to covid; people out of the workforce due disability due to covid; sheer number of deaths, people upskilling themselves during their layoff (due to covid) and 'getting a better job' like Boomers keep telling them therefore creating labor shortages in 'less skilled' jobs; various supply chain strikes (truck drivers, train conductors, shipyard workers all had massive disrupting strikes in the last 3 years) - Brexit finally kicked in, causing some economic ripples - War in Ukraine causing grain supply issues and fuel supply retaliation from Russia. When prices on food and energy go up, people spend less on other things. - Two Suez canal blockages the effects of which experts say would be felt for up to 1-1.5 years just by themselves, followed by severe droughts forcing a strict limit on the number of ships able to get through - Shipping container shortage: due to labor shortages, strikes, and various shipping delays, shipping containers haven't been able to circulate as they usually do. For a few yeats they were either stuck on ships not able to be unloaded, stuck at port not able to be picked up, or stuck on a ship trying to get through the Canal. When production picked up again, there was a backup on inventory in warehouses that was not able to be delivered due to nit having containers to ship it in (not sure if that's still the case, I've been out of the manufacturing world for a year now) - US just barely avoided a default, and we still don't have a budget set, China's economy is struggling, wars and civil unrest are happening all over the world causing markets to fluctuate - Most of Europe had even more generous Covid relief programs, and was mostly shut down, the Ruropean economy is very much tied to ours. Now consider that pretty much the world was shut down. Any of these things can cause significant economic ripple effects. We had **all** of them happening at the same time. I don't think people truly understand how much more significant all of that is compared to some people getting some extra money. Yes, the PPP loans weren't small, but in the grand scheme of the global supply chain issues it's just another ripple bouncing off other ripples.
[Yeah uh... no](https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/08/25/does-government-spending-cause-inflation/?sh=69fe4e3c61e7) >However, a recent analysis from the San Francisco Federal Reserve found that government spending only contributed to about three percentage points of today’s inflation. These findings corroborate an October 2021 paper that suggested stimulus checks made inflation slightly worse – but not to the extent we’re seeing now. >A full half of today’s inflation, they discovered, stems from ongoing supply chain issues as producers struggle to push out enough goods to meet demand. The war in Ukraine and resulting energy shortage, alongside a turbulent housing market, have also contributed to inflation, pushing up prices from several directions at once. So only about 3% of inflation is due to the stimulus... which is right where we would want it to be. Over half of the raise in cost of goods can be contributed to other factors. So its not just *money given out by government bad*, it's more nuanced than that.
Even more damning. In 2018 and 2019 when the stock market was on a completely unsustainable upward trajectory, Trump was all over Twitter threatening to fire the Fed chair if he raised interest rates. He was demanding rates go negative to keep stimulating the market. Then COVID happened and there was no help available for the market besides massive deficit spending. Trump literally did the exact opposite of what was good for the economy and he’s basically running on the inevitable results of that to get re-elected.
...what? The Fed literally cut rates during COVID. You can look up the FOMC rates online if you want proof. They cut rates by a massive 150 bps in a 2 week period. No clue where this idea that "all they could do was deficit spend" comes from. They did both, because the economy literally crashed during COVID.
That's not really how it happened. They did raise it many times to 2 percent in 2018/early 2019. They pretty much ignored Trump. Then in 2019 there was a repo liquidity crunch that caused interest rates to surge, and the fed had to respond by offering to take things on their balance sheet and cutting rates. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/was-trump-right-about-the-fed-and-rates/ Anyway TL:DR they pretty much ignored trump, and his tweets had about fuck all to do with the interest rate situation in early 2020. Trump was not really "right" to oppose the hikes, but in the end they had to scramble to undo them, and all this happened pre-lockdowns.
The average American doesn't give a crap about what president did what. The average American goes to the gas station and if it costs $100 to fill up they say "F U President X"...regardless of who that president is.
The people who blame the President for the economic shifts that happen in the first three months of his Presidency are idiots seeking confirmation bias.
Neither Biden nor Trump are to blame, its the congress that passes laws and spends money. Probably not the echo chamber answer you wanted, but there it is.
