Biden tells us that he’s determined to fight inflation. Really?
We get inflation (i.e., generally rising prices) in part because the government has pumped up the supply of money relative to the production of goods and services. What is he doing with regard to those variables? Federal spending continues unabated, while Biden’s relentlessly statist economic agenda is driving down the output of goods and services. So, instead of “fighting” inflation, Biden is making it worse.
That is the argument Michael N. Peterson makes in this AIER essay.
He writes, “With this much federal spending and so little regard for its adverse consequences, something’s got to give, and that something is likely going to be the economy. If Biden’s policies continue apace, we could be marching toward a period of stagflation, defined by low economic growth and high inflation.”
Indeed. Peterson proceeds to enumerate some of the worst aspects of Biden’s economic (or perhaps anti-economic) policies: the disincentives for people to work, increased taxes, subsidies for college students, strengthening of unions, and so on. What Biden & Co. has in mind is the antithesis of supply-side economics. It’s redistributive meddling.
Peterson sums up: “The uncertainty that follows from Biden’s reckless and heavy-handed agenda is perhaps the greatest factor holding back the American economy. With no solid ground on which to stand, producers and consumers face a future defined by low economic performance and persistently high inflation expectations.”