Postcards: Does Anyone in American Media Understand Inflation?

Another media outlet fell over itself to confuse cause and effect regarding inflation. Also, why do Washington Post writers want higher pay? You get three guesses, but the first two don't count.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]() for more [Postcards: Does Anyone in American Media Understand Inflation?]( Another media outlet fell over itself to confuse cause and effect regarding inflation. Also, why do Washington Post writers want higher pay? You get three guesses, but the first two don't count. [Garrett {NAME}]( Dec 8   [READ IN APP](   Editor’s Note: Porter Stansberry is holding an emergency investor meeting on Tuesday, December 12. During this broadcast, Porter will reveal how a new crisis is quietly brewing in America and how it will trigger…  “The Greatest Legal Transfer of Wealth in Human History.”  [A shocking financial event]( that could decimate millions of investors while potentially making a small minority a fortune.  [To get on the right side of this transfer]( check out the details of Porter’s emergency meeting [here]( Dear Fellow Expat: The American media is operating a full-court press for a government responsible for the biggest wave of inflation in 40 years. Last week, [The Atlantic blamed the American consumer]( for feeding their families and putting a roof over their heads with the headline “Inflation is Your Fault.” It’s easy to laugh this off, but something more sinister is happening here. If you want to understand these people – and if they genuinely believe what they publish – look at their actions, not their words. The Washington Post, one of the most self-righteous publications on earth, has argued that Americans don’t understand how good we have it. For the last year, the Washington Post writers must have been preparing for the upcoming layoffs. They were polishing up their resumes and looking for press jobs in the White House based on the amount of water-carrying they’ve done on the issue of inflation and the state of the American economy. Before Thanksgiving – when everyone saw inflation in their grocery bills – the editorial board got together and wrote: “Voters seem to be giving President Biden little or no credit for the modicum of economic and geopolitical stability over which he has presided." Geopolitical stability? As the Washington Free Beacon notes, economic headlines from the Post have included the following. - "Stop the gloom and doom. The economic recovery is strong," - "The US Economy Is Great. Stop Worrying About It," - "When will Americans stop worrying and learn to love the U.S. economy?" - "Mad at Biden’s inflation record? Another Trump term would be way worse." Why won’t we stop worrying about the economy? What the hell is wrong with us? Don’t you see that these media overlords know more than us? Could you stop looking at your grocery bills? As they described it, the year 2023 has been a "miracle year for the U.S. economy.” Now, I will admit that the economy is in much better condition than most people anticipated – but you’d better have a “good” economy when you’re running deficits north of $1.7 trillion and putting everything on the country’s credit card. It’s just more Keynesianism – and we’ll pay the bill eventually. Inflation For Thee Now, here’s where the story gets good. It turns out – the Washington Post’s union is pushing for a new contract for its workers. They even staged a 24-hour walkout this week to inform everyone that they mean business. And what’s the reason why they are pushing for higher pay? Emphasis mine. "Washington Post employees have been negotiating with management for 18 months," the Washington Post Guild during a one-day strike. "We still lack a contract that keeps pace with record-level inflation and guarantees workers a living wage." Gee. That’s interesting. But I’d been reading that everything is fine… in the Washington Post. More Water Carrying CNBC is getting in on the action as well. Jenni Reid published a recent report from the British think tank called the Institute For Public Policy Research and Common Wealth today. Now, fair warning. If you find yourself interacting with any entity with the words ‘Common Wealth” or “Common Good,”… run. They believe your money is everyone’s money. The Institute’s recent report argues that one of the primary drivers of inflation in recent years is… “excess profits due to the market power of large companies.” “Companies with (temporary) market power seemed to be able to protect their margins or even reap ‘excess profits’, setting prices higher than would be socially and economically beneficial,” they wrote. The report admits that excess profits are not the sole reason for inflation. And they are trying to draw attention to the topic for more academic study. And there’s nothing wrong with conducting scholarly research on inflation. But unpack a few things. First, how did this market power get consolidated in the first place for companies like Kraft Heinz (KHZ) and Exxon Mobil (XOM), both mentioned in the report? Well, the government has allowed massive amounts of consolidation in every sector. You can visit your grocery store and see the long salad dressing aisle. There are only four companies that represent about 95% of the products. And BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard own as much as 10% of all those companies – including the grocery stores. But here’s the real problem with the research and reporting. Reports like this completely let the real drivers of inflation off the hook. The U.S. government printed $6 trillion, and at one point, one out of every three dollars was brand new. [Inflation is a monetary phenomenon.]( stop. So, if you want to understand how and why companies can exploit market power… they can do so when the governments decide to crank out massive amounts of capital. [Monetary Policy is the first step along the inflation cycle]( – and any outrage at large corporations (the donors of our regulators) – needs to be directed at the central bank and our Treasury. But we never see these articles. It’s easier to scapegoat and keep people divided on these left and right issues of corporate greed or worker pay. In fact, here’s what Reid wrote on the origins of inflation. “Inflation began a steady march higher in mid-2020 amid a host of factors including global supply chain constraints, volatile food production conditions, tight labor markets, pandemic stimulus measures and the Russia-Ukraine war.” Pandemic stimulus measures? How big were they? And why are they buried in a long list of other factors… some of which had nothing to do with inflation in 2020? The Russian-Ukraine War didn’t start until 2022. In December 2021, the Consumer Price Index was 7.0% two months before the invasion. And, of course, the Federal Reserve isn’t mentioned in the entire article. A proper sentence on the origins of inflation would state: “Inflation began a steady march higher in mid-2020 after the Federal Reserve dropped trillions of dollars from the sky and Congress authorized several rounds of reckless spending and bailouts for their political donors.” But I get it. I know why these authors don’t say this. A sudden admission that the Fed is the biggest driver of inflation… would also be an admission that central banks are also responsible for nearly all the returns in the stock market dating back to 2012. Yardeni.com That would render 12 hours of Buy-side interviews and non-stop Bullish commentary on CNBC effectively useless. And we can’t have that. This weekend, we’ll dive deeper into the state of various central banks as we anticipate more monetary support ahead around the globe. All support for the economy is, by default, bullish for equities. It’s just a matter of understanding how money flows in and out of the markets. I’ll show you an easy way to keep track of capital flows on Sunday. Stay positive, Garrett {NAME} You're currently a free subscriber to [Postcards from the Florida Republic](. 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