"Unfair Prices"
Team Biden attempts to reverse engineer
prices discovery, from the top down...
by Bill Bonner
Youghal, Ireland - Finally, Joe Biden is going to tackle inflation in the time-honored way of despots and crackpots everywhere. CNBC: "President Joe Biden will launch a new strike force jointly led by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, to tackle “unfair and illegal” corporate pricing, which he blames for consumers’ continued high costs of living." The FTC and DOJ have been among the central enforcers of Biden’s regulatory agenda over the past three years. In other words, price hikes don’t come from the Fed’s zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) nor from their stimmies, deficits and money-printing. High prices are the fault of evil, greedy corporations. And now, Team Biden is going to do something about it.
‘Uh…like what?’ you might want to know. Easy. It is going to pretend that it knows what a ‘fair’ price should be. And the saintly and all-knowing feds are going to impose their will on those SOBs in the private sector.
Wasting Our Time: Of course, the SOBs will always want to charge as much as they can get away with. What stops them is not the price posses of the federal government, but competition. You either compete on price or on quality, usually both. So corporate deciders are always looking for ways to cut prices…not raise them. That is how they hope to keep their customers. But no need to waste our time explaining these things to the Biden Bunch. If there is a lamb left unsheared in the Republic, they go after it…eager to get more wool to pull over voters’ eyes.
We asked yesterday, why does a good system degenerate into a bad one…why does government grow, becoming less democratic, more incompetent and more tyrannical? You might as well ask why doesn’t tomorrow turn into yesterday? Or wine turn back into grape juice? Why doesn’t the president just ‘walk across the street’ …and tell Congress: ‘Enough is enough. No more deficits. That’s it.’?
Outta Shape: You see an old man, bent, shuffling…you might say to him: ‘Just straighten up and walk normally.’ But he can’t do it. His muscles …his bones…his brain – all have taken a new shape. They can never again be what they were. And the US has aged…and matured, too, along with its deciders. Bent by time, now the voters elect Biden or Trump, not Jefferson or even Eisenhower. And Joe Biden is so practiced as skirting the truth, he can’t do anything else. Yes, greedy corporations cause price increases…of course they do. Yes, the firepower industry needs more money to protect our democracy, of course it does. And don’t even think about trimming Social Security, Medicare or other ‘entitlements.’ “Not on my watch,” said the president on X yesterday.
It’s a shame Biden doesn’t have an older, wiser brother. Before his State of the Union Speech last week, he might have talked some sense into him: “Joe. This is your last chance. Your career is almost over. You can go out as a washed-up hack. Or you can go out there and tell the voters something important. Stop carrying water for the special interests who want war and deficits. Stop this mumbly-fumbly double talk. The US can’t afford to keep spending money this way. If it doesn’t make a major course correction, it will soon be as washed up as you are. Tell the truth. Americans will be so shocked and delighted, you might win another 4 years. And even if you lose, you will be remembered, and honored – like Eisenhower – for saying what needed to be said. Go ahead. Give truth a chance.”
Nothing at All: And so, perhaps when the fateful hour arrived, his mind clear…his aim sure…Joe Biden might have given it to the public, straight. Unadorned by mendacity. Undiluted by wishful thinking. And unabridged by lies:
“My fellow Americans, I don’t have time for a lot of BS. So, here’s the story. If we keep spending money the way we’ve been spending it, we will go broke. Of course, there are a lot of people who don’t care about that. The money is headed their way. They’re building their mansions and stocking their bank accounts, at your expense. And the only way to stop it is just to draw a line. I can’t haggle over every line item. Besides, my job is not to protect the special interests…it’s to protect the general interest...the national interest. My job is to make sure we don’t spend too much. So, if I am elected to serve you for 4 more years – and yes, I know I don’t really deserve it – balanced budgets will be non-negotiable. No more deficits. No more money printing. You gentlemen and ladies in Congress…you decide what to spend money on…and send me a balanced budget. I’ll sign it. Otherwise, don’t bother to send me anything at all.”
Yeah... good luck!
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