Inflation
March 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The state of Minnesota overtaxed us by $17 billion in the last biennium and is sitting on the surplus. The funds should be returned on a pro rata basis to those of us who were compelled to fork over the dough, but that’s not what state Democrats have in mind, even when they couch their proposals in the language of “rebates.” That much I can tell you. The Star Tribune
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March 17, 2023 — Scott Johnson
When Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen toed the administration line on inflation being “transitory,” she exposed herself as a political hack. Why anyone should even believe anything she says is not exactly a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. No one should. The Wall Street Journal leads off its editorial today with reference to Yellen: Janet Yellen offered more assurances Thursday that U.S. banks are safe and sound—and we
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March 13, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
As Warren Buffet once famously said, “Only when the tide goes out do you learn who has been swimming naked.” And last week, that turned out to be the Silicon Valley Bank, whose customers include tech startups, venture-capital firms, and Napa Valley wineries. SVB’s leadership certainly deserves their fair share of the blame. Bankers, more than anyone else, knew that an aggressive interest rate tightening cycle lay ahead. Federal Reserve
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March 12, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Economist John Phelan offers this succinct explanation of how government policies contributed to the collapse of SVB: On Friday regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and seized its deposits in the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-largest ever. We shouldn’t be surprised. Neither should we relax. To recap: Between June 2006 and December 2008, the Federal Reserve’s target for the federal funds rate was
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February 22, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Yesterday the stock markets had their worst day of the year, so far. From today’s Wall Street Journal: Walmart and Home Depot offered cautious outlooks as consumers spend more on food and less on electronics, apparel and home improvements, with inflation and changing habits hitting demand for many goods. All of this is, and has long been, blindingly obvious. The federal government engaged in trillions of dollars in mostly wasteful
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November 14, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Americans’ standard of living has been hammered by inflation the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. There has been lots of happy talk from the administration, but no one thinks prices are going down any time soon. What, then, is going to happen? My colleague John Phelan offers an answer: prices should be rather stable for a while, unless the federal government embarks on a fresh money-printing spree:
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November 2, 2022 — Scott Johnson
For some reason or other Biden spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre’s explanation of the tweet — let’s declare it the tweet of the year — deleted by the White House this morning reminds me of Johnny Cochrane’s closing argument on behalf of O.J. Simpson. Both O.J. and Biden are guilty. However, Cochrane got his guilty client off. KJP just kept reading out her talking point. A reporter asks about the White House's
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November 2, 2022 — Scott Johnson
President Biden was firing off disgusting lies at mind-boggling speed yesterday, so the competition is stiff. However, I think this one posted to the official White House Twitter account inarguably deserves recognition as the lie of the day. In the tweet Biden claims responsibility for the COLA increase in Social Security disbursements next year. The White House attributes the increase in “Social Security checks” to Biden’s “leadership,” which is true
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November 1, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I’ve been looking for tea leaves to read in connection with the midterm elections next week. The Twitter feed of Interactive Polls links to the Wall Street Journal poll reported here in today’s paper. (The tweet links to an accessible version of the story here.) The poll was conducted by Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio and Democratic pollster John Anzalone. I trust that when commissioned by the Wall Street Journal, they
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November 1, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Michael Ramirez observed Halloween yesterday with the editorial cartoon posted here at his Substack site (below). He calls it “Scary Inflation.” President Biden seems to have taken over from “Dr. Jill.” As Dracula strikes Biden covers for him. We are to believe that all is well as Biden touts the wonderworking power of the Inflation Reduction Act. Ramirez himself strikes in this cartoon with a dry and biting wit. Copyright
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October 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Stacey Abrams represents the beating heart of the Democratic Party. Pressed on the relative salience of abortion and inflation, Abrams explains: “Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas. It’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs. For women this is not a reductive issue.” Showing the advantages of a sophisticated vocabulary, Abrams aptly expresses her point. Let us not “reduce” abortion to an issue of
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October 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
We are within three weeks of the midterm elections. Democrats’ control of the White House leaves them in a good position to mitigate anticipated losses by taking action to affect the political environment. President Biden’s handlers seem to me not to have chosen well so far. The Biden economy inflicts pain on a daily basis. What have they got for that? They served up the Inflation Reduction Act. In other
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October 13, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Cost of living data are out for September, and they are grim. The Wall Street Journal reports: U.S. consumer inflation excluding energy and food accelerated to a new four-decade high in September, a sign that strong and broad price pressures are persisting. The Labor Department on Thursday said that its so-called core consumer-price index—which excludes volatile energy and food prices—rose 6.6% in September from a year earlier, the biggest increase
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September 27, 2022 — Scott Johnson
President Biden has delivered the worst inflation in 40 years. We see it one way or another every day. One effect of the current inflation is decline in real wages. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Biden has no idea what it means or that he is willing to say anything to try to mitigate the political damage that it is inflicting on Democrats who have enacted
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September 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I would be embarrassed to conduct an interview with the president that was as lame as Scott Pelley’s lovefest with President Biden on 60 Minutes last night. The Biden administration accorded Pelley a substantial amount of time to chat with Biden and Pelley returned the favor with a variety of softballs and dropped balls as well as his own apologetics — to no one’s surprise, of course, but still. It
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September 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
President Biden threw a party at the White House to celebrate the absurdly named Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday. I noted it in “KJP on the IRA.” Asked to explain what the IRA would do to moderate inflation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded in word that, when translated, indicated it would do nothing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended the party, as did Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Byron
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September 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The White House celebrated the passage of the bizarrely named Inflation (tax, spending, climate) bill yesterday. President Biden spoke at excruciating length on the White House lawn. He had the crowd yearning for an encore by Nancy Pelosi, or even James Taylor. Opening with “What a great, great crowd,” Biden may have succeeded in avoiding the utterance of a true statement in his entire spiel. The White House has posted
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