Inflation

According to Webster’s dictionary inflation is defined as  “A continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services”.  The US now is in one of its greatest inflationary periods in nearly 40 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bls.gov. 

 The sharp increase of energy prices, one of the biggest drivers of inflation, has affected nearly every middle and lower income family.  Since the cost of energy virtually touches every product and service it is critically important to keep it in check. However, this administration has done little to avoid the increases.  In fact, by shutting down the Keystone Pipeline they may have made it worse.  The US went from an energy exporter to an energy importer.

In addition to skyrocketing energy costs, this administration has pumped billions of dollars into the economy in the form of paychecks to individuals, grants, PPP along with hundreds of millions to schools. This doling out of money appears to have kept people out of the work force and thus contributing to the supply chain crisis.

According to John Maynard Keynes (one of the most well respected economists in our history) “By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens”.  

This invisible tax needs to be addressed immediately.  Energy costs need to be normalized and the government needs to incentivize people to go back to work, not pay them to stay home. Again, inflation hits the middle and lower income families the most.

-Richard Geisinger