U.S. inflation in October hit a three-decade high of 6.2%.
More specifically, the consumer-price index increased by 0.9% last month, compared to its increase of 0.4% in September and 0.3% in August. This is the fastest rate of increase in 31 years.
But don’t believe your lying eyes, says our very reliable and informed pundit class. The professional friends of President Joe Biden now argue both that inflation is not happening and that it’s not as bad as you think it is.
“Inflation and shortages of some goods are real issues,” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued this week, “but much of the economic discontent seems to be based on news reports and partisan leanings.”
OK, sure, inflation is rising, but you’re just scared because of Fox News. Of course, Fox News was not able to make Biden unpopular before the inflation hit, but uh, OK …
MSNBC, meanwhile, promoted an opinion article this week on social media with the following headline: “Why the inflation we’re seeing now is a good thing.”
The cost of basic and luxury items has increased everywhere this year, affecting the price of everything from groceries to utilities to appliances. We’ve been on an inflationary trajectory all year. In fact, as Bloomberg News noted Wednesday, inflation has risen steadily all year since at least the Jan. 20 inauguration Biden.
Just in: U.S. inflation hits 6.2%, the highest since 1990 https://t.co/mtLN4jeeSM pic.twitter.com/7Vyz08H6ZY
— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) November 10, 2021
You’re the dumdum, however, for being concerned about this, according to the professional pundits.
“America, don’t panic over rising prices,” the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board said in late October.
“Prices are indeed rising,” the board concedes, “as you surely have noticed, and the upward pressure is likely to continue for some time. But this is not your grandpa’s inflationary spiral. … The inflation we’ve experienced so far today is more like a pussycat in comparison.”
These analyses would be less annoying were it not for the fact the same industry assured us earlier this year that inflation was not going to be a problem.
“Inflation Isn’t Lurking Around the Corner. This Isn’t the 1970s,” reads the headline to a Feb. 16 opinion article by New York Times columnist and editorial board member Binyamin Appelbaum, who then remarked in May, “I find the fixation on 1970s inflation puzzling for several reasons. Inflation really wasn’t that high, certainly not by the standards of ‘historically memorable inflations.’ Also, high inflation was good for a lot of people. Student loan debt disappeared! Home ownership spiked!”
Also in May, the Washington Post published an opinion article titled, “What scaremongering about inflation gets wrong.” Its subhead adds, “Inflation isn’t inexorably a bad thing. In fact, it used to be considered good.”
Later, in July, Vox published an article titled, “Don’t worry about inflation.” Its subhead likewise reads, “Why fears of the return of 1970s-style inflation are overblown.”
If you’re surprised by these takes, you shouldn’t be. This is the same class of people who spent last Friday snickering at a CNN report on a Texas family that says the rising cost of inflation has driven up the price of basic groceries, including milk.
At the White House, the inflation spin has been just as silly. Yes, the pundit class and the Democratic-controlled White House are in lockstep on this issue — a real shocker, huh?
“I don’t think we’re about to lose control of inflation,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last month during an appearance on CNN. “It’s something that’s obviously a concern and worrying them, but we haven’t lost control.”
She added, “Monthly rates of inflation have already fallen substantially from the very high rates that we saw in the spring and early summer.”
On Wednesday, the Oval Office released a statement, trying to make it look like 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists were saying the president’s multitrillion-dollar domestic agenda will actually “ease inflationary pressures,” contrary to basic economic principles.
The economists actually said the White House’s agenda will “ease longer-term inflationary pressures.” I emphasize “longer-term” because that’s the sneaky part.
So inflation isn’t happening. Also, it’s not as bad as you think. Also, we’re going to quietly erase the part where the economists were careful to say “longer-term.”
Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined.