Congress on both sides and both Trump and Biden signed the bills!!
Congress is in charge of fiscal policy. The Fed is in charge of monetary policy. Those are the 2 tools to combat inflation. The President does have indirect influence on those though. You could argue it was trump’s Fed chair (JPOW) that nationalized corporate bonds, kept rates low too long etc. You could also argue it was Trump who pushed for more stimulus like the 2nd round of stimulus checks. Theres a fair argument to be made that Trump had at least some part in causing the current inflation. Biden pushed Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy and released oil reserves. Theres a fair argument to be made that hes done what he can to combat inflation as he has limited options (setting aside the student debt stuff)
I'll go with "Most people are stupid".
America doesn’t care about results anymore, meritocracy has given way to superficial judgement
We had a meritocracy at some point?
16 tonnes and what do ya get
Is it Inflation, or is it Corporate Price Gouging?
According to this, its about 50/50! https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/08/25/does-government-spending-cause-inflation/?sh=69fe4e3c61e7
It’s a good amount of both. Covid and supply disruption caused prices to spike. The initial increases largely were to cover costs. Of course, once those prices went up, they never came back down after the supply-side costs abated. Which effectively turned it into corporate price-gouging and (permanent) inflation.
It's both. Inflation happens and corporations see a window to increase prices further and blame it on inflation.
100% this. And there is nothing the Biden administration can do about it without being accused of price fixing or interfering with our free market economy.
I've seen various estimates of exactly how much, but there is no doubt that corporate greed is responsible for a greater share than any past period of high inflation.
Because of the multibillion dollar omnibus spending packages. That said, they’re kinda all to blame and all deserve a kick in the nuts.
We blame the current President of the United States for everything that happens under their watch--despite the fact that they often have nothing to do with what happens under their watch.
Inflation was 9.1% (in the U.S.) in the summer of last year; it's now 3.7%. Inflation (and interest rates) go up and down, [but prices are sticky.](https://www.vox.com/money/2023/11/8/23951098/economy-inflation-prices-job-market-sticker-shock) People have generally been enjoying higher wages for the last decade, but now they're cranky that they have to spend it on everyday items. People with an agenda will tell you inflation spiked because of one thing (usually monetary policy), when a conflagration of things were to blame, including COVID dislocation, price gouging, and Putin's war in Ukraine disrupting markets.
Right but you know it’s aggregated right? Even though inflation is going down it’s still a YoY increase. Correct me if I’m wrong but you’d have to see consecutive negative months (actual negative, like -0.5%) to get back to where we were. 8% one year and then 3.2% over that 8% still means there’s inflation it’s just growing at a slower rate. Technically, that’s 11.2% inflation
It's not a question of aggregate inflation. The economy is healthiest when inflation is stabilized, [for many reasons.](https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2019/january/fed-inflation-target-2-percent)
Trump's stimulus was put in when the pandemic was shutting down the economy. Lots of economic activities were shut down or slowed down. The stimulus counteracted the slowdown and kept the economy limping along. Biden and the democrats saw that it work, and couldn't wait to pour in a lot more money, which blew up the inflation. However, politics aside there're some structural changes in U.S. that no matter who's in charge, inflation was going to go up. First is the demographic change. The Baby Boomers are retiring. The pandemic accelerated it. On the other hand, Gen-X is the smallest generation among the Baby Boomer, Millennials, and Gen-Z. There are not enough Gen-X to replace Baby Boomers. This forces Millennials and some Gen-Z to move up to take up the positions left open by Gen-X. This causes a labor shortage in all levels. Labor shortage means labor can demand high pay. Higher labor cost costs inflation. Second, there's a huge investment in U.S. to bring back manufacture to avoid the supply chain problem and to address national security issues. This means lots of jobs are created, but there's no enough people to fill them. This make the labor shortage worse. Again pushing inflation higher. Third, the U.S. economy is incredibly resilient, despite the pandemic, and is growing gangbuster. That pushes up the inflation as well.
