Bidenflation, year one

As the United States government measures such things, inflation hit a 40-year high of 7.5 percent over the past year. Reuters reports the story here. The Biden administration has achieved remarkable results in its first year in office.

For the average family, that works out to increased costs of something like $276 per month. Whatever the shortcomings of the government’s measurement of inflation, the particulars defy roughly everything said about inflation by the powers that be over the past year. It’s a long way to transitory.

This past May Hoover research fellow David Henderson ventured a prediction that has already materialized: “I would put an 80 percent probability on the prediction that before the end of 2022, there will be at least one twelve-month period in which the CPI has risen by at least 5 percent.” Although correct, that seems something of an understatement at this point.

Henderson further assessed the odds on a Carter-era rerun: “I would also estimate less than a 20 percent probability that in the same time period, there will be a twelve-month period in which the inflation rate hits Carter-era 10 percent.” That is reassuring — I certainly hope he’s right — but we have a long way to go, and 7.5 percent inflicts a lot of damage all by itself.

Not to worry though. Joe Biden was out there on the hustings yesterday pushing for the multitrillion dollar Bummer Beyond Belief blowout on the assertion that it would mitigate inflation. It’s almost funny.

On a related note, CNN has reported the results of its latest poll on Biden’s job performance. When the 60 percent of respondents who disapprove of Biden’s overall performance were asked to name a single thing he’d done that they approved of, most (56 percent) were left speechless. “He’s not Donald Trump. That’s pretty much it,” one despondent respondent said. Another answered: “I really like his new cat, Willow Biden.”