Money doesn’t go as far as it used to. You might feel faint when you buy a brocolli. It never used to cost so much! Or your daily ritual of going through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A takes you closer to bankruptcy. The only thing not suffering inflation is the drive-thru: why is it so damn long?
The crisis has a name: Inflation. It’s a word thrown around like confetti, but there’s no party. Economists will tell you voodoo stories about the causes of inflation. They will tell you it’s caused by pent-up demand after COVID, “market distortions” in the workforce, and the war in Ukraine.
The problem is none of this is really true. Inflation has nothing to do with those things except on a superficial level.
The real issue is government spending. The central planners are spending so much money that it’s turning the U.S. dollar into trash. The pretence that the U.S. dollar is worth anything is vanishing. Also vanishing is your income and savings.
Most people will say that inflation makes goods more expensive. But what is actually happening is that your money doesn’t buy what it used to. The dollar is so weakened that it takes more dollars to buy everyday things. Everyone has to raise prices just to stay ahead.
Since the dollar is no longer backed by gold (not since 1971), it’s now backed by thin air. Since money comes from thin air, there’s no restraint on spending by governent. Talk about debt-ceilings, and responsible fiscal spending, is just for mainstream media. They don’t really believe it, so why should you?
The government passes the cost of its unrestrained spending onto Americans by the stealth tax of inflation. Middle America feels this more than anyone. They are the ones who foot most of the tax bill. With inflation and heavy income taxation, they are being squeezed like oranges in the presser.
The Biden government is shovelling as much money as they can into the economy to pay for their promises. In the first two months of 2024, the government spent $1.7 trillion. In June 2024, it will be $4.5 trillion. By the end of December, we’ll all move to Mexico because that’s the only affordable place left to live.
The biggest money sinks in their total spending are Health and Medicare (28.7%), Social Security (16.8%) and the old fav’ National Defense (14.8%). But for all that spending, there doesn’t seem to be much defense on that southern border…just sayin’.
The new entrant in the race is Net Interest (11.7%) and that is climbing fast in the rankings. This is where the government raises debt to pay for debt without ever paying it down. It won’t be long before Net Interest is bigger than even National Defence.
But none of this really compares to what is going on at Chick-fil-A. In Wisconsin, their classic chicken sandwich went up from $5.00 in 2021 to $6.95 in 2024. Inflation is causing chicken nuggets to turn in their peanut oil. But you wouldn’t think so watching the queues of cars inching along the drive-thru.
The CEO of Chick-fil-A took the mainline approach that costs had gone up due to packaging, ingredients and transportation. But we know what’s really going on. And it ‘aint that chicken seasoning is harder to make.