Michael Ramirez for April 16, 2024

Start a war to stay in power.

“only Biden has the experience and wisdom to handle what is becoming one of the most perilous international landscapes since World War II, campaign aides say.”

-Politico

Like I have said before, MAGAts have NO concept of market concentration, don’t believe it exists, and believe that even if it did, it has no effect on inflation.

And they believe ’Biden’s policies’, which they cannot identify, caused world wide inflation. Again, they absolutely believe that after effects of the pandemic had no effect on inflation whatsoever.

Sisyphus the Great. The odd thing is that he is not carrying the weight of inflation but we are, the American people. Our strategic reserve is way down and too expensive to fill it. Gas in AZ is now $4.49 up on the corner Circle-K. Up $1.00 in one week. Thanks a lot Joe. November can’t come soon enough.

So, let’s have another great depression, allow the rich to hoard cash, and then prices may go down. Like the Great Depression, wages will go down faster.

“… Add war to the perils facing markets and the economy now.

Saturday’s drone and missile assault against Israel sent oil markets soaring over the weekend and U.S. stock futures looking optimistic early Monday.

Although Iran said its attack – including 300 drones and missiles, the overwhelming majority of which Israel said were intercepted without causing much damage – has ended, the world is waiting to see what Israel does next.

Markets were already on edge last week as the reality of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates high for longer set in.

And this week offers a variety of economic reports for March and April that could show the economy remaining strong or pulling back.

Retail sales for March came in above estimates on Monday, with a 0.7% increase for the month compared to estimates for a 0.4% gain. Food and drinking establishments, as well as online retailers, led the increase. February retail sales were revised upward from an 0.6% increase previously to 0.9%.

Reports on the state of the housing market for March will be out Tuesday, with construction starts and building permits, and then existing home sales on Thursday. Overall, the data is expected to show a drop in activity from February. Thursday will also bring a report on economic growth with the leading indicators index for March. Forecasts call for a slight drop in the index.

But those are still likely to take a back seat to the rising cost of oil, potential disruptions of supply chains from additional hostilities, or some other escalation that would rattle investors. Higher oil costs have an immediate inflationary effect on the cost of many goods. …" — usnews .com /news /economy / articles /2024-04-15 /war-hangs-over-economy-markets-as-retail-sales-surge-in-march

“… Climate impacts on economic productivity indicate that climate change may threaten price stability. Here we apply fixed-effects regressions to over 27,000 observations of monthly consumer price indices worldwide to quantify the impacts of climate conditions on inflation. Higher temperatures increase food and headline inflation persistently over 12 months in both higher- and lower-income countries. Effects vary across seasons and regions depending on climatic norms, with further impacts from daily temperature variability and extreme precipitation. Evaluating these results under temperature increases projected for 2035 implies upwards pressures on food and headline inflation of 0.92-3.23 and 0.32-1.18 percentage-points per-year respectively on average globally (uncertainty range across emission scenarios, climate models and empirical specifications). Pressures are largest at low latitudes and show strong seasonality at high latitudes, peaking in summer. Finally, the 2022 extreme summer heat increased food inflation in Europe by 0.43-0.93 percentage-points which warming projected for 2035 would amplify by 30-50%. …” — nature .com /articles /s43247-023-01173-x

Michael, how about a ’toon or two about “Greedflation”? You know as well as the rest of us do that MANY companies have simply raised prices to raise profits. Their annual reports PROVE IT BEYOND ANY DOUBTS.

Having lived through the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and almost have of the 2020’s, I find it absolutely hilarious that 3.x% inflation is enough to cause anyone heartburn. I’ve seen it as high as 14% (1979-1980). There were years in there we would have given anything for 3.4% (2024). The fact that is even a political issue with conservatives indicates how little they have on Biden and the Democrats.

It’s hard to imagine any economic sector not affected by energy. And Biden’s war on fossil fuels coupled with the bungling of the Middle East has resulted in energy inflation which is a major contributor to the overall global inflation problem. He started this mess one day one.

Biden’s America.

Now THAT’S funny! (and right on the mark again!)

So, is Joe waiting for the teleprompter to bust the inflation balloon?

The economy is booming, stock market is way up, all the signs of things going great…and yet there is inflation. Prices go up and stay up and go up again. And who is it that SETS prices? The President? The Government? Nope, it’s the corporations and business owners. THEY set prices, they determine if inflation goes up, so why are NONE of the magats pointing fingers at them? Oh yeah because the Reich wing leaders and propaganda machine tell them to blame Biden. What would republiCONS do if not for the stupid and gullible?

Doesn’t matter who is President…we’d have this inflation issue these past few years.

Well, it is the only thing they can run on despite the fact that inflation started under the trump administration with his trade war with China that made Americans pay more for anything and everything made in China, and that’s almost everything we buy. And his pandemic policies destroyed our economy and supply chain.

I have never, and I mean never, heard a single MAGA-GOP state what, with supporting facts, Biden did to cause GLOBAL inflation, but more importantly I have never heard a single MAGA-GOP state what should have been done or what they would do about inflation, save for reduce taxes (thus giving people more money, which MAGA-GOP claims fuels inflation if done by a Democrat) and reduce regulation (thus increasing profits for investors and making like less safe for the rest of us, i.e., bank failures, train wrecks, dirty air, dirty water, dirty soil, etc. NOTE: Reduce taxes and reduce regulation has been the answer to every question asked of the GOP since 1980, when Reagan drove us into a recession and blew up the deficit.

Take an issue that is annoying people and blow it up out of all proportion. That is the cartoonist’s job. You don’t always have to like it.

Fact check these demented TDS asylum seekers, please.

