It was as predictable as the sunrise that establishment economists, abetted by the establishment media, would find a way to exonerate Old Joe Biden and his handlers of any responsibility for the disastrous economy. It would even be a stretch for them to blame their all-purpose whipping boy Donald J. Trump at this point, however. So, a new scapegoat had to be found: you. Yahoo Finance’s Alexandra Semenova announced Friday that “US consumers are ‘in a deep funk,’” and that’s why the economic news is so unremittingly bad. Nothing to do with the puppet of the extreme Left in the White House, you see.
The problem, as Leftist economists see it, is that inflation is making consumers less confident, which leads them to spend less. “As concerns around inflation soar,” Semenova explains, “American consumers’ outlook on the trajectory of the U.S. economy has deteriorated, worrying some experts that negative attitudes could dampen expenditure and put a dent in economic growth.” Of course! It’s not the galloping inflation that is dampening expenditure and putting a dent in economic growth, but the consumers’ “negative attitudes.” Change the attitudes, and voila! The economy will be healed!
This theory is presented seriously amid all manner of dire information. “The University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index dropped to 61.7 in the first half of this month, the lowest since October 2011, from a final reading of 67.2 in January,” reports Reuters. The consumer sentiment index fell as “U.S. inflation accelerated last month in the fastest rise since 1982, with prices across a wide range of goods and services soaring further amid lingering shortages and supply chain disruptions.”
Meanwhile, on Super Bowl Sunday, “chicken wings alone are running as much as 26% higher. Steaks are up 23%. And hamburgers are up 17%.”
Nevertheless, the learned economists at the University of Michigan have determined, in their infinite Leftist wisdom, that the decline in consumer confidence has been driven not just by “the least favorable long-term economic outlook in a decade” and “weakening personal financial prospects amid rising inflation,” but also by “less confidence in the government’s economic policies.” See, what we have now is not a crisis of inflation or the result of putting a gang of socialists with no real-world experience in charge of the world’s mightiest economy. No, what we have is a crisis of confidence! If we just trust Old Joe, one of the world’s least trustworthy men, all will be well.
Related: Delusions of Grandeur: Biden Brags About the Economy
Christopher S. Rupkey, chief economist of FWDBONDS, a financial markets research organization, warned of the consequences if we don’t start trusting that Biden’s handlers know what they’re doing as they trash the economy, and pronto! “Incredibly, the consumer is polling negatively on almost everything when it comes to the economy, and if their confidence doesn’t improve, the economy could be headed towards the cliff of recession. We almost have to recheck our figures because the consumer is clearly in a deep funk and if they decide to call it quits then the economic growth we have seen is going to fade fast.”
Rupkey added, “A downbeat consumer in retreat risks sending the economy over the cliff if they don’t start spending more at the shops and malls.”
So would you just cheer up, already? The people who wrecked the economy are surely going to put it back together again with superb aplomb, so what are you so down in the dumps about? You’re making the economic masters of the universe nervous. “The big drop in consumer sentiment through February is concerning,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. “All else equal, the recent drop in consumer sentiment could signal serious trouble ahead.”
The bottom line is that, if we would just stop noticing how expensive everything is and start buying again, the economy will get going and all will be well. But if we keep on paying attention to prices that are galloping ever higher and tighten our belts, then Old Joe Biden and his team could get mauled in the midterms, and no Leftist economist wants to see that. What’s more, if you spend yourself into bankruptcy, you can become a ward of the state, dependent upon the Democrats’ generosity to you (which is based on their appropriation of money from people who actually produce something). So for the Left, there is no downside.
Stop destroying Biden’s beautiful economy! Start spending!
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