WASHINGTON, DC, Dec 21 — The good news is inflation slowed down a bit; the cost of living rose just .1% in November. The bad news is that “price levels remain quite elevated compared to a year ago for many categories, and these high prices continue to put pressure on household budgets and force trade-offs with purchasing decisions,” according to Kayla Bruun, an economic analyst at Morning Consult.
And here is even worse news: it is America’s hapless senior citizens who are hardest hit. Dennis O’Connor, an 82-year-old retiree from Temecula, CA, put it this way in an article in the Epoch Times, “When the last events occurred 40 years ago, we were employed. The overriding concern is we cannot plan retirement a second time. When you are younger and working, you can recover. Retirees will never have that option.”
PayingforSeniorCare.com, which tracks financial resources for seniors, recently published the alarming results of a survey conducted among 1,000 seniors 55 years old and older. Forty percent of them said “They are worried that they won’t be able to afford food and groceries in the future due to inflation.” Ninety-four percent of them said that the price of food, in particular, is of concern and 20% of them said the cost of food has increased by $250 or more per month.
It’s report on the poll noted that, “When looking to the future, 43% say they’re worried they won’t be able to afford food and groceries, and 23% are concerned they may have to skip necessary medical procedures due to inflation…This report reveals that seniors have been hugely impacted by inflation and are very concerned about its impact on their future plans.” What are seniors most worried about? The top of that list is food and household necessities and it’s no surprise that their second concern is the cost of gas for their cars. More than 25% of them are worried that they will not be able to pay for needed medical care.
The rate of inflation in January 2021 when President Biden took office was a very manageable 1.4%. In the ensuing months, the rate doubled and then doubled again ultimately reaching more than 9% in July of 2022. It remains above seven percent. There’s a consensus that it will come down in time — the next few years or so.
A new analysis by Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, published in the Washington Post states that “Consumer prices rose less than expected last month, and inflation rates are expected to fall over the next few years as well. That makes the debate about the appropriate inflation target for the US Federal Reserve all the more important: Should the central bank strive to retain inflation rates within the range of 2%, or should it stop at some higher rate, say 3% or 4%? Prominent macroeconomist Olivier Blanchard, among others, has suggested a 4% target. To my way of thinking, however, the risks of a higher rate of inflation — especially the consequences for workers — outweigh the benefits.”
However, as threatening as the current inflation crisis may seem, more bad news concerning our fiscal future comes from yet another prominent economist, Nouriel Roubini, Professor Emeritus at the Stern School of Business, New York University. He is quoted in a recent Epoch Times report as saying the U.S. faces what he calls “The mother of all economic crises…[a] deep, protracted recession.” Inflation is “eroding real household income and reducing the value of household assets, such as homes and stocks.” And, he says “The same goes for fragile and over-leveraged corporations, financial institutions, and governments: they face sharply rising borrowing costs, falling incomes and revenues, and declining asset values all at the same time.”
We had extra money with PRESIDENT TRUMP.
Now we are broke just like under Obama and in debt but with biden 100 times worse.
This is what happens when you hand over the reins of power to people who have no business being anywhere near the ability to influence, much less directly impact and execute major national policy and spending initiatives. The Democrats, including Biden for those of you who don’t remember, all actively campaigned in 2020 on doing everything that Team Biden and the Democrats have carried out since Day One in office. Those actions do have real consequences. Higher rates of inflation is but one of those consequences. So it is NOT like any of the resulting outcome of the last 23 months should be a surprise to anyone.
Yes, we will have persistently higher inflation than what we were accustomed to for at least the next couple of years. That AMAC selected a quote from Nouriel Roubini, or Dr. Doom as he used to be known on Wall Street, is a kind of curious choice as one could have easily found someone with a better reputation to essentially say the same thing. Most honest economists don’t see inflation dropping to around 3 to 3.5 percent before 2025 at the earliest. That’s under the best of circumstances, providing the federal government actually STOPS STOKING INFLATION with massive spending bills. I currently know of no one reputable in the financial world that is currently willing to make a prediction as to when, or even if, we can ever get inflation down to the 2 percent annual target rate the Federal Reserve considers “normal inflation”. Certainly no one in the financial community is even talking about achieving a 1.4 percent annual rate of inflation in the next decade.
The just passed $1.7 to $1.9 trillion dollar omnibus bill that both McConnell and Schumer just shook hands on (McConnell is so happy with himself) is an example of what we should NOT be doing, as it raises and makes permanent the excessive spending done over the last 2 years. Our federal budget has gone from $4.3 trillion dollars a year in 2019 under President Trump to $6.3 trillion dollars a year in 2021 under Joe Biden. The Covid pandemic is over, so spending levels should be reset back to the lower levels under President Trump. What we just institutionalized with this new omnibus spending bill is nearly a 50 percent increase in spending each and every year going forward. This omnibus spending bill establishes our new baseline budget going forward for all future federal budgets. That means we will be running trillion dollars deficits each and every year from now on. Which means more printed or borrowed money, that will balloon our national debt even faster.
Sorry of this is too detailed for some to keep up with, but I feel it is important that everyone have a realistic view of both our inflation outlook and long-term economic prospects as a nation. I tried to simplify things as much as possible. At least now you are armed with the information you’ll need to make long-term adjustments to your own financial situation. The old adage of “Adapt or die” has never been more prudent than when Democrats are in charge of the country.
You know we’re in trouble when Biden is quoted as saying “The economy is as strong as hell.” Strong for his crackhead son maybe, but not for us.
For me, I used to be able to fill a shopping cart. Today, for the same price, I can only fill two small shopping bags. My local grocery store is selling what was once a moderately-priced steak for $17.00 per pound. That’s crazy! I don’t blame the stores. With this inflation, they don’t have much choice if they want to stay in business. The fault lies mostly with the White House.
Before we get too lost in the rhetoric did anyone take the time to look at PayingforSeniorCare.com ? What a great site, full of lots of “data”, information and advice.
I received a 1 percent raise on my retirement. It amounts to 56 cents/day.
The economy is as “strong as hell”. Well, it’s one nasty @SS purgatory!
Always remember President Biden said in the beginning of his term. You will have nothing but you will be happy. Just a ding dong comment of our latest President.
That’s the democrat plan. Make it a choice between food and medicine and seniors have to choose food. When we die off because of lack of medicine, it saves the government a lot of money.
All part of the “green new deal”. If you are telling people that they should not have children because it contributes to climate change while pushing the murder of millions of infants through abortion, then if you can get rid of seniors it is a plus-plus for the agenda!
I will argue with a inflation rate of 9 percent. It’s more. Example. 12 can box of Cokes, generaly around 3 50 to 4 dollars , in grocery store today was 7 dollars. Kyle L.
Merry Christmas to all. Thank you AMAC for letting me have my say. That Damend AOL blocks all my comments. Kyle L.
If anyone reads this…Please binge the Chosen. Season 3 just came out. It has been excellent. I have enjoyed the personalities of the disciples and such. I know this is a mans story but interesting to say the least. I can complain about what man is doing on earth but our God in Heaven is always spot on. God bless this nation in our times of need. Merry Christmas to all.
Working Americans are suffering under the BidenEconomy under Democrats control. Seems thanks to the $1.85 T Omnibus BILL, this will worsen. Although not reported much, the Philly Reserve Undated the reported 1.2M jobs gains within the last 6 months. The actual jobs gained was 10,000 new jobs. A 92% difference.Makes one wonder what the real BidenEconomy Inflation rate is since the Biden Admin