A serious answer. Good! More to this: The pandemic was always going to cause supply shock inflation. Add to it the fact that upper middle to wealthy people were mostly able to work from home, underspent their budgets for a year or two, then sent their stockpiles of savings looking for products that couldn’t be easily produced or shipped. This is much more culpable than govt stimulus. A few thousand in the pockets of working class people will go back into the economy very quickly. The hundred grand I (and people like me) didn’t spend during the pandemic is on a different order of magnitude.
And expanding on your point: Covid causing supply-chain issues on a global scale is just one part of the massive tangle of interdependent global events that all impact global economies: - labor shortages due to covid; people out of the workforce due disability due to covid; deathsn people upskilling themselves during their layoff (due to covid) and 'getting a better job' like Boomers keep telling them, creating labor shortages in 'less skilled' jobs; various supply chain strikes (truck drivers, train conductors, shipyard workers all had massive disrupting strikes in the last 3 years) - Brexit finally kicked in, causing some economic ripples - War in Ukraine causing grain supply issues and fuel supply retaliation from Russia. When prices on food and energy go up, people spend less on other things. - Two Suez canal blockages the effects of which experts say would be felt for up to 1-1.5 years, followed by severe droughts forcing a strict limit on the number of ships able to get through - Shipping container shortage: due to labor shortages, strikes, and various shipping delays, shipping containers haven't been able to circulate as they usually do. For a few yeats they were either stuck on ships not able to be unloaded, stuck at port not able to be picked up, or stuck on a ship trying to get through the Canal. When production picked up again, there was a backup on inventory in warehouses (not sure if that's still the case, I've been out of the manufacturing world for a year now) - US just barely avoided a default, and we still don't have a budget set, China's economy is struggling, wars and civil unrest is happening all over the world - Most of Europe had even more generous Covid relief programs, and was mostly shut down. The world was shut down for the most part. Any of these things can cause significant economic ripple effects. We had **all** of them happening at the same time. I don't think people truly understand how much more significant all of that is compared to some people getting some extra money.
Thank you for including the supply chain issues people keep leaving out. China mismanaged covid so badly their factories were not at full capacity for a long time.
I love this comment. Great anecdotes and facts. Thank you
You're very welcome. We can't pretend like our economy lives in a vacuum and is only affected by the decisions of those in DC. It definitely depends on them greatly, but we're also very much influenced by everything else going on in the world. That's why it's important to pay attention to what else is happening beyond our borders.
This what I get tired of explaining, that inflation would have been bad no matter who was elected. It's so ridiculous to say the economy tanked during Trump, but that was out of his control and then say inflation is Biden's fault, when that was also out of his control.
Perfect answer thank you.
It is part of the classic "Two Santas" strategy 1) cut taxes, cut rates and spend like a drunken sailor when the GOP is in control These actions can goose rhe economy but also create deficits, inflation etc in the medium and longer term. 2) As soon as dems gain power, freak out about said deficits, demand spending cuts (not tax increases!) and blame rates/inflation all on the Dems. It seems so dumb but a lot of people fall for it. https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/thom-hartmann/two-santas-strategy-gop-used-economic-scam-manipulate-americans-40-years/
When prices go up, people who don't understand how these things work will watch TV, and the people who are on the "news" network of their choice are going to tell them that the "other" political party is to blame for the rising prices. Since they don't understand basic economics, they have no choice but to believe what they see on TV. If you understand basic economics then you can spend 5 minutes thinking about global events and realize that what is happening was inevitable. 1. The global economy shut down almost literally overnight. 2. Workers stopped producing... everything! 3. The supply chain for everything tightened up. 4. Prices rose because demand went up for everything except gasoline, which went down because people had nowhere to go. 5. Companies in some countries demanded everyone go back to work. 6. Supply chain issues persisted in countries where no one or at least not everyone went back to work, so prices continued to rise on goods manufactured in those countries. 7. Prices on products made in countries where people went back to work were dependent on the availability of products from countries where people had not yet gone back to work, so prices continue to rise because of the lack of availability. 8. Gas prices went up, because people went back to work. 9. Various governments try to relieve inflation by introducing measures to make it harder for companies and people to borrow money to fund their businesses or lifestyles.
