Inflation is a bitch.
That’s the unspoken truth of our time.
Over the last year and a half, the value of our dollar has shrunk, the price of our essentials has risen, and the difficulty of our lives has increased.
Because a presidential administration played fast and loose with the economic rules and the working people got bit on the ass. And so we sit in Biden rallies, long lines of cars waiting for Costco gas, counting our pennies and cursing our fates.
In the macro, it’s another $7,500 to $10,000 extra in annual expenses for the average American family. In the micro, it’s a tank of gas costing $80 or $100.
Or, like yesterday, going out for subs at lunch with my wife and two of our sons, a $69 bill for nothing special whatsoever.
It’s like a bleeding artery on the family budget. You cut the treats and trim the nonessentials and pretty soon the basic expenses take more than you make, and it’s a red-ink month, and if you have savings you’re ok and if you don’t you’re looking up food cupboards.
That’s Biden’s America. That’s the Democrats in charge.
But standing in line at the grocery store you don’t give a damn about politics, you just care about the math, and hoping the ever-climbing number on the register doesn’t exceed the ever-shrinking number in your bank account.
Used to be you went for a drive for fun. To see the countryside or to go visit friends or to lull the baby to sleep. But now you drive with a purpose, on an itinerary, skipping trips until one would do the work of several, calculating miles as miles per gallon multiplied by $5 a gallon. The next town over isn’t 20 minutes away, it’s $11 in gas round trip and what you were going to buy there has increased in cost by a third and you can’t afford it so you stay home.
And while that makes the global warmers happy – they’ve finally overpriced fuel and sidelined your car – it diminishes your life.
While some addled egotist in Washington blames it on covid and Russia and Trump and guns and the Supreme Court or whatever the hell he’s prattling on about today. The Democrats are passing the buck, but it’s not ending up in your pocket. All you’re getting is the shaft.
And all of a sudden, the economic balance of your life is thrown off. The equilibrium is lost. The kids stop taking piano, the ice cream shop loses your business, the braces will have to wait ‘til another year. Let the roof leak, the car rust and the vacation go untaken.
And let fear and anxiety take their place at the family table.
Let the constant omnipresent nagging of financial uncertainty eat at you and haunt your dreams. Let the hole in your budget grow bigger with each visit to the grocery store and paying of the month’s bills. Shut down the air conditioning and worry that natural gas will go even higher this winter.
That’s inflation. It is a cancer of the economy and the soul, a loss of wealth and a gain of fear. It is the price of incompetence, and the realization that when the wicked rule the people mourn.
And today it is our lot.
While the economists argue about the when and if of a recession, and the Democrats rage and rant about things they hope will divert you, it will be Joe and Betty America and their God who will see the country through. Moms and dads will sacrifice and scrimp, second and third jobs will be taken, dreams will be revised or forgotten, and families will press forward.
And Americans will prove once again that when the government fails they succeed. When the powerful get it wrong, the real get it right. Adversity builds strength and resourcefulness, and mom and dad will figure it out. Ends will meet and the books will balance and we will be better for the effort.
But right now it just sucks.
In a year and a half the spending power of every American has been diminished. Millionaires and welfare recipients together have less real money in their pockets and more real problems in their lives. It’s harder to feed kids, fill tanks and pay bills. And there’s no relief in sight.
The White House rolled the dice, and we lost, and this is the way it’s going to be for the indefinite future. I’m sorry. I wish it was different. But this is the way it is.
Inflation is a bitch.