This may not be a news flash to my readers, but Joe Biden has lost touch with reality. I am not sure when it occurred. It might have been in his teenage years, but last week he confirmed it. At a dinner in South Carolina (and I’m pretty sure he didn’t go to the grocery store to buy the food), he announced that grocery stores are “ripping people off.”
Inflation is coming down. It’s now lower in America than any other major economy in the world. The cost of eggs, milk, chicken, gas, and so many other essential items have come down.
But for all we’ve done to bring prices down, there are still too many corporations in America ripping people off: price gouging, junk fees, greedflation, shrinkflation.
Interestingly, he didn’t mention energy prices in general, which have soared under his watch. Biden didn’t give any examples of what he has done to bring prices down. He can’t give examples because none exist in the reality that most Americans inhabit. But in Joe Biden’s fantasy world, profligate spending financed by increasing the money supply has nothing to do with inflation.
But the more important point here is who is really guilty of ripping off Americans.
I go to the grocery store at least once a week, and when I’m lucky, I go two or three times. I’ve done this for decades. And out of those thousands of trips to the grocery store, I have never had anyone force me to buy something. I walk through the store voluntarily choosing what I want to purchase, and then I voluntarily pay for it. And a part of my decision is the price of the items I am considering.
Not that long ago, the price of eggs skyrocketed because egg laying hens were decimated by the avian flu. I didn’t think that I was being ripped off when the store was charging $4 a dozen. They were using pricing to ration something that was in short supply. Those who really valued eggs would pay the price. Those who didn’t could do without or find an alternative. This was a choice that each consumer could voluntarily make. That’s not a rip off. That is a voluntary exchange to mutual benefit.
How does Biden (and every other politician) pay for his programs and policies? It certainly isn’t through any voluntary means. We don’t get to choose whether we give the government our money or how much. If you don’t believe me, don’t pay your taxes. Someone with a gun will eventually show up and take your property, throw you in jail, or both.
Biden went on to claim that Americans are tired of “being played for suckers” by grocery stores. But it is the government that is playing Americans for suckers. It is the government, not the grocery stores, that tells us what we can and cannot do. It is the government, not the grocery stores, that doesn’t allow us to act voluntarily.
It’s always easy to blame others for the failures of one’s policies. And when you’ve lost touch with reality, it is inevitable.