Finally, an article by someone more knowledgeable than me that I can point to when liberals reply to any criticism I have of Biden with "What else could you expect him to do?????"
Finally, an article by someone more knowledgeable than me that I can point to when liberals reply to any criticism I have of Biden with "What else could you expect him to do?????"
The seemingly strong macroeconomic performance of the U.S. economy—illustrated by GDP growth in 2023 of 2.9 percent, well ahead of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s average of 1.8 percent, and an unemployment rate dropping to a 55-year low of 3.4 percent in January 2023—concealed a glaring incongruity: that companies could score record profits even as millions of Americans struggled to afford the basics of their day-to-day lives. That reality, however, was evident in the presidential elections, with voters punishing the incumbent Democrats.
In many countries, the food processing and grocery sectors are highly concentrated, with a few powerful corporations dominating entire market segments. That can allow firms to squeeze consumers in times of inflation. Whereas U.S. President Joe Biden merely criticized companies for exploiting crises to raise prices and boost profits, the Mexican government took action. AMLO’s administration leveraged the concentrated nature of these markets, bringing the dominant players into a single room to negotiate a deal.
In 2020, Trump in fact used the Defense Production Act to prevent price gouging for personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden could have invoked similar powers to stabilize food and energy prices. Although he called out refineries for expanding their profit margins amid the energy price crisis, he did not back his rhetoric with policy changes. Biden could have revisited the price control provisions of the Defense Production Act or pushed for congressional legislation on price gouging. But even as he became an outspoken critic of trickle-down economics, his advisers deemed price policies too unorthodox to advance.
Trump predictably branded Harris a “communist” for her stance on price gouging, even though he himself campaigned on promises to slash energy costs, lower the price of essentials, and cap credit card interest rates. Such a cap is overt price control, far more interventionist than Harris’s suggested legislation to curb price gouging. Hypocrisy aside, Trump seemed to understand that the public wanted a leader who would protect citizens from the worst effects of the market in a time of emergencies.
Just based on what you've posted, I'm very interested in giving it a read. Looks to be well researched on potential options, even if it does feel like hindsight.
Just based on what you've posted, I'm very interested in giving it a read. Looks to be well researched on potential options, even if it does feel like hindsight.
When I first read the reference to Mexico and Spain as having done better at managing inflation, I kept reading hoping that the author would provide some evidence of that. That never happened, so...
When I first read the reference to Mexico and Spain as having done better at managing inflation, I kept reading hoping that the author would provide some evidence of that. That never happened, so I went and looked it up.
Annual rates of inflation
Country
2019 Dec
2022 peak
2023 Dec
2024 Dec
Spain
0.8
10.8
3.1
2.8
Mexico
2.8
8.7
4.7
4.2
US
2.3
9.1
3.4
2.9
After looking at recent peak inflation with a few points before and after, it looks like these three countries were in the same ballpark for their official inflation figures.
Given that the article mentions both liberal and conservative incumbents losing elections partially due to inflation, it seems like they are showing that it's more about optics ("we're doing something, even if it's not effective!") rather than actually having better management of the economy. Well, I guess that's pretty important. Democrats will tell you that the economists say that things like price controls won't help, whereas Trump will tell you that he's fixed everything regardless of what is happening. We recently had a vote on which approach is more popular. Democrats need to get better at looking like they're doing something if they want to win more elections.
Finally, an article by someone more knowledgeable than me that I can point to when liberals reply to any criticism I have of Biden with "What else could you expect him to do?????"
Just based on what you've posted, I'm very interested in giving it a read. Looks to be well researched on potential options, even if it does feel like hindsight.
Inflation is gonna come 'round again, so hopefully hindsight can help the relevant legislators learn from their mistakes and do better in the future!
When I first read the reference to Mexico and Spain as having done better at managing inflation, I kept reading hoping that the author would provide some evidence of that. That never happened, so I went and looked it up.
Annual rates of inflation
After looking at recent peak inflation with a few points before and after, it looks like these three countries were in the same ballpark for their official inflation figures.
Given that the article mentions both liberal and conservative incumbents losing elections partially due to inflation, it seems like they are showing that it's more about optics ("we're doing something, even if it's not effective!") rather than actually having better management of the economy. Well, I guess that's pretty important. Democrats will tell you that the economists say that things like price controls won't help, whereas Trump will tell you that he's fixed everything regardless of what is happening. We recently had a vote on which approach is more popular. Democrats need to get better at looking like they're doing something if they want to win more elections.
Mirror: https://archive.is/AkbZ3