In looking back over the past four years, it amazing how our finances have been hit with higher food, gas and utility prices. We have tried to cut back on just necessities but when your water and sewer bill (thank you city of Chattanooga sewer and water treatment) that is 15 to 20 percent higher than two years ago, what else can you do? Second job? Work more hours? Delayed retirement?
Given the current recession (yes, I said it, recession) based on the economic indicators and the Sahm rule, our current direction with government spending and handouts needs to end.
The idea that Social Security will be available is now a pipe dream and the only thing you can do is be dependent on the Federal Government handouts? No thanks.
Tim Bittenbender
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You go to the super market and the prices of eggs makes you think they are solid gold. The price of meats is much the same way as are lot of other things are higher than they should be. But Biden has had no control over what is sold in the stores, he does not raise chickens, cattle or hogs and he has no direct control on how they are priced.
When you think about electronic goods that are made in China and you can think about Trump’s tariffs, those he told you would be paid for by China. Such is not the case, the tariffs are paid when the goods hit a port in the country. The company that has to pay those tariffs, whether they arrive as finished goods or components that the manufacture their products. The cost of the tariffs, and there are a lot more things he placed tariffs on, are rolled into the cost of manufacturing or integrate those cost into the prices of the finished goods that they import. No manufacturer will simply absorb those dollars, reducing their profits and their entire business.
Biden is not in the oil business and has little to do with gasoline and other oil products. Surely he is importing oil from abroad, with the many problems in this world and the probability of wars in other parts of the world, we have to have oil for ships, vehicles and other things. So importing oil is to have a safety zone. Other costs, and certainly not all of them, are the cost of transportation from point to point.
The problem in many instances is the greed of the manufacturer and producers. I read an ad from a grocery store in the late 50s, all of the steaks were selling around $0.99 per pound. I have seen prices as high as $12.99 per pound in the grocery stores. The producers know that you will pay that much, so they, in their greed, will stay as close to the $12 price as they can. I have seen people grocery shopping pushing three carts full of things that are superfluous to their existence.
You have to figure in weather. The mid-west and the northeast have had horrible weather for the last few years. A drive through Illinois a year or two ago, had grown their corn and grain crops to where they were about a foot high, but massive rains flooded the field and rotted their crops in the field. That meant that the farmer had to replant or plow the fields over. That would increase the cost of veggies, grains and corn and that is reflected in their prices in the stores. I can remember when co*kes were a nickel, chocolate bars were at a nickel also. The answer to this is do not buy what you really do not need. You do not need a T-bone steak or a filet mignon, there are lesser priced meats and things like chicken or pork, though high also, they have about the same nutritional value. I do not like steaks anyway, they have always been too expensive. Actually, beans (black, white or red and others) have a high nutritional value and are much less expensive. Get lesser cost meats and a good time to buy is when they are marked down because their shelf lives are almost over. You, at that point, save a lot of money. Personally, I like black and red beans on either white or yellow rice with chopped onions.
When greedy producers see their products are not selling, the prices will come down.
Other than greedy manufacturers and grocery producers, along with the fuel companies, this economy is in good shape. Even considering the over $1,000 drop in the stock market the other day, there are reasons that happened and it is not recession. Warren Buffet selling a ton of stock, which he did with his Apple stock, will knock the market around, but it will correct.
Over the term that Biden has been in office I have put more into savings than I would have expected. My income is only a VA disability check and a Social Security check and my wife gets retirement and Social Security. That is not a lot of money. I was not raised rich and I am not rich, I am still working on my first million. I worked my way through college and neither my wife nor I have a stupendous college debt. Interestingly, many of those complaining about high prices fill the parking lots of expensive restaurants. I do not do that. I have not eaten at a fine restaurant since the first day of the COVID plague began. My wife’s middle name must be frugal.
Many people in the U.S. are unable to put money into savings, they are living paycheck to paycheck. A phenomenal number of people cannot either make a necessary repair on their homes or cars. I saw a woman the other day who needed gas but all of her credit cards are maxed out, she scrounged two or three dollars to buy enough to get home. I have been married for 53 years and never had a credit card maxed out.
One of my favorite meals, it is Cuban, and in the English of its Spanish name is Old Clothes, you can find a multitude of recipes on the net. There are always leftovers so your family gets more than one meal out of it.
Raleigh C. Perry
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Mr. Perry, in your response you allege the cause of inflation is corporate greed. You offer no basis to blame businesses for the high cost of food, goods and services. Please let me enlighten you.
Inflation and unemployment were almost nonexistent when Biden and Harris were inaugurated. In their first day in office they restricted the production of oil and natural gas. Energy costs directly affect the cost of production and commerce.
