Ed Morrissey at Hot Air points us to this Politico story that makes a valid point — inflation is a regressive tax on the poor — but muddles the message by accusing inflation of being racist. That inflation hurts the poor more than the rich is a given. But why throw the racial angle into the mix? Aren’t there any white poor people being hurt too?
The truth is that inflation is an equal opportunity phenomenon. It hurts the white poor and black poor equally. Now, the left accuses all sorts of things of being racist, including inanimate objects like statues. So why not inflation?
Unfortunately, we can’t boycott inflation, or make nasty tweets about it, or cancel it. And the fact that this particular round of inflation is owned by a Democratic president means that the national media will tread lightly in pointing out all these inconvenient facts about poor black people being hit hardest by inflation.
Nevertheless, is it really that tough to figure out?
Er … they’re just figuring out that inflation is regressive in its impact? All due respect to Professor Argente, whose work in providing data for economic hypotheses is certainly necessary, but this isn’t a tough question. Inflation by its nature decreases buying power, especially at rates where inflation exceeds wage growth. That means that people with less buying power will feel that effect sooner and stronger than those who have more buying power. People whose buying power is limited to core goods and services feel it the most — low-income workers and fixed-income retirees. This isn’t rocket science; it’s barely algebra.
Recall that Biden has been assuring us for six months that his spending plans will actually help black people and the poor because it will make life easier and they’ll have more money and benefits and all those good things that liberals like to promise blacks to get their votes.
Besides, inflation is “temporary” or “transitory,” So, what? Me, worry?
Related: You Didn’t Need Proof That Inflation is Bad, but Here It Is
The Politico article tries to frame the argument as an election promise made by Biden to fix “long-standing wealth and racial inequities.”
And because workers with low incomes are more likely to be Black and Hispanic — their median weekly earnings for full-time jobs were significantly lower than those of white and Asian Americans in the most recent quarter of 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — they are also more likely to take the brunt of inflation.
With critics of Biden’s $1.7 billion social spending package warning it could increase inflation, the fact that rising prices are hitting hardest the very groups the White House has said the bill will help — Black and Hispanic workers and workers with low incomes — only makes the administration’s case for passage more difficult.
Actually, what makes the passage of the Build Back Better bill damn near impossible is the bite that inflation is taking out of the middle class. Politico, a supposed political news site, seems unable to grasp the simple fact that a lot more middle-class people vote than poor people. Politicians are far more likely to listen to the cries for help — or screams of anger — from middle-class taxpayers who are losing ground in the inflation fight.
If Politico wants to play its little woke games with an issue like inflation, let them. But the argument that “income inequality” will suffer during an inflationary period is falling on largely deaf ears.
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