Now do one with planned migrant invasion on the balloon.

Wow! You would think inflation never existed before.

And now for some reality:Retail sales for March increased 0.7% from the previous month, according to Census Bureau data. Economists had expected a 0.4% increase in spending, according to Bloomberg data. Meanwhile retail sales in February were revised up to an increase of 0.9% from a prior reading of 0.6%.The data reiterates that consumers continued to spend despite a higher interest rate environment, and Bank of America Institute recently offered a reason why that might continue. Workers across all income cohorts are seeing their highest wage increases since early 2023.‌"The solid labor market continues to sustain consumer momentum," the BofA Institute team wrote on April 10. “March saw strong jobs growth, and this appears to be reflected in strengthening after-tax wages and salaries growth in our data — with growth at the highest level since early 2023.”

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Biden’s inflation is very hard on older retired people!

Compared to other countries our inflation isn’t nearly as bad as it would’ve been under 45. When he proposes a 10 percent tariff on China and every other country our inflation would be on par with Hungary. Americans paychecks are up helping to stay pace with inflation and what are republicans in Red states doing to help ? By cutting Medicaid and food stamps equating it to welfare

Yes. During this political season it is easy to blame President Joe Biden and Democrats for inflation. But that’s just not accurate Inflation is not unique to America. It is an international crisis. In the European Union, inflation is nearly 11 percent. In Germany, it is 11.6 percent. In the United Kingdom it is 10.1 percent. In Ireand, it’s 9.6 percent. In America, it’s 8.2 percent, much too high, but lower than it is throughout much of Europe.

While employers squeeze workers and their unions for cuts to health care and other benefits, the CEOs of major corporations now make nearly 400 times more than their average employees – the largest employer-worker gap in our history. While 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, we now have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of our country – with three multi-billionaires owning more wealth than the bottom half

If you are wondering why we continue to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, you shouldknow that Pfizer has increased its profits by 42 percent so far this year to $26.4 billion. Profits of ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell skyrocketed by 169 percent so far this year to $125 billion. These four huge oil companies are spending over $73 billion not to reduce gas prices at the pump but to buy back their own stock and increase dividends to their wealthy stockholders.

Global food prices skyrocketed by over 33 percent last year and are expected to go up another 23 percent this year. Billionaires in the global food and agri-business industry became $382 billion richer during the pandemic.

Right now, more than any time in modern history, we need a Congress that has the courage to take on the wealthy campaign contributors, super-PACs, and lobbyists who work overtime in protecting the interests of billionaires and corporate interests. And that is precisely what Democrats must do if they expand their majority in the House and the Senate.

From Investopedia:

Causes of Inflation

An increase in the supply of money is the root of inflation, though this can play out through different mechanisms in the economy. A country’s money supply can be increased by the monetary authorities by:

● Printing and giving away more money to citizens

● Legally devaluing (reducing the value of) the legal tender currency

● Loaning new money into existence as reserve account credits through the banking system by purchasing government bonds from banks on the secondary market (the most common method)

In all of these cases, the money ends up losing its purchasing power.

Follow the money. Is it going to Biden or corporations?

I have a right-wing acquaintance who complains frequently about “Bidenflation”. This weekend he noted that that he received a 20% increase in pay over the last three years. The irony was unnoted.

Why is it that that aspect of personal finances is consistently ignored by the critics?

Only four percent of voters believe President Joe Biden’s economy is “excellent,” while 52 percent say it is “poor,” a New York Times-Siena poll found Saturday.

The survey asked respondents, “Thinking about the nation’s economy, how would you rate economic conditions today?”

4 percent said excellent17 percent said good27 percent said only fair52 percent said poorIn addition, a strong majority of voters believe Biden’s America is on the wrong track, as voters look more fondly on former President Donald Trump’s presidency, the poll found:

Right track: 25 percentWrong direction: 64 percentDon’t know-Refused: 11 percentThe poll sampled 1,059 registered voters from April 7-11, with polling having a 3.7 point margin of error. Forty-three percent of respondents voted for Biden in 2020, while only 36 percent voted for Trump.

So glad my Biden Wages are up far beyond inflation percentages. Try again

US Inflation Rate is at 3.48%, compared to 3.15% last month and 4.98% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 3.28%.

Mar 14, 2023 — Inflation drops to 6%,

Biden has cut inflation in half.

When you see someone use inflation, think large business profits.

Still better than the former guy who said that rules, laws and even the Constitution should be suspended for him.

I see some are cherry picking numbers on inflation. Bottom line is that under President Trump we saw very low inflation rates. When Trump left office it was a healthy 1.4%. When Biden stepped in reversing almost all of President Trumps EOs and policies we began to see an increase. Rad is correct that current figures show the inflation rate to be at 3.48%, but what he fails to mention is that it peaked at over 9% last year in June 2023. The problem is that prices have not dropped, groceries are up 27% and other commodities have remained high under Biden. The main reason for this is that petroleum is up 54% and that effects the delivery costs of every can of beans, head of lettuce etc. on market shelves. It’s no secret that the high cost of fuel is directly attributable to Biden’s open hostility to the petroleum industry. Proof of that is that he increased the lease to oil companies drilling on government land last Friday. That added expense will be passed along to all of us at the gas pump and the stores.

Where’s the cartoon about wage growth outpacing inflation, especially for the bottom half of the work force? Oh, right, what am I thinking?

Ramirez would rather show that he is UNINFORMED about inflation to make a “point” that isn’t true.

MR…cheap, inaccurate tooning. You could do better….

Braindead is…

Kinly old Grandpa Joe has blown the baloon so big that its overpowering him. The cartoon seems to elequently portray the real world of Joe Biden in 2024.