Sharp and sustained economic criticism from Biden's ostensible allies established a narrative of failure that has proved alarmingly resistant to reality.
And if you play around with this calculator, you’ll see that food inflation is currently at 2.2%, the lowest it’s ever been since February 2020, when it was 1.8%. Energy has had some wild fluctuations around a fairly constant mean, including a big spike after Covid, but it’s currently actually back down to a negative 1.9%. It’s actually pretty interesting to look at the different metrics on that page, because they all show variations of the big spike after Covid but the return of pre-Covid levels afterwards. Housing is also an interesting one to look at, just bear in mind that it shows pure value (i.e. going steadily up) and not the percent change year by year like the other inflation metrics.
So… the argument is perfectly accurate, and the numbers shown good economic performance, but because one particular metric doesn’t include some numbers (because those numbers need to be excluded to do apples-to-apples international comparisons which is what they’re specifically talking about there), let’s throw the whole thing out and say Biden must actually doing a bad job because obviously the numbers that aren’t included are bad (even though when you look at them they’re not)? Kinda sounds like that’s the argument.
Just because food inflation is low now doesn’t mean that I can leave Costco for less than $200 for absolute basics. So, to your point, if they included food in the inflation estimate, it doesn’t seem like it would change much. To the articles point, and the point of the comment above us, people don’t believe the economy is doing well because they can’t afford food.
Part of the point of the article is that wages, compared with inflation, have gone up.
There were people who couldn’t afford food before Biden, and now even though he got handed an absolute economic shit show, there are quite a bit less of them than there were before. Surely that’s relevant?
Then has the stacked impact of the reality of wages combined with the stacked impact of the reality of inflation made it easier for the average person to buy groceries? Or harder?
To any given person, it’ll just seem like groceries are more expensive. That’s always true (because, they are) and when inflation has been high for a couple of years it’ll feel really true and really tangible. That’s why these “I don’t know what you’re talking about I’m struggling, fuckin grocery bills and rent” talking points are so relatable. Because almost certainly the person you’re talking to will feel some version of that. And grocery prices are an easy touch-point to make it feel true.
But to a person who didn’t have a job before, and now does, it doesn’t feel like “the economic program” got better. It feels like they got a job. To someone who joined a union as those are making a start at a comeback for the last couple of years, or someone who was able to get one of those $15/hr entry level jobs that used to be impossible during and before Trump and are now becoming the standard, it doesn’t necessarily feel like things are “easy” now. And of course you can’t say Biden’s really fully responsible for that all happening, because he’s not.
If inflation at the grocery store is partly Biden’s fault, though, then why can’t the growth of unions and increase in wages at the bottom end of the scale be partly to his credit?
That’s the whole point of the OP article. The reality is, those $15/hr jobs and that union membership came about under Biden, and the wage growth that’s happened has been large enough to outpace even a couple years of massive inflation as Covid’s supply-chain issues and government spending really came home to roost. The fact that the growth is actually larger than the pain, even with those challenges, is really remarkable. And it’s weird that that’s not really any kind of significant narrative in the media. And it’s definitely weird that the inflation is somehow Biden’s fault while the wage growth that outpaced it isn’t to his credit.
If you click on the inflation link to the treasury, it says it excludes food and energy.
And if you play around with this calculator, you’ll see that food inflation is currently at 2.2%, the lowest it’s ever been since February 2020, when it was 1.8%. Energy has had some wild fluctuations around a fairly constant mean, including a big spike after Covid, but it’s currently actually back down to a negative 1.9%. It’s actually pretty interesting to look at the different metrics on that page, because they all show variations of the big spike after Covid but the return of pre-Covid levels afterwards. Housing is also an interesting one to look at, just bear in mind that it shows pure value (i.e. going steadily up) and not the percent change year by year like the other inflation metrics.
So… the argument is perfectly accurate, and the numbers shown good economic performance, but because one particular metric doesn’t include some numbers (because those numbers need to be excluded to do apples-to-apples international comparisons which is what they’re specifically talking about there), let’s throw the whole thing out and say Biden must actually doing a bad job because obviously the numbers that aren’t included are bad (even though when you look at them they’re not)? Kinda sounds like that’s the argument.
Just because food inflation is low now doesn’t mean that I can leave Costco for less than $200 for absolute basics. So, to your point, if they included food in the inflation estimate, it doesn’t seem like it would change much. To the articles point, and the point of the comment above us, people don’t believe the economy is doing well because they can’t afford food.
Part of the point of the article is that wages, compared with inflation, have gone up.
There were people who couldn’t afford food before Biden, and now even though he got handed an absolute economic shit show, there are quite a bit less of them than there were before. Surely that’s relevant?
So when was deflation? If you’re not worried about the inflation of previous years there must have been deflation. So when did that happen?
Or is this just more ignoring the reality of inflation to gaslight people?
It stacks, year after year, unless there’s deflation.
I got a pop quiz for you
If wages have grown relative to inflation
Then has the stacked impact of the reality of wages combined with the stacked impact of the reality of inflation made it easier for the average person to buy groceries? Or harder?
To any given person, it’ll just seem like groceries are more expensive. That’s always true (because, they are) and when inflation has been high for a couple of years it’ll feel really true and really tangible. That’s why these “I don’t know what you’re talking about I’m struggling, fuckin grocery bills and rent” talking points are so relatable. Because almost certainly the person you’re talking to will feel some version of that. And grocery prices are an easy touch-point to make it feel true.
But to a person who didn’t have a job before, and now does, it doesn’t feel like “the economic program” got better. It feels like they got a job. To someone who joined a union as those are making a start at a comeback for the last couple of years, or someone who was able to get one of those $15/hr entry level jobs that used to be impossible during and before Trump and are now becoming the standard, it doesn’t necessarily feel like things are “easy” now. And of course you can’t say Biden’s really fully responsible for that all happening, because he’s not.
If inflation at the grocery store is partly Biden’s fault, though, then why can’t the growth of unions and increase in wages at the bottom end of the scale be partly to his credit?
That’s the whole point of the OP article. The reality is, those $15/hr jobs and that union membership came about under Biden, and the wage growth that’s happened has been large enough to outpace even a couple years of massive inflation as Covid’s supply-chain issues and government spending really came home to roost. The fact that the growth is actually larger than the pain, even with those challenges, is really remarkable. And it’s weird that that’s not really any kind of significant narrative in the media. And it’s definitely weird that the inflation is somehow Biden’s fault while the wage growth that outpaced it isn’t to his credit.