We get a lot of Orwellian spin out of Washington D.C. A recession isn’t a recession, Putin’s price hikes caused inflation, and now we’re told a massive spending bill will cure inflation.
Last weekend, the Senate gave final approval to the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.” Despite the catchy title, it is nothing but a tax-and-spend bill. The pundit class insists this will not only cool inflation but will also lower the budget deficit. This is a pipe dream. As Ron Paul explains, the bill will not only increase inflation, it will also increase government spending and taxes.
Government price controls are a bad idea that just won’t go away.
With prices skyrocketing, you’ll hear some people on the left argue that the US government should implement price controls. Meanwhile, President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan would impose various price controls on prescription drugs.
Inflation is off the chain. The CPI rose by 9.2% on an annual basis in June. As Ron Paul explains, everybody is feeling the pain. Even penguins.
Ronald Reagan once said the most terrifying nine words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
One of the biggest problems with government help is that it always comes at a cost. And the burden of that cost almost always falls on the very people that big government claims to help – the poor and middle class.
After a weak swipe at inflation at its May meeting, the Federal Reserve delivered the biggest rate hike since 1994 at its June FOMC gathering. But is it enough to tackle persistently red-hot inflation?
Ron Paul doesn’t think so. He notes that the recent rate hikes have only raised rates to the level they were before the pandemic.
The Federal Reserve cannot increase rates to anywhere near the level they would be in a free market because doing so would increase interest payments to unsustainable levels for debt-ridden consumers, businesses, and the federal government.”
After last week’s FOMC meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell claimed that a “soft landing” was still possible. In other words, he thinks the central bank will be able to slay red-hot inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
Is this feasible? Or is it a fairytale?
A 75 basis-point rate hike wasn’t even on the table a month ago. It appears that the central bankers over at the Fed were crawling around under the table because they found a 75-basis point rate hike.
The Fed went big at the June FOMC meeting in response to hotter-than-expected May CPI data just a week earlier. Jerome Powell admitted that Fed members were “surprised” but another big spike in prices.
So, what’s the plan here? Well, by all indications, there isn’t one.
The Federal Reserve doesn’t have a very good track record. It was wrong about transitory inflation. It was wrong about peak inflation. And it’s almost certainly wrong in thinking the economy is strong enough to withstand tighter monetary policy to fight inflation.
But President Joe Biden trusts the Fed. The cornerstone of his inflation-fighting plan is to recognize the central bank “has the primary responsibility to control inflation.” He took a shot at President Trump for “demeaning” the Fed. On the other hand, Biden said he will respect the Fed and its independence.
People come up with all kinds of excuses for inflation. First, they told us there was no inflation. Then they insisted that it was transitory. Then they claimed it was caused by greedy corporations. Later they shifted the blame to Putin. But none of this gets to the root cause of inflation – the expansion of the money supply by the Federal Reserve.
If you want freedom, you need sound money.
So, argues economist Ludwig von Mises.
It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of right.”
