The correct expression back when sshould have been “It’s the stupid economy.” not “It’s the economy, stupid.” Not much has changed. Interest rate cuts are now on hold thanks to resurgent inflation.
The Stupid Economy is based in 1970s monetarist mythology. Inflation figures are based on prices. The inflation rate simply tells you that something that cost $1 two years ago costs $1.50 now, but it’ll only cost $1.53 in the unspecified future.
(Neither Friedman nor Keynes said, “Send everybody broke,” but you do?)
It’s a purely self-serving exercise as an excuse. If nobody has any money, there is no money supply. You also don’t “save” money when inflation goes down. You just get gouged a bit less. Meanwhile, you have to pay for everything anyway.
“The market”, that amorphous herd of altruists, assumed interest rates would go down. That was the aspirin for the various compound fractures in the US economy.
“The market” also didn’t acknowledge that it’s almost entirely (99%) responsible for the massive cost-of-living increases. The excuse is interest rates, the fact is that profits were going fine, according to the markets, before the Big Gouge began in 2022.
This is the other really big excuse for anything and everything, US politics,, that epitome of sanity and competence, now comes into the picture. On the one hand you have a conservative party that refuses to think beyond 1920. On the other hand, you have a progressive party that barely manages to keep up with the 1960s.
It’s an interesting mix. You have a candidate who couldn’t possibly get a real job to save his or anyone else’s life. You have another candidate who’s suddenly too old for the job he’s actually doing according to the party that gave him that job.
The big question – Are you ignorant enough yet?
You may now rejoice.
You will definitely be ignorant enough by November 2024. Not one quantum particle of rational thought will be applied to any of these issues.
There will be no logic. (Where would you put it, anyway?) All of America’s problems are caused by people. If you deny housing, health, and income to these people, they’ll go away.
You can see the billboards rising in clouds across America:
“Be you one of they people-critters? Git!”
(For journalistic balance – Americans don’t usually like slavishly taking orders from trash. It’s a comparatively recent thing since 2016. Just thought I’d mention it.)
You may have noticed that when your money goes away, it doesn’t make a habit of coming back. When it goes into somebody else’s pocket, forget it.
You can take a shrewd guess that the people receiving your money aren’t going to be trying too hard to stop receiving it. Billions of dollars per day are doing that. The gouging will continue regardless of interest rate moves.
These are the same people who used to be Masters of the Universe, and always had “great numbers” for the last 40-plus years to prove that they were geniuses to justify their salaries. Their jobs consist entirely of doing deals for themselves.
The pristine and virtuous world of American politics is of course completely unaware of these things. Not one word of any of it will be a topic for conversation, let alone debate.
It’ll be about the kiddies who’ll never be able to afford anything. It’ll be about the inflated self-importance of someone who should be nameless, diapers and all. It’ll be about being old. You dewy-eyed idiots, you.
It won’t be about the diminishing, not to say nearly extinct, capital base of Middle America. It won’t be about AI. It won’t be about the total destruction of the 20th-century economic model. Cuz that’s nerd stuff.
Your ignorance is safe. Return to digging your caves.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