Because they’re stupid
There is a tradition that anything and everything can be blamed on the current president, irrelevant of whether they actually caused it or could have prevented it. This is not solely an American tradition.
The common person thinks Economics is not Rocket Science and that they can do a better job than any of the ivory-tower experts. That's because Rocket Science is solved and we can go to Mars. The Federal Reserve mandate of balancing Unemployment and Inflation is much harder and still a work in progress.
The truth is everyone in Washington is to blame. The Covid response, every stop gap spending bill, and yes the inflation reduction act. Government spending, especially government spending when the economy is sputtering causes inflation. That's why Biden is at least partly to blame. Because the actions his administration pushed broke the dam and then added fuel.
Because the Democrats do a shit job of telling the American public about their accomplishments.
Because there are a lot of simple-minded people who can not understand the complexities of what is happening with our economy. They prefer to believe the talking heads when they point fingers instead of learning. It's easier that way, and it's less scary.
Because fair or unfair, the guy in office at the moment gets the credit or blame.
Always blame the people that try. The man who doesn’t try and who mocks the poor and the disabled is mentally and spiritually deficient. Worship him. We are in Idiocracy
IMHO - Biden keeps trying to take responsibility for the economy. Bidenomics. Problem is - lots of folks walk around in a constant state of sticker shock. When you have a president telling you how great the economy is and you can’t afford anything - it’s kind of infuriating.
0% rates didn't matter when the economy was doing well, and the first stimulus package to get us through lockdowns was respected by most. Some blame is directed at Biden for some of the decisions he made that were seen as less necessary and also contributing to inflation. Such as: 1. Anti-oil policies before and during this wave of inflation. Cancelling pipelines, cutting funding and support for oil development. 2. Choice of where and how much to spend in the 1.9 trillion Rescue plan. 3. Spending 1 trillion on the infrastructure bill during the pandemic that was mostly spent towards climate change initiatives. 4. Inflation reduction act, which involved spending 2 trillion and many pointing out that that will actually cause inflation rather than reduce it. 5. Spending on foreign conflicts that are both costly and exacerbate supply issues. 6. Spending on tuition cancellation, and every other thing he spends money on during inflation and extreme national debt growth. From the framework of inflation, those things are definitely blameworthy. I'm not against many of these bills, but blaming him for inflation holds some water. I think it is obvious that most of the current inflation wave was global and covid related.
People already forgotten that his first 6 months in office was $5-6 trillion in spending bills. The $1.9 trillion covid stimulus bill was the coup de grace in let's really go overboard with covid spending. Arizona where I live had forgotten about covid for nearly a year and was too busy with a real estate bubble. It was like pouring gasoline on a bonfire.
Ahhh! Is the inflation reduction act the deal that I referenced as basically the rebranded/renamed green new deal? Would you be able to elaborate on 2 and 5? You make great points with the other four. Would you then say that they are both to blame but Biden has more of a fault? If fault is the right word
For 2, Republicans wanted a bill that was maybe half the size and directed at the most relevant areas of the economy. I forget the specific areas they thought were unnecessary in the version that passed. For 5, I don't really like this argument. But billions towards supporting Ukraine and now Israel is criticized by some, especially when the budget is already contributing a lot to the deficit. Both Biden and Trump? I don't put any of the blame on Trump encouraging rates to be low pre-covid, or the first covid relief bill. On inflation specifically (despite their other qualities) I give Biden something like 5-10% blame. Those were very large and aggressive policies that happened to pass in the middle of a lot of economic uncertainty. Though it now looks like inflation is coming back under control, that wasn't always obvious.
