WASHINGTON, DC, JULY 18 — The bad news is that inflation is at an unanticipated new high — 9.1%. The good news is that, for those few of us who are wealthy enough to take a summer vacation abroad, the U.S. dollar buys a lot more in Europe and the Far East these days. For the first time in 20 years, the dollar is at parity with the Euro, giving American travelers more bang for the buck.
However, there is very little good news on the home front. The food you bought last year for $100 costs $110, give or take, this year. Ten bucks more. That may be okay for some of us, but it hurts if you don’t have an extra ten bucks to play with. It wreaks havoc if you have a family to feed or if you are a senior citizen with a fixed income. Do the math. The average American worker earns between $850 to a tad more than $1,000 a week. The average social security is about $1,554 per month — less than $355 per week. How do they make ends meet when the inflation rate has nearly doubled over the past 12 months?
The American Institute for Economic Research points out that “Inflation is a regressive tax that hits those with low and middle incomes the hardest. The inflation tax harms these households disproportionately because they spend a larger share of their income on food, transportation, and other basic necessities that are more expensive as a result of the inflation.”
And it isn’t going to get any better anytime soon. The spendthrift Biden administration and its climate-change-obsessed Congress will make sure of that, thanks to Republican-wannabe Joe Manchin, who stymied their latest effort to spend more of our money by refusing to vote for new cockamamie spending authorization. Says Bloomberg news, “Manchin privately told Democratic leaders Thursday that he wouldn’t support an economic package that included tax hikes and provisions to fight climate change before an August congressional recess, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s deadline, according to three people familiar with the talks.”
You may love or dislike former President Donald Trump, but he was true to his word; he did, indeed, make America great again. When he left office, the inflation rate stood at a modest 1.4%. Once Mr. Biden took his oath of office, things started to get dicey, with the inflation rate increasing steadily for the next 18 months. It stands at 9.1% now, but some economists say it might continue to increase in the coming months.
So, how do we make America great again — again. Put a new Congress in place come November– a Congress that will “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative,” as songster Johnny Mercer put it…a Congress that will acknowledge the fact that we have the resources at hand to lower the price of gasoline and that we will use them…a Congress that will disavow ideals that pay tribute to progressive socialist nonsense that make us weak.
Over the weekend, Newsmax reported that political commentator Dick Morris is predicting Mr. Trump will run for a second term as president in 2023. “The phrase is not ‘likely,’” he said, “the phrase is dead pipe certain: He’s certain to run, and he is, I believe, certain to get the Republican nomination. I think he’ll actually get it by acclamation. I don’t think there’ll be a primary fight…they’re flirting with DeSantis and other candidates, but only Trump can win this election…[he] can say, ‘I did it: You want to know if I can cut inflation or hold down gas prices, seal the border? I did it when I was president.” And he can do it again.
President Biden made us weak and in need. Take your pick, Biden or Trump, and if it is Trump, enjoy the rewards of a new awakening– one that will free us of the threat of a socialist future versus the promise of more unrest. At one time, it was a goal of presidents — such as President Trump — to see us prosper. Not now. Today the presidency and Congress have been usurped by anti-American politicos.