Everywhere you turn, there’s more bad news about our economy.
On average, grocery prices have soared over 13% in just the past year. “The cost of eggs has risen by 38%, and prices for other goods have also jumped: Flour is up 22.7%, chicken 17.6%, milk 15.6%, ground beef 9.7%, and bacon 9.2%. Fruits and vegetables got 9.3% more expensive,” according to a CNN report.
This is the largest price increase in 40 years.
According to a recent survey posted by AFPI on Instagram, 85% of Americans have changed their spending habits due to inflation, and nearly 70% are looking for extra work to combat the price increases.
Additionally, supply chain issues have impacted certain items such as baby formula, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and lumber. The latest item joining the hard-to-find list? Beer. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. The carbon dioxide needed to brew beer is in limited supply.
The stock market doesn’t have any good news to share, either. ABC News reported in July:
“Over the first six months of the year, the S&P 500—a popular index to which many 401(k) accounts are pegged—plummeted 20.6%, marking its worst first-half performance of any year since 1970.”
AND YET… Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a shocking admission to Margaret Brennan of “Face the Nation” on CBS news on September 25, 2022. He boasted that the United States is giving them [Ukraine] $1.5 billion every month to support their war budget. Read the full transcript here.
Say what? What in the world is going on?
It’s almost as if our government is trying to bankrupt our economy. Why is the U.S. Congress more concerned with the welfare of Ukrainian citizens (if they are even receiving aid) than American citizens? Before we discuss possible reasons why let’s look at the factors directly affecting the skyrocketing inflation:
1. Supply and Demand
“Cost-push” inflation occurs when the supply of a good or service changes, but demand remains the same.
What is behind the supply chain issues? Yes, we’re told that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the source of these shortages and more, but that may not be the full story. The Gateway Pundit published a list of 100 U.S. food processing plants that have been destroyed, damaged, or somehow impacted by “accidental fires,” disease, or general causes.
This list includes 19 major fires to food industry facilities just in the first six months of this year. You can read the disturbing report here.
The energy shortage in this country deliberately created by The Biden Administration is another example of cost-push inflation. If you missed my post, “Charged Up,” outlining the impact of these policies, you can read it here.
2. Bad economic policy
In contrast to cost-push inflation, “demand-pull” happens when the money supply expands.
The United States Treasury, for example. has pumped nearly $4 trillion into our economy since March 2020 sending checks directly to individuals, households, and businesses, according to CNN.
Was all this COVID relief spending really necessary? Some think so, but many think that the spending was reckless. Many reputable economists agree that expansionary monetary policies like the government “stimulus” programs played a significant role in driving up prices.
Remarkably, 37% of small businesses have closed since January 2020. Considering that small businesses were intended to be one of the primary beneficiaries of COVID relief funds, many are pointing to how the stimulus packages led to billions in fraud. Read the New York Post article here.
So, who makes all these decisions about how to spend tax-payer money? What agency has the authority to print money at will? This leads us to the third reason for inflation:
3. The monopoly controlling our money
The creation of a central bank was established through an act of congress in 1913 with the mandate to “promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy.” The central bank in the United States is The Federal Reserve, often referred to as the Fed (Federalreserve.gov). The Fed is the third central bank in this country because the first two failed.
“The critical feature of a central bank—distinguishing it from other banks—is its legal monopoly status, which gives it the privilege to issue banknotes and cash. Private commercial banks are only permitted to issue demand liabilities, such as checking deposits,” according to Investopedia.
Would you be surprised to know that the “Fed” is a private institution? (Don’t be fooled by the word “Federal” in the business entity’s name.) The Fed is run by a board of directors like most private sector corporations, and, like private companies, the directive of the board is to make money for their shareholders.
Who are the shareholders of the Fed? Apparently, not the average American worker who pays taxes. If you want to know who the real shareholders are, look at who benefits when our economy circles the drain. Not everyone suffers when the stock market tanks.
For example, the pandemic led to “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history,” said Jim Cramer, CNBC news. The United States gained 56 new billionaires in 2020.
During this same period, The American Bankruptcy Institute said that Chapter 11 bankruptcies surged 48% compared to the previous year. Read more about what precipitated the enormous transfer of wealth here.
Hmm… that’s a little curious. It’s almost as if our government intentionally funneled money from small businesses to large corporations.
Who is really in charge here?
Yes, the government is responsible to oversee The Fed, but this happens much the same way that a fox oversees the hen house.
Would you also be surprised to know that The Fed has never been independently audited? Yes, it’s true. If the Fed was truly concerned with upholding its mandate to protect jobs and the wealth of hard-working Americans, why do they fear being audited?
“Such matters, which would be routine at any other bank, are off-limits to the Fed’s auditors as a matter of law passed in the 1970s.”
Fortunately, Dr. Rand Paul has recently reintroduced efforts to enact the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Read more here.
The Wrap-Up
It’s painfully obvious that our government is purposely bankrupting our economy but why? What is their end game?
As the U.S. Dollar continues to plummet, The Federal Reserve announced just this week its intention to move toward the U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Read more here.
Digital currency? That sounds eerily familiar. If the past two and a half years have taught us anything it’s that we need less centralized control by the government over our lives—not more.
We’ll explore this further in the upcoming weeks, so don’t miss an episode of What in the World? In the meantime, remember to always pursue the Truth.