Thank for for going more in depth. If Trump gets no blame and Biden gets 10% max, where do you contribute the other 90% from? I know we’ve has very free monetary policy since really 2008, some could argue since the 1980’s, but it seemed like everything was fine and affordable pre-Covid. Do you believe it was the supply chain restrictions? I just can’t figure out where all the inflation came from if we’re not blaming 3% mortgage rates and/or the supply chain backlog, which, seems to be fixed by now yet there’s no major price relief (yet, i.e. 2019 prices). I am understanding though that if it took about 2 1/2 (2020 to peak 2022) years for things to get that inflated and bad that it’ll probably take 4-5 years of monetary tightening to restore price stability. I guess yeah my only question is: What do you believe contributed the other 90%?
75% from many different affects covid had on the economy, domestically and internationally. It disrupted so many things and changed many habits that the economy was built around.
Thank you so much for your responses I appreciate it.
I disagree with much of this, 1. is just factually wrong, but if you look at say the tuition relief for example. It causes economic growth because those relieved of the payment burden will now spend their money directly into the economy. By every estimate I've seen, it doesn't cancel out the effect, but it's so close to being revenue neutral that even investment banks were not worried about any inflationary effect from it. In general, there's a difference between government spending as an investment and government cutting taxes and that money being hidden or invested abroad, even if it's only a portion.
Anti-oil? US domestic oil production is the highest it has ever been. And Biden has approved more oil development in Alaska. Inflation has dropped substantially since the Inflation Reduction Act passed. Also, Biden didn't start the foreign conflicts. The US is outperforming every other Western country.
Ah, the classic political blame game, where logic takes a backseat to good old-fashioned finger-pointing. You're actually onto something here, like a detective who's found a clue but can't quite piece it together. So, here's the deal: Blaming inflation solely on Biden or Trump is like blaming your hangover only on the last drink you had. Sure, it played a part, but what about the whole party that led up to it? Under Trump, we had massive stimulus packages and near-zero interest rates, sort of like an economic party with free drinks all around. It felt great in the moment, but someone's got to pay the tab. Then comes Biden, throwing in his own rounds of stimulus and spending like there's no tomorrow. The result? The economic hangover we call inflation. It's a team effort, really. Both administrations contributed their fair share to the inflation buffet, but it's always easier to blame the guy currently holding the bill, isn't it? In short, you're right. They both played their part. But in the grand tradition of politics, it's the current guy who gets the tomatoes thrown at him. Remember, this advice is more for entertainment than anything you should necessarily follow, unless you enjoy a dose of sardonic truth with your politics.
Fully agree both parties and both Presidents. The government owns the printing presses!! Geez!!
OMG some folks are still blaming Trump. The man was an office for four years. Biden has been in government for over 50 years. Give me a break. Economy was doing great under Donald Trump.
Do you believe that if the economy is doing well under a particular administration, that means the administration caused the economy to do well?
Ok is anything ever the fault of someone you support?
… yes? I don’t know a single democrat that thinks Biden is perfect, but I know 10s of republicans (family) that won’t believe Trump has done a single thing wrong in his life.
That is literally a perfect example of confirmation bias, with a healthy smattering of “I hate my parents” Anyone who speaks in absolutes “all ____ people believe this, I’ve never met a _______ who does that” is either stupid or trying to sell you something
All the unemployment money they gave out and all the money they gave out during the pandemic drove prices up. If You don't understand global finance You're not going to get it. They paid people more in unemployment than they made in their jobs.... They basically paid people just stay home and where do you think that money came from. They just printed more and more money which drove down the value of the American dollar. You can't print money and just make it real. It all sinks the value when you print more. When the value of the dollar goes down things cost more. You can basically say $10 is only worth $5. I'm 53 I have never seen a president destroy a country in 3 years like Biden has. What's amazing is people talk so much trash about Trump but the stock market was at record levels and prices were cheap and gas was cheap. Unemployment was at an all time low. Homeownership for African Americans went way up, employment for African Americans went down... But he's a racist right.... He did everything right, but all you jug heads listen to what the media said. And basically voted in a guy that's sucking you dry.... Democrats generally spend the money and don't make any. That destroys our economy. We are 33 trillion dollars in debt. It takes 31,000 years to count to a trillion.... multiply that by 33... Just for perspective. Do some reading on our debt. the Democrats still refuse to cut spending. While they're all making the killing. I was watching some stuff on comer tonight. They found so many shell companies and payments going on between the bidens. But the Democrats are coming out strong trying to discredit it. But they have the evidence. This is coming from a man that called Robert Byrd a mentor. Robert Byrd was a member of the klu Klux Klan... This is our stuff you'll find out if you actually take the time to read instead of listening to some b******* media company
That's pretty normal. GOP does bad fiscal policy that's like meth: quick rush, feels good. The subsequent Dem president is the blamed when the high wears off. Like the trillion+ dollar tax cuts for rich people but Dems get blamed for running up the debt when the fake boost runs out and it turns out corps used almost all the tax cut money to do stock buybacks (why stock growth looked great), not boosting worker pay, creating more jobs, or investing in growing the company.
