Americans Care About Inflation, but Politicians Don't

Plus: A listener asks the editors about cancelling student loan debt.

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

:15 :15

Download

Americans Care About Inflation, but Politicians Don't

In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman assess the mismatch between Americans' lingering concerns over inflation compared to politicians' failure to address it.

01:39—Americans still care about inflation.

16:49—Donald Trump to speak at Libertarian Party National Convention

41:08—U.S. House of Representatives passes the Antisemitism Awareness Act

50:24—This week's cultural recommendations

Mentioned in this podcast:

"Americans Are Still Really Worried About Inflation," by Eric Boehm

"COVID Stimulus Money Lined the Pockets of Scammers and Fueled Inflation," by J.D. Tuccille

"Inflation Is So Back," by Eric Boehm

"Inflation Returns!" by Peter Schiff, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Scott Sumner, Randall Parker, James Grant, Steven Gjerstad, Vernon L. Smith, and Donald Luskin

"Biden Is Clueless About Inflation," by Nick Gillespie and Regan Taylor

"How Biden's Agenda Is Causing Inflation," by Nick Gillespie

"Who's Really To Blame for Inflation?" by Jonathan Bydlak

"L.A. Beats NYC?" by Liz Wolfe

"Mises Caucus Takes Control of Libertarian Party," by Brian Doherty

"David Boaz on Libertarianism, Ronald Reagan, and the 2024 Election," by Nick Gillespie

"Inside the Mises Caucus Takeover of the Libertarian Party," by Zach Weissmueller and Nick Gillespie

"'By Our Fruits, You'll Know Us': The Mises Caucus Mastermind," by Zach Weissmueller and Nick Gillespie

"Justin Amash's Vision for the Libertarian Party," by Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller

"Ron Paul Revolution 2.0: Angela McArdle's Plan for the Libertarian Party," by Zach Weissmueller and Nick Gillespie

"Dave Smith: Comedian, Podcaster…Presidential Candidate?" by Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller

"Biden Announces Second Attempt at Widespread Student Loan Forgiveness," by Emma Camp

"Mike Rowe Wants More Philosopher-Welders," by Nick Gillespie

"Should We Forgive Student Debt?" by Nick Gillespie

"Are Millennials Responsible for Their Own Student Debt?" by Nick Gillespie

"The Immorality of Student Loan Forgiveness and Free College," by Nick Gillespie

"The Antisemitism Awareness Act Will Make It Illegal To Criticize Israel on Campus," by Robby Soave

"Bipartisan Legislation Would Let the Government Create Speech-Chilling 'Antisemitism Monitors,'" by Emma Camp

"The Fall Guy Is a Crowd-Pleasing Homage to Silver Screen Stunt Work," by Peter Suderman

"A White Woman's Documentary About Muslim Extremists Is Being Canceled. Guess Why." by Robby Soave

"How Facebook Gender Identity Is Like Pop-Tart Sushi," by Nick Gillespie

Nick Gillespie interviews Students for Sensible Drug Policy's Kat Murti in New York City on May 8

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

Today's sponsor:

• We all carry around different stressors—big and small. When we keep them bottled up, it can start to affect us negatively. Therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest—and to figure out how to work through whatever's weighing you down. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online. Designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapists any time for no additional charge. Get it off your chest, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/roundtable today to get 10 percent off your first month.

Audio production and video edit by Ian Keyser; assistant production by Hunt Beaty.

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

• Producer: Hunt Beaty

What are we consuming this week?

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• The Bot Canon

Peter Suderman

• The Fall Guy

Nick Gillespie

• Unfrosted

Matt Welch

• The Unredacted

---

Comments

[JesseAz]

Shrike is a politician?

[Minadin]

Was it the mendacity, or the repeated and unwavering reliance on failed policies that tipped you off?

Asking for a friend.

[American Mongrel]

Americans wouldn't mind deflation.

Economists believe it would mark the end times.

[Don't look at me!]

Sounds good, but it is not something you really want.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Can we start with restoring the gold standard?

[Zeb]

I'm not so sure anymore. I don't think that some slow and moderate deflation would have the drastic effects people always say are the downsides of deflation.
I can't say I know (no one can), but I suspect it's one of those things that would be a bit painful at first, but better in the long run for the non-rich-and-powerful.

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

Bidenomics might not be popular with regular Americans. But Koch-funded libertarians are getting exactly what they wanted: a favorable economic environment for the top half of the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1%.

#CheckMyMath

[Eeyore]

You missed a couple "of the top 1%".

[Minadin]

Sandra - nothing got me angry quite like an OG OBL comment before I realized it was parody. I'm so sorry that it's become impossible to parody the Left these days, because once I was in on the joke, it was not only hilarious, but so long-running. I miss that. It was stellar work. I appreciate it.

