US inflation hits 40-year record ahead of midterm vote
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Chicago
In what’s being called a “disaster” for the ruling Democratic Party, inflation has reached a 40-year high in the final official reading before next month’s midterm legislative elections.
The data is even worse than it appears, because the government excludes food and petrol from the official inflation rate. The record high is being driven by increases in other necessities such as lodging, medical care and mass transportation.
With prices rising 8.2% and wages increasing just 4.9%, economists say the average American effectively lost almost an entire day’s pay last month - and that’s using the official inflation rate.
Even though almost every economic indicator is negative, the nation’s bankers seem intent on restricting borrowing just when businesses are pulling back new job offers in record numbers and credit card debt is at a record high. The situation has already deteriorated into liberalism’s theoretically unsolvable dilemma: stagflation, which is recession plus inflation.
The right-wing economic policies may also produce political stagnation: the likely Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate, would hobble President Joe Biden’s ability to get any major legislation passed for the next two years.
The nation’s bankers are trying to stop price increases by destroying the demand for goods and services. The reduced demand should lower prices eventually, but the policy also rules out wage increases for workers and keeps corporate profits high.
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