Biden stills shows no grip on inflation

 Jay Cost:

Joe Biden is a man beset with problems on all sides. His domestic agenda has stalled in Congress and is unlikely to be restarted any time soon. His foreign policy has been a disaster. Afghanistan has collapsed, Russia looks set to acquire portions of Ukraine, and China is making noises about possessing Taiwan. And, of course, the coronavirus still rages. It was irresponsible and foolish of President Biden to promise as a candidate that he would “shut down” the virus — how does one shut down a highly communicable disease? — but promise he did, and he has caught the blame.

But of all the problems plaguing his White House, the most dangerous is inflation. If unchecked, it could destroy his party’s prospects in the November midterm elections and perhaps beyond.

The recent reading of the consumer price index indicated that the annual inflation level of 7% is higher than any on record in 40 years. Forty years is an important number, for it means that the overwhelming majority of Americans have never experienced inflation at these levels in their adult lifetimes. The youngest voters in 1982 would be 58 today, meaning that those at their peak earning during the “stagflation” of the late 1970s and early '80s would be about 80 years old. Most of us, in other words, have few personal memories of the phenomenon. This is why the study of history is so important, for it extends our knowledge of the past far beyond our own lifetimes and provides lessons on what to expect in the future.

And the lessons of history regarding inflation are clear: It can flare up unexpectedly, resist the efforts of policymakers to tame it, and in the worst cases not only undermine economic prosperity but degrade civil society itself.

...

If Biden has a program to tame inflation, I haven't seen it.  His press secretary appears to joke about it and Biden himself has appointed no task force to come up with a solution or deal with the drivers of inflation. 

See, also:

Biden's regulatory bender is crushing the US economy

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