Let’s go micro. What are the principal causes of inflation, and what has Biden done to limit them?
Here they are:
- HOUSING: This is an issue primarily driven by local regulations. Biden supported the eviction moratorium and has endorsed rules tying federal housing funds to zoning liberalization. It’s hard to see what more he could have done.
- GASOLINE: The problems here are increased demand due to the waning of the pandemic and a lack of investment resulting from the proposed transition to green energy. The investment problem began years before Biden took office. He can’t be blamed for this.
- COMPUTER CHIPS: These are manufactured outside of the US for reasons that have nothing to do with the Biden presidency.
- GOODS PRODUCED IN CHINA: Here, we have supply chain issues: problems with the locations of containers; a lack of truck drivers; and issues with port capacity. Biden is doing his best to deal with the port capacity problem. There is nothing he can do with the other issues.
- GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCED IN AMERICA: This is mostly about the Great Resignation. The enhanced unemployment benefits and the stimulus payments might have had an impact initially, but the unemployment benefits have expired, and the stimulus has, for the most part, been spent. And anyway, would America be better off if the workers holding out for better jobs were stuck in their previous employment, with no hope of improvement?
The bottom line is that Biden is doing all he can. We just have to grit our teeth and wait it out. It’s not as if the GOP has a better answer, other than to induce enough misery among workers to force them back to their low wage jobs.