Politicians like to (falsely) take credit for things, such as Biden bragging about gasoline prices declining. Bear in mind that regular gasoline prices were $2.88 when Biden was inaugurated as President, rose to over $5 a gallon in June and now have declined to $3.98 for which Biden is taking credit. So, regular gasoline prices are still up 34% under Biden. Ouch!
But other rates and prices are dropping too. Bankrate’s 30yr mortgage rate started at , broke the 6% plane on June 21, 2022 only to drop to 5.53% on Friday. CRB’s foodstuffs price index started at 370.58 on Biden’s inauguration as President, rose to 606.71 on May 17, 2022 then retreated to 561.32 on Friday, August 13th. Even headline inflation (CPI YoY) is cooling … slightly.
You can see the recent declines in mortgage rates, gasoline and food prices (pink box) that corresponds to a shrinking of the US M2 Money stock growth. M2 Money is still growing at torrid pace (8.5% YoY) almost back to pre-Covid stimulypto levels of 6.8% YoY. So shrinking M2 Money growth is helping reduce mortgage rates and inflation, food/gasoline prices.
Instead of trying to remove Fed stimulus even more, Biden and Congress passed the “Inflation Reduction Act” which will barely scratch inflation and raises taxes across the board (despite Biden’s promise that no one making under $400,000 will see a cent of increase taxes). And Biden’s preposterous promise ignores the inflation tax which has been severe and still growing at 8.5% YoY. Not 0% as Biden and Harris claimed.
But wait for winter as food, gasoline and heating prices start to soar again.
My favorite dim-witted explanation of inflation belongs to Democrat Representative Pramila Jayapal who recently claimed that “inflation is a theoretical word that economists use.” Like the brilliant Milton Friedman???