General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVenting: WHAT THE F*CK IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO?
Polls, people, and idiots constantly say they disapprove of how Biden is handling inflation. What exactly can Joe Biden do? Im sure there must be an idea that anyone can offer on what Joe Biden is supposed to do.
He cant force seaports and airports to move faster. He cant control how many ships go from point A to point B. He cant control the output of factories. He cant force oil extractors to produce more. He cant make midstream and downstream oil and gas companies to add more capacity or refine more petroleum.
Inflation and rising gas prices is happening ALL OVER THE WORLD! EVERYBODY is experiencing inflation. This is not a uniquely American problem. The president doesnt have as much control over the economy as one would think. What the fuck is he supposed to do?
OAITW r.2.0
(24,447 posts)It's up to the voters to make a thoughtful/intelligent system. But there is nothing like the certitude of the truly misinformed.
DURHAM D
(32,609 posts)No one I know is talking about inflation in real life.
So, therefore when talking with friends in person or on the phone I sign off by saying "Oh goodness... we forgot to talk about inflation. According to the media that is all we talk about." So, how much did you pay for eggs last year? Turkey? Gas? Tums? Gas? No One Knows. No One Cares.
questionseverything
(9,646 posts)Groceries and gas are a huge part of their budget .its definitely getting talked about
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Amishman
(5,554 posts)Supply is constrained as we all know, but there also is plenty of money in people's pockets. I'm not talking stimulus money, which is spent and out of the picture a long time ago, I'm talking rising wages and employment.
The labor crunch right now is increasing the buying power of a huge chunk of the population. Not just by raising salaries, but also because with so many vacancies and the difficulty of hiring, more places are promoting internally.
Supply issues, inefficiencies in production, and rising labor costs all get passed along as higher prices. But enough customers are able to pay it without issue that companies can pass along the full cost increase (or more!) and maintain their profit or even increase margins.
This leaves those who have not benefitted from this labor market in a nasty financial squeeze, leading to discontent.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)I made kind of a simple point to the OP about what Joe Biden can do regarding inflation. We went to Target for a laptop gift and the sales on some HP ChromeBooks were super low. One was $129. People were spending. I know the rising tide isnt raising all boats, but Democrats cant control everything all the time. Things are moving fast and Republicans are going to obstruct everything to create even more discontent.
Hekate
(90,637 posts)
and just needed to restock the baking-goods aisle.
gab13by13
(21,299 posts)Phoenix61
(17,000 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Maybe one can message legitimate explanations (some might call it excuses) that appeases swing voters, but not counting on it.
mopinko
(70,076 posts)50 yr low in unemployment claims last month.
monkeyman1
(5,109 posts)took 4 yrs for trump to fuck all this shit up ! so ez up people !!!
relayerbob
(6,544 posts)Thanks to Joe coordinating relases of oil from strategic stockpies here and among allies. He also has pushed the Saudis to increase output. Since the #1 factor in inflation is energy costs at this time, there will be a huge impact on it overall.
He also put levys on ports sitting on containers, and miraculously, they are now moving. Store shelves are mostly full, even if some things are having issues (mostly due to computer chips).
So, he is already acting, and it is showing signs of working.
Ignore polls.
LittleGirl
(8,282 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,990 posts)One of our stations (Circle K) is always cheaper than the other 4. They went from $3.629 to $3.139 in 25 days.
Recently, it went back up 4¢ and settled there. Everybody else is at $3.259. They were high three sixties the week before Thanksgiving.
Oddly enough, I went by a Circle K yesterday, in the same county, that was still at $3.569. But, that station is several miles from the next one. So, that might be an "only game in town" situation.
LittleGirl
(8,282 posts)Switzerland
Down from 6.73 per gallon a few weeks ago. Highest Ive ever seen.
ProfessorGAC
(64,990 posts)I spent a lot of time in Europe. Been to your country several times. Montreux & Zurich, mostly.
Nearly $7 per gallon does seem very high!