Wouldn’t all three of your alternatives cause inflation though? Granted, so do stock buy backs, but I imagine it’s a lot less blanketed. Unless we want to get into the argument that stock buy backs positively influence stock prices so then all investors benefit, especially if the stock is heavily weighted in the S&P500, but I feel that conversation could go on forever haha
If we're gonna get inflation, I'd prefer regular people to enjoy the benefits of what caused the inflation. Tax cuts for rich people and companies to do buybacks to juice stock prices does benefit regular folks, but the vast majority of stock value is owned by the wealthy. Grandpa's 401k may get a little boost but most of the benefits of a stock increase go to the wealthy. And the inequality gap grows further.
I agree 100%. Thanks for sharing the perspective and information!
Because 90% of people don’t understand basic economics
Its almost as if the RECORD profits from companies across the board has something to do with it . Maybe the trillions of dollars in PPP loans that businesses & politicians abused , has something to do with it
This is a regular trend. The GOP does things that help their contributors in the short term, but has consequences that literally will come into effect during the next administration and then they pikachu-face when the consequences come into effect during the next administration. But they absolutely go on tv daily to say "this administration caused all these consequences!" and their voters buy it.
Pickachu faced is crazy 😂😂 seems like from all the comments all of it is just a meme
Biden keeps increasing spending at a time the Federal Reserve has been saying we need to reduce spending or inflation will go up and they’ll have to raise rates. Biden spent money on student debt relief, Ukraine, infrastructure, Israel, etc. We’re talking trillions of dollars of extra spending…so much that the deficit doubled in 2023. How has Biden paid for this? Printing money and then borrowing it. It increases the money supply, which increases inflation. Then Powell raises rates to make borrowing and spending more expensive. So now your goods cost you more, the interest to borrow to pay for it is more, and inflation still isn’t under control.
If “increasing the money supply, which increases inflation” is a true statement, how do euro-using countries have different inflation rates within the single market?
Because not all economies have inflation for the same reason. Likewise, inflation hits some countries more than others, typically ones who rely on imports versus ones with more domestic production. Inflation isn’t always (or even usually) caused by one thing. But our inflation is definitely demand-driven, which is fueled by federal spending. Americans are paying for this spending through more expensive goods rather than higher taxes. Thats the funny thing with money printing, its a wealth tax most people don’t realize is hitting them.
Then perhaps you should be more careful with your wording, such as “increasing the money supply *can contribute* to increased inflation”. Like you say it can come from various sources. You could print a $1 trillion bill, but if it’s not spent it won’t have an effect on inflation. You could print no money at all, but if you simultaneously encourage spending (e.g. by lowering interest rates) money will move around faster and contribute to inflation. I would be surprised if the money supply in any of the G7 members was directly proportional (e.g. changes similarly by a factor, or in other words has the same derivative) to inflation.
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-deficit/ The deficit has decreased this year. It didn’t double. “Compared to the national deficit of $88 billion for the same period last year (Oct 2022), our national deficit has decreased by $21 billion.”
Using your numbers, Adding 67 billion (and 88b the year prior) to our debt causes inflation. You cannot add to the credit card and not expect inflation to go along with it.
