Government & Politics

Steven Fazzari’s commentary for an INET symposium on the Inflation Reduction Act

Recent headlines about year-over-year consumer prices sensationalize with phrases like “worst inflation in 40 years” and “out-of-control inflation.” The reality of high inflation, its real costs on many American households, and the extensive, sometimes excessive, media coverage has been a drag on Biden administration approval and is among the most prominent talking points in the Republican effort to take control of Congress in the November midterms.

Economic issues are a primary part of Trump's appeal to his base

As incitements to genuine fear and trembling, credible invocations of the end of the world are hard to top. So when President Joe Biden mentioned the war in Ukraine and Armageddon in the same breath at a Democratic Party fundraiser, the whole world jumped. Amid a wave of news clips filled with swooning commentary and verbal handwringing, the White House staff rushed to do damage control.¹

Why did Corporate Democrats “cede” the economic argument? Are they really fighting inflation or trying to weaken workers’ bargaining power? INET's Thomas Ferguson joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news.

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, I’m Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news. The Dems, the Democratic Party, has retaken the Senate as we are speaking. It’s still not clear whether they’re going to retake the House, although most of the pundits are predicting they won’t by a slim margin. What happened and why?

We’ll be back in just a few seconds with Thomas Ferguson to discuss the results of the election, some of the economics involved, and why so many people got it wrong.

Salaries in the U.S. aren’t keeping up with inflation, despite pandemic-related increases in some sectors. That’s a major threat to the future for all working Americans – especially the youngest.

Social Security is your future. And that future could come sooner than you think.

Conversations about the program often pit younger workers against retirees, but Social Security is really an intergenerational compact that boosts the well-being of Americans of all ages — that’s one of the reasons the program is so cherished.

One in five Americans receives a Social Security benefit today, and about one in three of these aren’t retired. Social Security protects young workers and their families if they become disabled, and it provides benefits to the survivors of deceased workers, including their kids. Studies show that a 20-year-old worker has a one in three chance of qualifying for disability benefits before reaching retirement age.