Washington politicians will point fingers in every direction before looking in the mirror and realizing that yes, their special interest spending sprees have led to the record-high costs associated with everyday life.
This year, we’ve seen officials who have spent decades of their career making paychecks off the taxpayer turn to false marketing tactics to sell those same taxpayers a bad bill of goods. First, we were sold Biden’s “Bidenomics”, or what the 46th President claimed would help turn our post-COVID economy around through—you guessed it—more spending. Though this was marketed as a “bottom up and middle out” approach to economics, with “competition” at the forefront of his plan, Bidenomics manifested as more wasteful spending with only certain industries and businesses receiving special favor from the administration’s spending spree.
Now, in November, as Thanksgiving rapidly approached (and, subsequently, so did concern around the increased costs associated with Thanksgiving dinners across the commonwealth), Senator Bob Casey spun his own false narrative and released his “Report on Greedflation”.
According to Senator Casey, this report shows the impact of prices on consumers due to corporations raising the prices of good and services “because they think they can get away with it”. In his report, Senator Bob Casey outlines the general idea that “from July 2020 through July 2022, inflation rose by 14 percent, but corporate profits rose by 75 percent over those two years, five times as fast as inflation.” He continues, “Corporations raised prices on consumers – not to offset inflation – but to increase their own profits.”
While on paper these numbers might look right, Senator Casey’s calculations are missing an incredible amount of context. What Casey’s report fails to take into consideration is “taxes, inflation, changes in inventory valuation and depreciation”, according to Americans for Prosperity’s own Senior Fellow, Kurt Couchman. He argues that once these factors are considered, overall corporate profits have “barely moved” since pre-COVID rates. Instead, rising prices are simply a result of Washington’s spending problem. As Kurt eloquently shared, these increased goods can be explained by basic economics, “widespread consensus that inflation comes from too much money chasing too few goods.”
It’s no secret that the people of Pennsylvania are hurting. When surveyed about the issue that would most likely drive a likely voter to vote in the 2024 election cycle, over 66%, or 2/3rds, of voters cite the economy and inflation. Of course, Senator Casey is concerned about spinning the narrative to deflect blame for his wasteful spending habits.
We can work towards a better economy—one that allows for a market-driven approach to fighting inflation, as opposed to throwing money at a problem to solve for it. Pennsylvanians are smart, and they know that catchy marketing such as “Bidenomics” or “Greedflation” is simply a tool to deflect from Washington’s failed policy.
Let’s do better, Pennsylvania. Join our movement for more and our pathway towards a more prosperous Pennsylvania by heading to ProsperityIsPossible.com.
This is Emily Greene, Deputy State Director with Americans for Prosperity-PA.