We Are Facing an Economic Meltdown

The ill-conceived agenda of President Biden and the Democratic controlled Congress is extremely harmful to America in almost every respect. Probably the worst injury from the first nine months of radically liberal government actions has been the assault on the nation’s economy. The drastic cuts in domestic oil production, excessive unemployment pay, spiraling government debt, and the proposed largest socialist spending package in history have combined to raise the inflation rate to a level not seen since 1990.

I was an associate professor of economics at the college graduate school level for 11 years. The Biden Administration’s economic advisors in Washington are surely smarter than I am at keeping our nation’s economy in balance. It doesn’t really take much understanding of the basic concepts of economics to realize you can’t constrain essential production, pay people to not work, and borrow trillions of dollars to give more entitlements to people and expect the economy to thrive. The economists advising the Democrats are obviously focused on political maneuvering rather than fundamental economic principles.

Compared to a year ago, prices of gasoline and other oil products are up over 40% at a seven-year high due to shortages, food is up 4.6%, housing costs have risen 18.6%, and used car prices have soared 45% because of new car prices and shortages. These rapidly increasing rates of inflation point to the nightmarish decade of the 70’s when inflation hit 13%. The current jammed up supply chain is the direct result of inflation and labor shortages. The only thing that stops inflation is the reversal of what caused it. In the present case, swift and aggressive easing of production constraints, removing the disincentives for work, capping the debt ceiling, and stopping the massive, socialism spending bills are absolutely necessary.

Another basic economic principle has to be understood by all Americans. “Tax the rich and corporations” is a fairy tale. Those taxes are just passed along to the consuming middle class and poor in price increases. Price increases are the same as taxes–they take money from the consumer. Inflation is always harder on the poor than the middle class and wealthy, because the poor only buy essentials. So, Biden’s mantra about taxing the rich for the socialist spending is deceptive and ludicrous.

In my opinion, the best action America can take right now to save our economy is to open the Keystone XL pipeline and take the constraints off oil drilling and production, remove disincentives and provide incentives for everyone to go back to work, cap the debt ceiling, and stop, not just reduce, the so-called “Build Back Better” reconciliation spending bill. The bi-partisan Infrastructure bill should also be reduced significantly, taking out all the pork that doesn’t include construction of roads, bridges, rails, and ports. Yes, that is a huge commitment. I guess we’ll see how much backbone our conservatives in Washington have. They know the remedy for inflation, but will they fight for it?

Never underestimate the importance of communicating with your senators and representative. It’s easy. Just google their names, go to their websites, and tell them what you want. In this case, tell them to end work disincentives, cap the national debt, and vote against the unthinkable socialist reconciliation bill–at any amount. Please do that immediately. They work for you.