8.5%. That’s the inflation rate for March. Rushing past the 7.9% record from February. At the risk of sounding sarcastic, “well done, Joe!” Housing costs up by 30%. Home construction costs up 17.5%. And economists are warning we’ll hit over 10% inflation by summer. Then comes recession. Then layoffs. Hang on to something, folks.
But this is the Putin price hikes, right? I guess that’s better than the “big oil price hikes” they blamed a couple months back… Not to be outdone by the “meat packers price hikes” they cast blame on before that. Oh, and let’s not forget the “supply chain price hikes” that floated out there for Biden blame before that! Who did I forget? I must have left someone out? Oh – that’s right – I’m sure the “Screen Actors Guild” had a price hike somewhere in there; or was it the “Basket Weavers of Wisconsin Local 403” price hike? Or maybe the …. “Airline Baggage Tug Drivers” price hike? Or … I can do this all day. Casting blame elsewhere doesn’t make actions and policies go away, folks. Slashing energy production and printing/pouring trillions into an economy will overheat it. Econ 101. Not Econ 202, and not even the 300 and 400 levels. This is basic, 101.
And the Ruble Rubble Joe likes to go on about? Did you know: The Ruble has gained almost all of its pre-invasion value back?? Not the ruble in rubble being touted, huh? And – the coalition Joe “formed and solidified”? Well, only 70% of the countries using Swift have excluded Russia. Europe is still buying lots of Russian oil and gas. The pipeline that flows through Ukraine to Europe (from Russia) has actually INCREASED its flow rates! India has increased its arms purchases and its oil purchases from Russia, despite Joe talking to them. Russian Oligarchs? Well, only 18 are sanctioned so far. Nobody else has been heavily impacted, as the wheels of the US government move excruciatingly slow. Wouldn’t an Operation Warp Speed be useful now? Russia is making $1 million per day in oil sales. China just sent several heavy-lift cargo planes full of arms to Serbia. They crossed Turkish airspace quite unexpectedly 2 days ago. Guess where those are ending up?
And did you know?? The US has pretty extensive uranium deposits, but … BUT … the environmentalists won’t let us get at them in Wyoming and other places, despite having nuclear reactors that need them (and at least 2 more in final phases of construction). So, guess where we are buying that uranium from? Guess who’s exempted in the sanctions? Yup. Those Ruskies. Overall, the “critical mineral exclusions” amount to over $100M per year we are sending to Russia – with the sanctions.
This is a textbook case of a totally ineffective administration. Sorry – it is.
And through all of this, Joe won’t step back into increasing our exploration and production to help our allies get away from Russian energy. We could fill that gap completely – make no mistake about that. Never mind that Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, and now the UAE have ALL stopped returning Joe’s calls and have actually decreased production levels. Great foreign relations, Joe! Way to show that “America’s BACK!” — as he touted in his inaugural speech. Abraham Accords be damned! Remember? That’s when the Middle East got along with us, and started playing nice with Israel, remember? Oh, but that was 16 months ago… how soon the honeymoon is over. The Middle East has specifically cited the Afghan debacle, the changed US stance on the Yemen conflict, and the insane need to get into the JCPOA (a.k.a. the ridiculous Iran Nuke Deal) as reasons why they do not like Biden – at all.
But, hey … congratulations to Jen Psaki – jumping ship from Spokesperson to her own NBC opinion show in the coming weeks. Now NBC employees are not happy. Take a number.
