Inflating the Truth

ByBrian Phillips

As inflation continues to push prices higher and higher, conservatives are stumbling over themselves to blame Biden and Congressional Democrats. While the current regime certainly deserves criticism, placing all of the blame for inflation on Democrats is intellectually dishonest and an attempt to inflate the truth.

Conservatives conveniently ignore the fact that Trump signed the CARES Act in March 2020. The act authorized $2.2 trillion in spending and is the largest “economic stimulus” package ever enacted into law. And then in December 2020, Trump authorized another $900 billion in additional spending by signing a consolidated appropriations act. Conservatives do not mention this largesse.

The fact is, the spending authorized by Trump is a partial cause for the inflation that we are now experiencing. So are the lock downs authorized by both Democrat and Republican governors. In shutting down producers, the lock downs disrupted supply chains, leading to shortages of parts and other products. The result has been more money chasing fewer goods, and when demand exceeds supply, prices rise.

Certainly, Biden’s spending will make the situation worse. Supply chains are still recovering, and the administration is planning to flood the economy with even more money. However, claiming that he is the cause of our current inflation is simply a reversal of the dishonesty we witnessed during the Trump years.

While Trump was in office, the media went out of its way to make him look bad. They seldom gave him credit for the good things he did, which admittedly were few. But to denounce everything Trump did simply because Trump did it is the approach of a simpleton. 

There was nothing rational about the unrelenting attacks on Trump. All it did was fan the flames of political divisiveness and obscured the truth. In blaming inflation on Biden, conservatives are doing the same. Both Progressives and conservatives act on the premise that their guy can do no wrong, and the other guy can do no right. Neither is true.

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