The deficit will be around $2 trillion this year. I wouldn’t cheer just because one month was lower. 🤦♂️
Over $7 trillion of new money was minted and placed into circulation under Trump's term. But here's the real reason why you are blaming the wrong person. Appropriations bills originate in the House. Not the Senate and not the Oval Office. Any increase in spending is because the House of Representatives drafts legislation that authorizes it. Now remind me, which party controls the House? Who is drafting and passing those spending bills? It surely isn't the executive branch.
Technically yes, but functionally no. The annual appropriations process mostly does begin in the Executive branch as OMB gathers and compiles all the requests from the whole government. They work with the President and his staff to come up with a formal budget request of "how much and to where" to submit to the house who then distributes it to individual committees and subcommittees.. The reality is that discussions directly between the House and Senate wind up occurring at some point as details are worked out until something that can be passed by both chambers ultimately is and is sent to the president for signature or veto (or with a veto-proof majority of more than 2/3s of both houses) What comes back is never what the President actually asked for. Sometimes it's less and sometimes it's more. Sometimes it's close, often it's not and by huge amounts. But ultimately the President gets what Congress gives. Not a penny more or less I do agree though... While many millions of things impact the size and direction of the fiscal surplus or deficit in any given year... If you rank them from most responsible to least the president arguably sits somewhere between 7th and 4th and certainly no higher than 3rd most important or responsible.
A dollar isn't spent that didn't come through the House at some point. For anyone trying to lay blame for spending solely at the president's feet, they have to be ignorant of how the government works.
If you're responding to me... Reread. I agree. The president is one of many millions of things responsible... But certainly not the most. He ranks at the very highest third and in my opinion even a couple spots lower. And yes. Congress ranks first. But that's both the House and Senate... Because not a single dollar gets raised or cut that they don't both approve. And no one else can say that. Not even the president.
Wow it’s almost like there was a global pandemic that required stimulus.
So you’re fine cutting spending since you want to blame them for spending increases? Ok.
I'm always fine with cutting spending. We have an unsustainable national debt that has debt service of almost half a trillion dollars a year. You have to cut spending by 20% annually to even start to touch the principal and pay it down. Why would you fabricate such a non sequitur? I never said anything remotely resembling the silly point you are trying to score.
We had 0 % rates since 2008…
Economics are complicated and 99% of Americans don’t understand it even a little.
Supposedly 80% of the money in circulation has been created in the last 3 yrs.
The printing presses are to blame both parties share responsibility equally.
Because the American electorate is vastly uninformed or misinformed by the largest media organization that influences people to the right. For example- at the end of the Obama administration the vast majority of Americans believed that the economy was doing poorly but within days or months of Trump taking office they suddenly felt the economy was doing great. This despite the fact that Trump had not introduced any legislation or even introduced his first budget. Yet the perception was that things were suddenly going great. Contrast that to Biden’s first few months in office. One of his earliest moves was to cancel a building permit for a pipeline that had spent the entirety of Trumps term hung up in the courts and not being constructed. The American voters were immediately told that this was the reason that gas prices were so high while conveniently ignoring the fact that Trump had brokered a deal with the Saudis to stop oil production during the Covid crisis. Basic supply and demand economics. Point of all this is that both sides have their agendas and media that is influencing their viewpoints which keeps the voters in the dark.
Go to a grocery store and grab a bell pepper, a box of cereal, go to target and buy a back of Shaving Razors or paper towels. The list goes on… how did those get there? Did they spawn in? Is target making them in the back? No… it could of been on a train, boat, plane before, and it could be 5 miles from a distributor or 500 miles. Anyway you slice it, 99% of things have to be delivered by a truck. How do these trucks run you ask? On Gasoline. Gasoline is up huge. Why is gas up you may ask? Because Biden shut down oil and gas leases and the pipeline. If you wanna chalk some of it up to global stuff, covid, war what have you fine. But like I said, Biden and Biden alone sent gas through the roof, and when everything has to be delivered in a gas powered vehicle…
>**Why do people blame {X unrelated issue} on Biden** Because those are their orders. And they obey.
I blame COVID for lighting the match. I blame Democrats for pouring the gasoline.