LittleGirl
(8,282 posts)lame54
(35,283 posts)PatrickforB
(14,570 posts)economy. I even saw one person here lauding lower gas prices because Biden released some of the strategic reserve to hold prices down.
What people don't get is that economically, there are two branches of policy - monetary and fiscal. Monetary policy either expands or contracts money supply by adjusting interest rates. Now, transfer payments, which are a part of fiscal policy, can also be used, but this is not usual. The massive transfer payments we had with the stimulus did raise the money supply, but may have contributed to some of the inflationary pressure.
Then, we have supply chain issues, which he has little, if any, control over.
We have high demand for goods, as well, with people generally purchasing fewer services. High demand strains the supply chain, and causes inflationary pressure.
Then, of course, we have the old tried-and-predatory 'profit over people' method of corporate governance, otherwise known as the Doctrine of Shareholder Primacy, which stemmed from a 1919 MI Supreme Court ruling favoring the Dodge Brothers over Henry Ford. In case you are not familiar with that, Henry Ford had this brilliant idea to build cars on an assembly line, which dramatically magnified the productive capacity of his labor force. He knew his factories could put out many, many cars, but who would buy them? Ford reasoned that if he raised the wages of his factory workers to the point where they could afford the cars, then he would also be expanding his market.
The Dodge Brothers, who supplied parts for Ford cars at the time, sued Ford. They felt that 'overpaying' the factory workers denied them profits to which they were entitled as shareholders.
The Dodge Brothers won, and thus was born the Doctrine of Shareholder Primacy, and it became more brutal as the decades went by, with the Chicago School preaching 'supply-side' economics, and spouting the mantra of 'deregulate, privatize, and gut social programs.'
Now, publicly held corporatate governance encourages sociopathic behavior among c-suite executives - busting unions, ripping off pensions, compromising worker safety, wage theft, gouging consumers with smaller packaging for the same price, compromising product safety and quality, and of course fouling the environment whenever they can get away with it.
This is the root cause, In It, of so much that is wrong with 'Murika these days. Take our monetized healthcare system where working stiffs like us have crummy, rationed healthcare with financially crippling copays. Why? Because passing the costs on to the healthcare consumer is better for shareholder profits. Same thing with childcare. Nearly 2 million women are still sitting out of the labor force, and about 900,000 men. Why? Childcare availability is a big factor, but even when it is available, it costs an arm and a leg. Biden is trying to expand government subsidies for child care to more working families, which is very good economic policy, but of course, doing that, or anything at all, that materially benefits the (gasp!) common working American and his/her family is sure to draw bitter Republican resistance.
Profits over people every time! That's them: the party of death, treason, conspiracy, hate, greed and stupidity.
NJCher
(35,650 posts)By assisting with unemployment during the first part of the pandemic and sending out the 600 and 1200 checks, there is money in the economy.
He could have not done anything (thats what a Republican would do) and then there would be no inflation.
Is this the preferable response?
KT2000
(20,572 posts)that prices increase because of decisions of private companies and corporations. The people complaining are the same ones who want less regulation on these very entities. They will complain loudly if Biden does take steps to control what private companies charge. This is the world they wanted.
tiredtoo
(2,949 posts)Jobs and wages up, gas prices dropping increase in Social Security. This should be what the msm is talking about!
elias7
(3,997 posts)betsuni
(25,456 posts)Norbert
(6,039 posts)which will help to ease inflation. There really isn't much more he can do.
Unfortunately this will take time. This is something the MSM fails to grasp but I guess that doesn't make a 'good' news story.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... and other members of the Biden administration. They denigrate and insult Democrats and the Biden administration and accuse them of being incompetent, or lazy, or corrupt. They demand that congress "DO SOMETHING" right NOW (as if they all have little magic wands... or as if the Democrats had a super-majority in both houses of Congress --- we don't.)
Mad_Machine76
(24,403 posts)but what else are they going to fill the airwaves with? This is as "exciting" as they can get without Trump.