Biden administration insists inflation is ‘transitory’
To the editor:
Jimmy Carter was president from 1977 to 1981. Inflation ran rampant and the economic destruction rained down on our economy from the Carter era is legendary. Money market rates hit 20 percent, interest rates on home mortgages were 15 percent (FreddieMax.com) on 30-year fixed rate mortgages and housing prices expectedly contracted dramatically because few could qualify for home purchases in a runaway inflationary market.
According to Freddiemac.com, interest rates, when Carter won the election 11/1977, were 8.81 percent on 30-year fixed rate single-family home mortgages. When Reagan took office in 1/1981 the rate was 14.90 percent.
Today, the Biden administration gurus are telling us that inflation is only transitory and will subside. Really?
The day after the 2020 Presidential election, RBOB (NY unleaded gas) was at $1.08 per gallon. Today, 9/27/21 the close, according to Bloomberg, was $2.21 per gallon, over a 100 percent increase in less than a year. Soybeans, corn, and wheat were all 40 to 70 percent lower (Chicago Board of Trade 11/2020 vs. 9/2021) the day after the election than they are today. No inflation?
The biggest fear for those on a fixed income is, and always has been, inflation, stealing what little buying power they have.
So, if inflation is only transitory (temporary) according to Biden officials, then why is the COLA (cost of living adjustment) for 2021 Social Security recipients estimated at 6.2 percent, the “largest increase in 40 years” (CNBC.com)? The SSA increase isn’t “transitory,” it’s permanent. Can you guess when the largest increase in the history of Social Security occurred and who was President?
It was a 14.3 percent increase in 1980, the same year Carter lost the election to Reagan. (FreddieMac.com)
An increase of 6.2 percent on a small Social Security paycheck will do little to offset the cost increases for all the goods and services required by seniors in order to survive this president. Many will not.
Max Christian
St. James City