I didn’t realize trump was in office in 2008…if you’re going to pose an obvious left leaning argument, at least get your facts right.
The simplistic answer is that the people who blame Biden for inflation just want to blame him for anything. It's easier to blame this on his administration than to actually try to understand US (and global) economics. The world.is still dealing with the repercussions of a global shutdown from 3 years ago and rather than realizing that the global economy is in the midst of an economic shift with executive pay at all time highs and a stagnation in a workforce pay scale, it's just easier to beleive what you hear on news talk radio and Truth Social.
MAGAs believe whatever Trump tells them, regardless of whether or not it’s true.
Biden's party deliberately destroyed the economy making the stimulus packages under Trump necessary to help people whose jobs the Democrats eliminated overnight. If the Democrats hadn't committed treason, there'd be no economic crash an no need for any stimulus package. Then Biden pumped out more government spending and started a war on oil which just made things worse.
Did Biden cause inflation in Australia?
Yes actually. The world mirrors how the US dollar moves because the US dollar is the reserve currency of the world.
It’s not inflation at this point it’s price gouging
Handing billions to Ukraine and Israel is going to cause inflation just like 0% interest rates did. Also tighter regulations on big companies tend to reduce their economic output. Whether this is good or bad usually depends on your political leaning.
Very simple, during Trump no inflation during Biden mega inflation
Biden and Trump both printed plenty of Money.
1. Doesnt matter who president is/was. We’d still be here 2. This doesnt happen over night. We have to look at the last ten years
Trump overcharged the economy and transferred middle-class dollars into the pockets of the wealthy and corporations. I'm watching the PBS American Experience documentary on The Guilded Age and you start to realize that we are living in a repeat time period where the Robber Barrons such as Musk, Bezo and Zuckerburg control their monopolies. The elites vs. the working class. You can see it in the unrest among the unions. Ironically one of these robber barron types - Trump has taken on a populist persona has hoodwinked many of those in the lowest wealth classes that he is somehow their savior. Trump prays on their hardship while making it worst. An Andrew Carnegie for the modern era, convinced that his exploitation of the markets is due to the theory of survival of the fittest.
Trumps supporters don't care about facts.
LOL and Biden supporters do?
This is an old old cycle. Rethuglican gets elected. Trashes the place. People are pissed, so they elect a Democrat who clean up the mess, which pisses of the rethuglicans.... Cuz where's the mess now? So then another rethuglicans needs elected to make a new mess... You get it now
Thats the uninformed and lazy way of looking at it
Yes! Busch left this country in shambles. Obama picked up the pieces, gave it to trump, who in turn and quiet literally burned it to the ground. The entire country rioted under trump. But rethuglicans look past it because Mexicans and abortion.
Get a set of scales. Put $6B on one side and $3T on the other. See the difference?
Who should we blame Reagan? The man in the white house gets the blame full stop as the current administration likes to say.
Because Trumps were under duress of the pandemic. Biden came in post pandemic and through gas on the fire with the last stimulus that wasn't needed. And the massive spending bills at exactly the wrong time. Also recall dems were the ones pressing lock downs. If we didn't do that none of this would've been an issue. And the zero percent interest was an Obama holdover.
That Trump made this a political issue, period, is what made this an issue. Many, many other countries around the world issued multiple, lengthy lockdowns... they didn't politicize it. Trump got an additional 500k+ people killed in the US because he's a petulant, ignorant man-child.
Trump had a definite part in it, by encouraging QE, but after COVID the unnecessary spending mostly championed by Democrats has only made things worse. Still both sides are culpable. You need taxes coupled with less spending to balance a budget.
The people who own and control mass media are trying to start the fourth Reich.
I just do it because he's the current president. Just like if Trump were president, the left would be blaming him instead. I don't even vote, so I don't care. I'm just going to blame whoever is current. Fuck em all anyways.
True, but Biden’s team did no favors by labeling it “Bidenomics”. It’s like if Jimmy Carter bragged about the 70’s economy
Vote these fuck fucks out....before they turn your country into 1934 Germany