Another factor is the open border. Kamala Harris opened the border and even ordered the barrier walls demolished, creating an unrestricted flow of criminals and narcotics into our nation. Federal, state and local tax dollars go to support the 10 to 14 million people who entered our nation illegally over the past 44 months. They place a tremendous burden on our Medicaid and Social Security programs, as well as the criminal justice system.
The Biden/Harris administration caused the wages for unskilled workers to double. The COVID stimulus permanently closed many small businesses because they couldn’t afford to pay their employees as much as the unemployment benefits they received by staying at home. Increased wages boosted the cost of goods used by all businesses.
Federal regulations cause difficulties for those who produce food. One example is the federal government restriction on beef production. Recently, a regulation was implemented requiring all ranchers to tag every head of livestock and limit the number of cattle that may be raised to produce beef.
The cost of housing has increased dramatically because of high interest rates as well tax increases by local governments trying to the recoup their increased costs due to inflation, increased demand for services from noncitizens and increased crime.
The only way to combat inflation is the reduce the size of local, state and federal government and to reduce their involvement in our lives. Higher taxation of business only serves to encourage them to move to a more favorable country.
Michael Glenn
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Michael, it’s one thing to try to rewrite history, and quite another to paint rainbows and unicorns when you do so. Your reply was so incredulous I had to pick my jaw up off the floor while reading it.
You wrote the unemployment rate was almost nonexistent when Joe Biden took office in January of 2021. That nonexistent rate was 6.4 percent, representing over 10 million unemployed.
You seem to neglect that on the heels of high unemployment, people weren’t buying much of anything, so yes our inflation rate was only 1.4 percent, which was bordering on depression level. Ideally, a 2 percent rate of inflation is the goal, because it means the economy is growing at a sustainable rate. Our current inflation rate is 3 percent by the way.
I especially enjoyed your comment about President Biden restricting oil and gas production. I guess you completely forgot about Trump telling, not asking mind you, the Russians and the Saudis to slash oil production in April of 2020. That was during the shutdown period of the pandemic and gas prices were plummeting because no one was buying gas.
Biden did immediately stop drilling and mining on public lands, thank goodness. I would hate to go into a national park and see oil derricks everywhere. He also paused exporting of our liquified natural gas. But guess what, Michael, during the Biden administration we are at historic levels of oil production, averaging 12.9 million barrels of oil per day.
I suppose the fact that we are producing more oil than ever blows your view that corporations could be just a tad greedy though, so I know you didn’t want to include that in your big-gubmint ranting.
I especially loved how Michael gave our vice president the authority to do things she never could have. But that dialog fits in with the right-wing tripe being passed around, so no one can blame him for trying.
Yes, immigration at our Southern border is a problem, which brings to question why Republicans opposed the recent bi-partisan bill to fix the situation. That bill consisted of every single thing Republicans have been shouting about wanting, yet they opposed it when it came to the floor.
The 22 completed miles of wall Trump completed on our Southern border was a laughing stock at best. Due to the pandemic in 2020, Trump had imposed a shutdown of our border to halt the spread of the pandemic. Following the pandemic subsiding, President Biden reopened our border, and our apprehensions of illegals increased dramatically, as well as our deportations.
It’s insane to suggest that we’ve had 10 to 14 million illegals enter our country over the last four years. Our entire illegal alien population is estimated by the DHS to be a total of 11.4 million.
Of course, with wages increasing during Biden’s term there has been an increased demand for goods and services, including housing. That gets back to the old supply and demand we were taught about in junior high. Increased demand means people are spending more money by the way. That demand creates a shortage of goods and services to be offered, which drives up the prices.
Those increased demands we keep hearing about have subsided a bit as goods and services met up with the demand. But we keep hearing about record levels of new home construction, people traveling through our airports, and so on.
Rod Dagnan
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Mr. Glenn, thank you for your excellent post in response to Mr. Raleigh Perry. Your answer was correct but I don’t think Mr. Perry or others of his political side can be otherwise convinced. In a previous post Mr. Perry proudly pointed to being exempt from property tax in his county or the very expensive ad valorem taxes Georgia levies. He also indicated he and his spouse received Social Security benefits and some kind of VA benefit he didn’t detail. His home is apparently paid for as he bemoaned current prices.
It’s commendable when he says he and the wife don’t live above their means, but what he doesn’t consider is somebody has to pay more in property taxes and ad valorem tax he doesn’t. That would be the younger families and workers who are struggling pay for food, fuel and insurance and our grandchildren paying his Social Security.
Progressives don’t do anything that leads to progress. The only thing they do is make everything progressively worse (Greg Gutfeld). They see everyone in groups not as individuals and when things don’t go well in their administration they create a mythology to say it does.
Ralph Miller
