Inflation Nightmares!

"How bad is inflation right now? For government programs (like SS), which have a yearly COLA, this next year will be the highest increase since 1981. That is right after I got married." 

I am going to try to get this off my chest. Hopefully, I will not just be shouting into an "echo chamber". Yesterday, the new inflation stats came out for September. Because of the games which are being played with our strategic reserve (oil), it was thought that the inflation rate would have come down (slightly) from 8.3% to 8.1%. The President was so confident of that, he was ready to do his goofy little run, up to the podium, to take credit for this monstrous news.

Forget the 8.1%. It was 8.5%. Let that sink in for a minute. If we were not playing games with our strategic reserve, who knows how much higher it would have been. Lately, when we have been at the grocery stores, I have been dumbstruck while looking at some of the prices. I can only imagine what a family with two or three kids is going through right now. Food, utilities, gasoline for the car - hard to believe this is still America. 

How bad is inflation right now? For government programs (like SS), which have a yearly COLA, this next year will be the highest increase since 1981. That is right after I got married. When Jimmy Carter mucked up the economy. And the Fed has been getting their butt kicked as of late. Why? They were late to the party. But now they are here, and trying to catch up. Stand by for a big rate hike coming up soon. Followed by another. And maybe another.

Being old, I remember the days of stagflation under Jimmy Carter. It was painful. It was awful. The only way to buy a house, was to sign onto an ARM type of mortgage. Back then, if you could get an ARM for 10%, you were doing well. Then keeping your fingers and toes crossed so the interest rates did not go higher. Why? Your 10% ARM had an upper cap of 16%. Try those interest rates on for size!

Where do we go from here? Anyone have ideas? We have Slo Joe for another 2 plus years, unless something happens to him. Then we would have Carmela. For some reason, a former waitress named AOC, has captured the imagination and will of both our POTUS and Veep. Even Bernie Sanders said the other day the Dems need to address the economy. Why? Because everyone with a functioning brain knows it sucks right now. If Joe had a functioning brain, he would know that also. 

To you younger folks, as a veteran of the Jimmy Carter economic wars, I am sorry you have to go through this. Tough times lie ahead. The saddest part, is our current economic malaise is a self inflicted wound. The cure for this wound is not that difficult, but the will needs to be there.

For Joe, the "Great American Storyteller" (or great American Walter Mitty), he is too busy to worry about our economy. He is coming up with the next story about beating the hell out of that racist villain, Corn Pop.