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

Yeah it was fun while it lasted. I don't regret doing it.

But I'm not all that sad about Reason kicking out us cheapskates who refuse to pay for Reason Plus. Just like OBL ran its course, there's not much more the real 'me' can say.

[Mother's Lament]

Depends if Buttplug sticks around.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Phrasing!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I ran your calculation and came up with two people (actually 1.65 people) that are in the target group.

Remember, Things Go Better with Koch. Or for Koch.

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

My numbers were based on Earth's population, not just the US. Which admittedly was a strange way to do it.

I guess the America-only figure would be "top 10% of the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1%."

Basically the 30 to 40 richest humans - the primary beneficiaries of "free minds & free markets." 😉

[JeremyR]

Walmart cut the staring pay (by $2 at my store) and got rid of the free college for associates. But hey, the Waltons are up $8 billion each per year!

[DesigNate]

TBF, when they started doing that, college was a fuckton cheaper.

[Don't look at me!]

Well of course they aren’t concerned. Ever see a politician chewin terbakky or eatin cheesy poofs?

[Minadin]

At least the rig count is up. Right?

[Don't look at me!]

That’s the important thing.

[kevrob]

Of course not.

Politicians are lame!

[Mother's Lament]

They all scoff about inflation. Pretend 3.5% is the real number.

At 4:00 Suderman mentions the two trillion $$ but then pulls a Sarc and blames Covid spending all on Trump and mysteriously fails to mention Pelosi and Schumer proposed, created, advanced, presented and passed the bill.

Gillespie agrees and then warns Trump likes tarriffs too.

Then DeSantis!

15:00 Inflation isn’t as bad as before.
Trump (and Biden) have negative vision of the future.

Trump is a stunt at the Libertarian convention.

Gillespie: “The Libertarian party doesn’t need to exist.” Libertarian Party has been a failure since “Bake the fucking cake” Johnson left.

19:20 KMW: Libertarian party is a failure.

I wonder, if the Libertarian Party is a failure and doesn't need to exist, and we know they hate Trump and RFK Jr. if they're all going to regretfully vote Biden again.

21:00 Mises caucus is cancer. Suderman has a meme that says “Trump is opposite of libertarian”.
KMW: “Orangemanbad”.
Matt Welch: “The Mises Caucus wants to be like Trump. Orangemanbad. Trump lover takeover”.

Furious Suderman: “BLM riots and Fauci was Trump’s fault!!! He was president!!!”

I don’t think I can listen to these morons much longer.

[Mother's Lament]

It just struck me how every day there's a new reveal about massive government censorship, illegal government spying, false imprisonment, novel charges, bribe taking, massive fraud, and none of these fake libertarians even mention it.

[Stuck in California]

Thanks for listening so we don't have to.

First, the whole concept of a chat with "journalists" is kind of ridiculous. I've worked, briefly, in the field and journalists are rarely the brightest people in the room. But if you're going to do it, on your blog, and pretend you're something more than another youtuber wanting to be a Joe Rogan, print a goddamned transcript.

Anyway, nothing new. Right from the beginning with the 3.5% is the real number. I mean, it IS the real number, but that's on the back of a couple of years of 20%, and ignoring food, housing, and energy inflation, and it is STILL 1.75x the target rate.

For covid spending, well AFTER covid was controlled, after the economy was reopened, when we had another year's worth of data, when we were already seeing the results of inflationary pressures and unemployment was crashing, when the FED was already tightening (well after lots of economists said they should) they were pushing a $1.75 trillion "build back better" pork barrel and a trillion dollar "inflation reduction act" through. And those were numbers much lower than what was initially sought.

Not a fan of Trump's (and everyone else's) handling of Covid, but to blame someone in the midst of a worldwide panic freakout for not stopping economic aid to people forced out of work, then give a pass to people spending like a drunken sailor with a handful of stolen credit cards well after the emergency had passed... fuck man. You have to be a partisan hack or completely blinded by your zealotry. Or maybe both.

[Mother's Lament]

Using the old formula, America's still in double digits:

Here's a Forbes article from March breaking down how:

Inflation Reached 18% In 2022 Using The Government’s Previous Formula

[Stuck in California]

Yeah, amazing when you do basket switching how much less food prices have inflated. And when you pull out hosing and energy how different the core numbers are.

I've said before, food, housing, and energy are literally the only thing I can't do without.

Core inflation is double the Fed target, which is bad, but when my grocery budget has doubled, my electric bill has close to doubled, and rent is up 40% since 2019, it's not going to be easy to tell me how great this wonderful economy is, what with with "inflation" only being twice what it should be.

[Zeb]

I don't know I think we'd be better off if the people forced out of work didn't get pacified with federal money. Would have seen a lot more push back against the authoritarian state policies forcing business closures and restricting movement. The federal spending just enabled the states to continue their tyrannical bullshit for way longer than people would otherwise have tolerated.

