Editor’s Note: This is part three in a three-part series. In part one, LN discussed Bidenomics and the Federal Reserve. Part two covers the debt ceiling. Today, Liberty Nation’s Andrew Moran and noted economist Stephen Moore look at what may be in store for the nation.
In the United States, 2022 may turn out to be the same as 2021, except with the Omicron variant turning into the dominant COVID strain. Many of the problems crippling the country today are anticipated to persist heading into the next calendar year, whether it is 30-year high inflation or the global supply chain crisis. Although millions of Americans enjoyed a modicum of liberty this year, governments at all levels have begun taking away this hard-fought freedom. Stephen Moore, the former member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board and noted author of Trumponomics, told Liberty Nation that he is worried that the Leviathan will overreact – and the American people will allow that to happen. But inflation could also be the same devastating hindrance to the economic recovery.
A Rotten 2,492 Pages
Inflation has not been this high in America in nearly 31 years. The consumer price index (CPI) is north of 6%, while producer prices are the highest they have ever been. Even the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation measurement, the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, is at a three-decade high. Nobody expects inflation to slow down either. Both the University of Michigan and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s consumer surveys show Americans anticipating higher inflation for the next one, three, and five years.
Stephen Moore is ostensibly not holding his breath that inflation will subside over the next several months. The White House and the U.S. central bank have also abandoned hope, retiring the word “transitory” and forecasting red-hot inflation until at least the second half of next year.
From the astronomical monetary expansion over the last 20 months to the enormous disruption to international commerce, many factors are contributing to inflation pressures. But is the solution simple enough? Moore believes so: “You have to stop the flow of money into the economy.” He added that the U.S. needs policies that facilitate the expansion of goods and services – and raising taxes and regulations is not the way to do it. “If you tax something, you get less of it,” Moore succinctly stated.
He revealed his consternation over President Biden’s $1.75 trillion social-spending and climate change agenda that Moore describes as a “catastrophe for our country.” Be it threats to the country’s energy security or the increase in entitlements, “it is a rotten bill, from the first page to the 2,492nd page.”
“You’ll be spending the rest of your professional life trying to undo the damage that this bill would do,” Moore warned. “I would say that all of the gains we’ve made in liberty and free enterprise and in economic growth, are very much put in jeopardy by this horrific, horrific bill.”
Joe Biden: The Crises President?
Stephen Moore (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The American people have seemingly given up on President Biden after just one year on the job. Real Clear Politics’ job approval rating average is at around 42%, with individuals of all political stripes thinking the country is headed in the wrong direction. It costs more to put food on your plate, fill up a tank of gasoline, and buy a residential property. Whether it is begging the Middle East to raise crude oil production or spending money the nation does not possess, there has been a series of policy blunders and boondoggles that have placed the United States at a disadvantage.
Politicians routinely ask the public if they are better off now than they were a year ago. But, as both parties engage in reckless abandon of the public purse, perhaps the real question should be: Will future generations be better off than previous ones? Considering that the federal government could potentially add $300,000 of new debt for every child born in America today by the end of the year, the future may be in doubt.
“What kind of great country does that? We’re supposed to leave the country better off for our children, not worse off,” said Stephen Moore.
~ Read more from Andrew Moran.
