Don't Govsplain Me
Inflation, gas prices, food shortages, and tips of icebergs
NARRATIVE UPDATE: It is now okay to acknowledge inflation and food shortages.
After months of ridicule aimed at those warning of coming inflation and food shortages, followed by months of pretending prices weren’t rising at all, and then a few weeks of awkward silence on the matter as American wallets were bled dry, the media-industrial complex has approved a slight adjustment to its economic narrative.
It was really the gas price surge that necessitated this acknowledgement from our overlords. Even though prices in general had been rising precipitously for over a year (and by that I mean even more precipitously than the already maddening rate at which prices have steadily risen since about 1971), it wasn’t until Americans were collectively crying in front of the gas pump that the word “inflation” was allowed to be taken seriously in the media.
It’s fairly easy to convince the majority of folks that they aren’t careening down a slippery path toward economic disaster until the problem is displayed clear as day in numbers on the gas pump. Then it’s impossible to deny the reality. So you have to turn your propaganda machine towards creative scapegoating.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine taking center stage in the 24-hour news cycle, we are now permitted to utter the word “inflation.” We are now allowed worry about possible food/supply shortages, as long as we place the blame on Putin. Or, really, on anything and anyone except the primary culprit.
Govsplanations Abound
To govsplain is to expound upon the cause and effect of any major social, political, or economic problem in a condescending way that assumes the govsplainee has no knowledge of the topic. The technique always attempts to preserve government face through obfuscation, bald deception, misdirection, and/or emotional manipulation.
The fact that the majority of Americans are woefully uneducated about economic laws is a perennial boon to govsplainers everywhere. Their ignorance works in the favor of politicians and other elites seeking to enrich themselves through further degradation of the economy, and their oblivious anger serves as a ready weapon, easily targeted at the scapegoat of the week.
World events such as war can cause rising prices in isolated commodities, but when prices for everything are rising everywhere and in concert, there is only one possible cause: money printer go brrrrrrr.
Remember back in the ancient history of 2020, when the US government printed 8 trillion-with-a-T dollars? What did you do with your $1400 cut? You might have been better off saving it to burn as heating fuel in 2023.
Rising prices are always caused by more units of currency being directed to scarce or tangible assets.
-Daniel Lacalle, Commodities Do Not Cause Inflation. Money Printing Does.
The world economy is riddled with complexity. But while there are a number of factors contributing to the hardships we now face, inflation is the primary cause. Govsplainers don’t want you to think, however, that the profligacy of government has anything to do with your inability to afford bacon.
According to Biden, Russia did it.
Well, maybe not directly. Even Biden admits that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and NATO are responsible for new food supply disruptions occurring now in Europe. But of course, the sanctions were an automatic consequence of the Ukraine invasion. Nothing else could be done. Therefore, food shortages are 100% Putin’s fault.
Never mind that 8 trillion dollars. Never mind that governments around the world just spent two years restricting the production of food and the movement of goods across and even within borders. Never mind that food prices have been rising globally since long before the Ukraine invasion was even a glimmer of doom on the horizon. Never mind that the sanctions punish Russian civilians who had nothing to do with the invasion, and many of whom probably oppose it. And never mind that, as Biden acknowledges, the ramifications of those sanctions fall on the civilian populations of many other countries besides Russia.
No, it’s definitely all Putin’s fault.
And before I get inundated with angry emails accusing me of supporting Russia, look: you’ll never catch me defending violent actions from any government. Especially one engaged in an unprovoked invasion against another country. What bothers some people about my stance is that I apply it consistently (I’m equally opposed to all warmongering, even when it’s instigated by the government of the country I happen to live in), and that I clearly delineate between the people and the government of a country. War is evil because it destroys innocent lives in pursuit of elite goals. Sanctions are evil for the same reason.
The reality is that although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the most recent contributor to the conditions that are already leading to food shortages, it is only the tip of the iceberg. First among these causes is inflation.
At any given time, the world may be facing a number of economic challenges that might lead to food supply disruptions. Wars, trade disputes, burdensome regulations, natural disasters, or a year of bad regional weather can create isolated food shortages. But under normal circumstances, the effects are mitigated through the robustness of the global economy. These are not normal circumstances. The global economy has been beaten down, reduced to a shadow of its former abundance through two years of pandemic restrictions and currency debasement. This is a perfect storm of shortage-causing factors, and at least half of it could have been prevented.
Well, so much for Biden’s assessment. Let’s see what the financial sector has to say.
Larry Fink tells us it’s definitely Russia, but also the Pandemic.
In his annual letter to shareholders, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink spends a few paragraphs bemoaning the effect the Ukraine invasion will have on the world economy and finance markets, before noting that pre-war conditions had already set the stage:
Even before the war’s outbreak, the economic effects of the pandemic – including the shift in consumer demand from services to household goods, labor shortages, and supply chain bottlenecks – brought inflation in the US to its highest level in forty years. Across the European Union, Canada, and the UK, inflation is above 5%.
Larry, Larry, Larry…don’t govsplain me about why “shifts in consumer demand” and “supply chain bottlenecks” made things suck so bad. As if these things just happened independently of anything. As if one day everyone in the world just voluntarily decided to stay home for the next two years, and industries from farming to shipping just decided they didn’t feel like keeping the old supply chain running anymore.
Fink posits that what we are experiencing is a turning point, away from global markets and toward insular economies fueled by national self-preservation and international suspicion and paranoia. And his solution? As far as I can tell from reading the letter, it’s investing in green energy.
Make it make sense.
Well, if Larry’s explanation doesn’t quite cut it for you, allow your Congressional overlords to direct your attention to everyone’s favorite scapegoat, Corporate Greed.
Congressional Democrats Blame Corporate Greed
A year and a half ago these guys were falling all over themselves to outdo each other’s proposals for injecting increasingly worthless currency into the economy. Predictably, now that the chickens have come home to roost, there’s not a trace of accountability to be seen.
In this, the govsplain-iest of govsplanations, inflation doesn’t even exist. Not really. Corporations are simply raising prices “because they can.”
But why, if corporations can increase profits by simply raising prices to previously unheard-of levels, have they only just started to do so? Did they only just learn this secret to raking in limitless profits last year? It’s a mystery.
The solution, of course, is to tell these greedy corporations they can’t do that: to enact some kind of price setting mechanism, which will totally keep prices from rising any further, as has been demonstrated by previous price control schemes in the Soviet Union, Depression-era United States, and modern Venezuela.
Oh, and in the meantime, MOAR STIMYALISSSS!!!!
‘Cause that’ll definitely fix it. Right? Right, guys?
Thank you for reading!
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-Starr
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I feel like the end of this post needs a photo of a microphone on the ground. You definitely dropped it hard.