[TJJ2000]

^THIS. I heard two blatant lies and contradictions right in the first 10 minutes.

1) The Cares Act was 2.2T NOT 4 the ARPA was 1.9T a total of only 3B difference.

2) He literally said back to back the only fix was higher interest rates or more taxes; but Trumps tariffs (which are a tax) is responsible.

And as someone else pointed out the Cares Act was written by House [D], Pushed by [D] more-so than [R]. In fact the only two oppositions were from Thomas Massie[R] and Rand Paul[R]. While ARPA was 100% partisan passed yet somehow we’re suppose to blame Trump for it all because he signed it (The first bill) as they literally explain it was started then; never-mind the economic shut-down was actually started by [D]s?

This TDS BS propaganda is just as rich as it gets.

[sarcasmic]

At 4:00 Suderman mentions the two trillion $$ but then pulls a Sarc and blames Covid spending all on Trump and mysteriously fails to mention Pelosi and Schumer proposed, created, advanced, presented and passed the bill.

Congress writes the laws, dummy. The executive can sign or veto.

Had Trump exercised his veto power and forced Congress to override it, then you’d have a point. Doesn't matter if they could override it. He would have done his part, and I'd be with you giving him credit for at least trying to block the massive spending.

But he didn’t. Instead he enthusiastically signed it with much fanfare, with his only complaint being that the checks with his name on them weren’t big enough.

That makes him just as responsible as the people who wrote it.

[TJJ2000]

Never-mind Congress.
Never-mind ARPA.
Never-mind Thomas Massie [R].

Never-mind Biden's Trifecta has continuously Doubled the Deficit endlessly just like Obama's Trifecta. It's all Trumps fault... /s

2023 Deficit 1.7T
2022 Deficit 1.4T
2021 Deficit 2.8T Biden
-------------------------------
2020 Deficit 3.1T
2019 Deficit 984B
2018 Deficit 779B
2017 Deficit 665B Trump
------------------------------
2012 Deficit $1.1T
2011 Deficit $1.3T
2010 Deficit $1.3T
2009 Deficit $1.4T Obama

[sarcasmic]

“It’s all Trump’s fault” is a strawman because nobody says that. (He started it with signing the CARES Act, but that’s not saying it’s all his fault)

However “It’s all the Democrats’ fault” is not, because that’s what you guys always say. (You claim that it’s not his fault that he signed the CARES Act because it was veto-proof, deliberately ignoring and lying about the fact that he bragged about it)

Revealing how you use accusations of dishonesty and lies to defend your own lies and dishonesty.

[TJJ2000]

As-if "Trump is responsible" is any different (direct quote).

"That makes him just as responsible as the people who wrote it." ... next comment ... "that’s not saying it’s all his fault"

While you "mysteriously fails to mention" any Democrat responsibility.

Entirely framing the bulk of your comment to infer Trumps responsible for writing it, signing it and since "mysteriously fails to mention" anyone else the blame must be all Trumps.

Your selective forgetfulness speaks mountains about your partisan prejudices.

[sarcasmic]

Why not do something novel and respond to what I actually said, instead of doing a Jesse and responding to what the voices in your head say about what I didn't say?

[Bill Falcon]

Did the author forget the insane 2008 bailouts which were not neded and the endless direct buying of $40B a month by that moron Bernanke of Treasuries during his QE stupidity.

Time to round out the "monetary" experts and keynsians and ship them to Ukraine where there is plenty of room now for idiots and trotskites like themselves..screw them..traitors to America the lot of them.

[Uncle Jay]

"Americans Care About Inflation, but Politicians Don't."

1. So what else is new?

2. About two or three years ago, members of Congress voted themselves a 21% increase in salary.
Now you can sleep well knowing the very politicians who are fucking us at every given chance won't feel the ravages of inflation like all us peasants do every day.

[TJJ2000]

All could've been avoided if people would just CARE about keeping the very definition of the USA instead of selling it down the river on promises to steal 'icky' people's money for them.

[Bill Falcon]

What Congress cares about:

1. What AIPAC and the Israeli Lobby Tells them
2. Fighting old world grudge wars (see 1 above). Ukraine is all about Trotsky losing to Stalin and what the Czar did 150 years ago
3. Buying votes to enrich their friends...as long as the Fed is willing to print money to help banks and foreigners launder "buy" Treasuries it doesn't matter how much the debt or even interest on the debt is.

Fighting inflation would stop the DC party..deficits would have to be reduced as would spending outside of interest payment. Not very hard to understand. You have 30M folks either direct federal employees or contractors who are not going to stop the deficit spending. You have a ton of pro Israeli money from banking, big tech, the media concerns pushing neocon and neolib policies with Congress. Sorry boys but the American Empire is here and the Republic is long gone.