Planet Earth to Economist World. Planet Earth to Economist World. Come in Please.
Planet Earth to Economist World. Can you hear me? We’ve been getting regular communications from you for a long time, but you seem to have lost all contact with us.
For years we were picking up signals from you telling us how good our economy was going, when it really was just puffing up a giant bubble. In recent months we’ve been getting promises from you that our economy is bottoming out and beginning to turn around, which doesn’t seem to comport with facts on our planet. And lately you’ve been so sure inflation was under control that you warned our Social Security recipients not to expect a coast of living increase next year.
About that no inflation prediction, Economist World. It’s kind of silly.
Today the Labor Department reported a big jump in food prices, especially eggs. The price of bread is also going up while milk and cheese, well, their prices may not be rising but they remain very high, with a pound of cheddar costing what a pound of good steak used to cost.
I’m only getting static from your end, Economist World. Is any of this getting through to you?
We’re paying down our credit card debts here but our monthly card bills are still going up because the banks are hitting us with higher rates and crazy fees. Federal taxes are easing, but local ones, especially the hidden ones that come in the form of bigger fines for things like parking violations, are taking a bigger bite. And gasoline! It went up 10 percent just last week alone. Insurance premiums. Medical co-pays. The things that actually go into our living costs on Planet Earth, things you don’t think worth figuring into your own computations, are nickel and diming us into oblivion.
Are you receiving this, Economist World? Is this getting through to you? I don’t want to bother you people with facts that might make your own lives in that galaxy far, far away more difficult, but for reasons I can’t quite fathom your reads of what’s going on here on Planet Earth somehow affect policy making down here.
So if you are getting this message, please respond.
Planet Earth out.