Blame the modern economy for US inflation

Blame the modern economy for US inflation

Newspaper headlines scream inflation here to stay. Consumer prices increased on average 6.2% Last year the biggest increase since 1991. Although Americans assume – to quote New York times – ‘Money flow and jobs’, they too such a pity with the state of the economy.

No wonder Republicans are happy and they are line drawing Between inflation and public concerns about the economy and the presidency of Joe Biden.

Surprisingly, Biden helps them himself Quoted from his management Putting more money in people’s wallets as part of the explanation for the current rise in inflation. in a November 10 speechYou all got checks for $1,400. “You have checks for a lot of things,” Biden said, and with academic patience while teaching a class in Economics 101, he clarified, “Well, with more people with money to buy and fewer products to buy. going on?…prices are soaring.”

from New York PostThe paper, a conservative-leaning newspaper, jumped to the letter, claiming that the president “recognizes that the Covid stimulus controls [the] High inflation rates.

The newspaper downplayed Biden’s importance Sure That “the supply chain is the reason”. Indeed, the president led his audience by vividly explaining how the globalization of the economy works, artificially lowering the cost of goods for decades, and exposure to disruptions like those caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Products like smartphones often collect parts from France and Italy; chips from the Netherlands; touch screens in New York State; camera components from Japan — a supply chain that stretches across dozens of countries,” Biden said.

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“This is just the nature of the modern economy – the global economy,” he concluded, as if the vast network of consumer production was a natural phenomenon and not a systematically disorganized system designed by multinational corporations to lower the cost of materials and labor and maximize their profits.

I remember that was exactly what it was By anti-globalization They have protested against it since the 1990s. According to a 2007 article by Mark EnglerDemonstrators included “unionists, environmentalists, anarchists, land and indigenous rights activists, organizations promoting human rights and sustainable development, opponents of privatization and anti-hard-labor activists” from around the world who claimed that “corporate policies have led to globalization.” Global poverty and increasing inequality.

When Biden explained in his speech that “you have to use wood from Brazil and graphite from India before they meet in a US factory to get a pencil,” he didn’t reveal that pencil manufacturers get wood from Brazil because they can trust him. Illegal login In the Amazon, this leads to lower timber prices. Do not say that the cost Transport of goods From the farthest corners of the world, it generates massive carbon pollution that leads to climate change.

Rather than blaming globalization for inflation, he concluded that it is “the nature of the modern economy” on which we depend. Most of the media also missed this contact. Instead, the increasingly rare cases where the US government ensures people have enough money to live is to blame.

Why are Americans dissatisfied with the state of the economy? Apparently, according to Bloomberg Ramesh PonoroIt is a “frequently repeated” pattern that when wages rise, pessimism is widespread. He rightly points out that “wages and benefits have risen smartly, but only in nominal terms,” and that “positive trends must continue before people begin to realize their satisfaction.”

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Consult studies conducted even before the pandemic (eg This is from 2018, employment This one is from 2019) can be found widespread concern about the state of the economy. In other words, Americans have been frustrated for decades by persistent wage suppression and the trend of increasingly unsafe jobs in the “labor economy.”

This may be the reason why record numbers of people continue to exist quit Despite their despair of the economy. the last Bureau of Labor Statistics The report found that 4.4 million workers left their jobs in September alone, continuing a trend seen in August.

In addition to workers looking for better paying jobs, Washington Post It concluded that the trend of smoking cessation was also associated with “difficulty finding childcare”.

But if conservative Republicans have their way, you’ll see assurances that Americans are so unhappy that the government is spending money on them and that childcare subsidies and incentives are the root of the collective gloom — all of which point to Regaining political power in the next electoral cycle Curb spending.

These kinds of conservative posts contain accusations that Biden “doesn’t understand how inflation affects Americans” and “[i]”If Congressional Democrats do not stop the Biden and Pelosi plan, many Americans will not be able to pay their heating bills this winter,” the statement said. advertisements by the Conservative Growth Club, which targets weak Democrats in the House.

Conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia He makes similar calls to justify his frustration with Biden’s proposals to expand government aid.

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The Liberal Democrats’ response to the current economic crisis is not much better, advising people to either wait for inflation or claim that the demand for better wages is fueling inflation.

Larry SummersDr. wrote. , a former economic adviser to the Obama administration, said earlier this year that “higher minimum wages, stronger unions, higher employee benefits and stricter regulations are desirable, but they also increase operating costs and prices.” Echoing a Republican claim that unemployment benefits have been bad for the economy, Summers said, “Unemployment benefits that allow workers to earn more by not working instead of working may certainly expire in September.”

The dominant message to Americans from political elites across the spectrum is the same Biden made clear in his speech: “This is just the nature of the modern economy” and we have to deal with it.

The best feature of our current economic situation is that we are not naturally at the mercy of the vagaries and whims of an economy designed by corporate profiteers.

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

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