Rebutting Right Wing Zombie Lies On Inflation
There are numerous pernicious lies in American politics coming from the Republican Party and the radical right. Unfortunately, millions of voters and the “liberal” mainstream media have bought into these myths. It is our duty as Democrats to rebut right wing zombie lies and set the record straight.
- Inflation is Joe Biden’s fault.
The Republicans would like to blame the current round of inflation on a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that Joe Biden signed back in March 2021. Let’s take a look at the facts shall we?
I want to begin with a serious question for the Republicans. Why was the smaller American Rescue Act inflationary, but the other $5 trillion in Covid stimulus signed into law in 2020 by Trump not inflationary?
“There’s a range of opinion among economists on how much of the US’s higher inflation over 2021 can be attributed to the American Rescue Plan. Michael Strain of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute has estimated the law added 3 percentage points. Dean Baker of the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research, though, put that number at 1–2 percentage points.” From Vox.com
The reality is that inflation is largely caused by supply chain problems and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the present time, much of China is being locked down for that country’s so-called “zero covid” strategy. Is Biden responsible for idled factories and ports in China?
What about food inflation? Biden’s fault? “Together, Russia and Ukraine supply 12% of the world’s traded calories. In 2021 they were also the world’s first and fifth biggest exporters of wheat. That amounts to 28% of the world market.” The Economist. Exports of grain from Russia and Ukraine have largely been shutdown.
Now what about gas prices? Back in December 2021, The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that in 2022, gas prices were expected to average $2.88. That prediction was knocked into a cocked hat by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Due to these factors, inflation is a world wide problem We learned that the U.K.’s inflation rate jumped to a 40 year high of 9% in May. If U.S. inflation is entirely Joe Biden’s fault, why are prices rising in the E.U. and U.K. at about the same rate?
What is the GOP plan for inflation? Let’s hear about it? I’m all ears!
2. The president controls gas prices.
The GOP claim that Biden is responsible for higher gas prices is partisan and disingenuous. We can find evidence of the GOP’s dishonesty by taking a trip back in time, to 2008.
During 2008, gas prices spiked to an average of $4.14 per gallon. Adjusted for inflation, 2008 gas prices would be $5.37 in today’s dollars. Did the GOP blame George W. Bush?
George W. Bush on April 29, 2008, said there was no “magic wand” to bring down record-high fuel prices. “I firmly believe that, you know, if there was a magic wand to wave, I’d be waving it, of course.”
Frequent Fox News guest Cal Thomas said: “Journalists don’t really examine the substance of it…the facts are, no president has the power to increase or lower gas prices. Those are market forces.”
Back in 2008, Bill O’Reilly was the highest rated Fox News star. (He has since resigned over a series of sexual harassment and assaults at that network.) When O’Reilly discussed gas prices hitting a record high, he (correctly) said that “politicians cannot do a thing about it.” O’Reilly suggested that people should try to cut back on consumption in hopes of driving prices down.
Was the GOP and Fox News lying in 2008? Or are they lying now? What is it?
The reality is that the president of the U.S. doesn’t control the price of gas. That’s the argument Republicans made in 2008 when gas was around $5.37 per gallon. This was one of the few occasions when Republicans were right about something.
The GOP is being equally dishonest when they give Trump credit for gas prices that were $1.80 per gallon in April of 2020. What they leave out is that the country was locked down and unemployment was 15%. Does anybody want to go back to those days?
By the time Trump left office in January 2021, gas prices had risen 33% up to $2.40 per gallon. The current trend of rising prices began when Trump was president and is due to supply and demand.
Trump himself is partially responsible for high gas prices. During the 2020 recession, Trump and OPEC entered into an agreement to limit oil production. Due to Trump’s agreement, OPEC continues to limit the production of oil.
Another factor causing high gas prices are the end of most of the covid lockdowns in the summer of 2020. Since the re-opening of most of the world economy, demand has outstripped supply. The oil companies have been slow to hire the workers they laid off in 2020 and reluctant to invest in new production. The oil companies like the high prices and don’t want to produce more.
“Oil and gas companies do not want to drill more,” Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James, said earlier this spring. “They are under pressure from the financial community to pay more dividends, to do more share buybacks, instead of the proverbial ‘drill baby drill,’ which is the way they would have done things 10 years ago. Corporate strategy has fundamentally changed.” CNN on June 6.
It’s not only oil companies that are responsible for jacking up the price of oil and gas. Gas prices have exceeded the optimistic predictions made at the end of 2021, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian oil is no longer being sold on the world markets. The most recent spike in gas prices began when the E.U. ceased buying oil from Russia earlier this month.
The current big spike in oil and gas prices is being caused by Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The Russian dictator is doing everything he can to keep prices high to cause global economic havoc as blackmail or leverage to get more favorable peace terms. Any Republican blaming Biden for this price spike is providing political cover to Putin.
My take is that Joe Biden has done a good job as president. U.S. inflation is similar to that the G20 countries, the job market is much stronger, and inflation is almost entirely driven by pandemic and war-related factors that no U.S. policymaker can control.