The Missing Inflation Data

This is one of the most incisive and revelatory articles breaking down the hidden story behind inflation I've ever read. Thank you for sharing. This is the quality of article that the MSM is not covering and the reason I subscribe to the Lever, along with my admiration of David Sirota. We need a follow up series linking this inaccurate inflation source material to the political impact this may have upon voter turnout and related apathy or antipathy towards the Dems and the deleterious outcome of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory if we don't see any corrective economic policy actions and message correction to head this off. I encourage readers to pass along this article- especially to your Democratic legislators.

The US has 40+ years of democrat and republican administrations giving lip service to the working class but little else. All these administrations, beginning with Ronald Reagan have centralized monoplistic power in big and bigger corporations regardless of industry. What was once a concerned and cautious Anti-trust division within the SEC became a rubber stamp for corporate consolidation. Behind the scenes the corporate purchase of influence solidified and the game was lost for the workers. The concentration of wealth has grown along with fewer and bigger companies who sold our government on their capitalist drive.
What resulted is what we now live with. Corporate Amerika owns our government. The bulk of wealth flows to management and rubber stamp directors who rotate within a favored circle of applicants for the cush part time jobs that reward them with significant wealth.
The problem that is not being accepted by the Biden Administration and most politicians is the concentration of wealth in the executive class of publicly held corporations and the individuals at the peak of those companies. Too little money goes to the workers because the CEO's, CFOs, COOs and all the other favored corporate minions take what once went to the rank and file. That and the corporate share buybanks consume the capital that once was shared downward.
Can politicians now fix this mess? After all they get their campaign accounts funded by the big boys of corporate amerika. Unless and until the US gets a ground swell of sustained anger and voting action by the working class ( who ignore their asinine cultural wars ) for nine consecutive elections, voting out every hack peacock in office until it dawns on these politicians the working class is going to eliminate their jobs the next election unless their complaints are heard and acted on. Nothing less will change the US landscape sufficiently to begin the disassembling of the laws and policies that now support corporate amerika to the detriment of the workers. The US worker needs a rare person/politician who is charismatic, humble, and driven by the opportunity to help workers, not power nor personal wealth. good luck with that.

Yes, we've arrived at TechnoFeudalism and we need to understand in what ways we can fight back. The things that used to work, don't anymore. (I'm just watching videos, reading things to understand what's going on. Matt Stoller breaks things down nicely here.

Outstanding analysis by Matt Stoller. More like this, please. Yeah, it's a guest piece -- read: well-curated perspective. It reminds me why I pay to subscribe to The Lever.

Biden must convince actual average Joe's to disbelieve their lying eyes. Housing isn't unaffordable. Paying for your kids' college is easy. Eating doesn't cost 50% more than 3 years ago and that $15 Chipotle burrito wasn't real. No there aren't more tents popping up on the sidewalk or below overpasses. Put on some aviators and block out those lying eyes.

Judge Ana Reyes needs to be impeached. She shows clear bias in favor of defense attorneys which in commercial cases is not in the interests of the residents of this country.
Democratic Senators need to be raked over the coals for approving appointments like Ms Ana Reyes.

Some very new-to-me detail on how the puffery of the Biden team seems to be be believed by those who put it out. At least it's better delusions that can be changed than out and out malicious intent.

Very helpful in providing many details.

The Jekyll and Hyde administration. There is no half-way support--it is either given freely without prompting; the Khan appointment, NLRB changes, or it has to be fought for tooth and nail to get 1/100 of what was promised.

I have a theory. I think that everything positive Biden has done, was done as a discrete political payoff to specific individuals in return for their support. Promising voters something and giving them the finger when they ask where it is, is just SOP. Making a deal with another elite and then screwing them over is another story; that puts future deals at risk.

Enlightening Article, having raised a child during the Reagan years, the two things I remember most is he RAISED MY TAXES and interest rates were out of this world (a carryover from the Carter administration, for sure, but not alleviated well during the Reagan administration. Oh, one more thing!! The Iranian Hostage situation was clearly a foreign country interfering with a USA election and no one seemed to be unhappy about that. Bankruptcies went up by the end of that decade because people had maximized their credit cards (which I liken to fueling the economy with their credit cards when the Congress should have been doing.

But to get to the point, it's not just the interest rates that are being left out (not sure what is missing, though) and the unemployment numbers have always been misleading. Biden began his administration by tasking a committee of historians with determining what FDR did wrong - NOT what FDR did right -and has been dancing around the edges ever since. Then maybe within the first 6 months he started talking about the debt and deficit. WRONG!! Balanced budgets historically lead to recessions. (google it or read up on it)

The country needs a HARD LEFT - 75% of the people are to the LEFT of the leaders of both parties. YES!! Outspend the Republicans!! If they objects, tell the it is OUR TURN. When they (if ever) get majorities again (or the White House), they will have to figure out how to "fix it," except if spent well, that will never be the issue. That is why they do what they do, the know they cannot get elected without cheating and lying and making up alternate realities.

This is an excellent, informative article that has educated me on things going on in the Biden administration. Thank you. Every time I hear about how inflation is down, I choke. Obviously, the people saying that have not been to a gas station recently. The price of gas has been going up over the supper, back toward where it was at the height of inflation. And since everything from food to giant machines for industry has to be shipped, that means that the price of everything else will be rising. When I read about inflation, the article always starts with "excluding fuel and food". Well, fuel and food are among the biggest items, and I am sure in most other people's. And they are going up. And I think part of that is another hidden issue. we may have passed peak oil, which means that the amount of oil we can pump out of the ground is decreasing. It is hard to be sure about this because the Arabs, particularly the Saudis, keep their data secret, but one telling indicator is that we are now tapping the Canadian oil sands. That is an expensive way to get oil. If we are now doing that it indicates that the cost of a barrel of crude has risen to the point that the oil sands have become profitable. If so we are facing yet another crisis that will have major impacts on all of us. I do have more on this subject if you want to read it.

Oh, wow, this was a popular one. Look at ALL these comments!!!