It is gut wrenching to read these stories. It has become painfully clear the bureaucrats in Washington not only don’t care about small business owners, they despise them...because it would be easier to put their boot on everyone if all gas stations were run by Amazon and every Chinese food restaurant was owned by McDonalds. For all the degrees these fools in DC have, they understand much less about the economy than a small business owner. I would take every one in this article in a Presidential cabinet over the over educated frauds there now.
The people in Washington DC live in a bubble. They have no idea what it’s like out in the country, and they don’t care. I have seen no evidence whatsoever that Biden or Harris, or anyone in his cabinet can relate to any of us. The proof is in his clueless press secretary who has no shame and comes out every day with a pack of lies. Biden, plagiarist in chief, lies every single day. So does his wife. All of these people hate us. Their policies prove just how much they hate us. As I look over other Democrats who may want to be President in the future, there is not one who cares about the middle class. Not one of them has a policy that would actually benefit the citizens. They are beholden to the elites, the donors, the coastal states, and that’s it. If your party reveres people like the jackal, George Soros, nothing good will ever happen. I hate all of them.
Where have all the workers gone? In my town there are signs everywhere saying, Help Wanted. Chic-fil-A is offering $19/hr for full timers. Construction has ground to fits and starts as people can get workers only unreliably and unpredictably. Restaurants are open only 4 days a week. What are people doing if not working? With high prices for everything you would think everyone would be working a lot, even a second job.
Listen to the DEMOCRAT selected Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Energy and know that this is all INTENTIONAL. There is a war on the middle class and on freedom. They don't want you driving, they don't want you to be able to afford fuel to drive or heat your homes, yet there are no realistic alternatives being offered. Keep voting for the democrats and this is what you will continue to get. Small business are and will continue to shut down. Think about this next election before you re-elect your local democratic congressperson or senator "he/she is not part of the problem..." If they are democrats they ARE part of the problem.
It is the same in the UK. Gas prices (due to tax) are much higher. The oil refineries around the world are running close to capacity, particularly for diesel. Russian refinery capacity has been taken out of the equation. The price of oil has fallen in the last few weeks but it is only now working its way through to the pumps. Because people are driving less, they are using less gas and thus the independents (not supermarket chains) are getting squeezed even more.
The supply chain crisis is worldwide and small business owners worldwide are getting squeezed. Because of globalization (which was a deflationary force), people are affected by lockdowns and factory closures in far flung parts of world (such as China). It can be about getting that little part to finish production (something factories in the UK experienced last year).
The price of hen and duck food keeps going up (something which poultry farmers need in order to produce hens and eggs) for example. I keep hens and ducks -- the cost is now 38.5% higher than last year.
The big worry is hyper-inflation or stagflation in a way which has not been a worry since the early 1990s and the rise of the internet etc. I would suggest that people read Sowell's Basic Economics if they have not already done so.
The current regime despises the independence and autonomy of small businesses. Obamacare forced consolidation in medical providers, driving most independent practitioners into large health”care” conglomerates, because they are easier to control. The globalists undermining our national sovereignty would like to have the same control over every aspect of commerce. Much easier to control and manipulate. Compulsory participation in the globalist agenda is the goal. So many other facets to this: control the movements of the population by making travel expensive. Control indoctrination in public education by forcing a racist, repressive curriculum. Control individual achievement by eliminating meritocracy, advanced placement, gifted and talented programs, and overlay every subject with the mantle of imaginary racism. Ensure equity, rather than equal opportunity. That’s how a society gets pushed into the cattle chute of communism.
All very well planned for decades. Sadly the elites want complete control of our body’s and souls….and they wont stop at this point until they achieve it. Throwing us into socialism (more like communism it appears at this point) is their main goal. Flooding the states with migrants is the key to so much of this. It should be obvious to most at this point tearing down the US is the ultimate goal. It’s not like the WEF hasnt been telling us thats what theyre doing for 10 yrs now. They want complete control.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that the stimulus checks were a disaster. They went to everyone, regardless of their circumstances. The unemployment bonuses went to everyone, regardless of their circumstances.
In the last five years, we have finally risen to the top end of the working poor class. But we were floating in cash in 2020. I had an "essential" job, so I was working (at higher wages, as a result of the risk). My husband was only unemployed for three months before his factory got back to work, but during his stint on unemployment, he was making MORE (due to the bonus) than he was when he was working.
If we were doing so much better financially during the pandemic, I can only imagine how things must have been for those making more than we do.
And now we are all paying the price with the resulting inflation. You can't print money without causing inflation. The stimulus checks raised a niggling worry in the back of my head, because I know this. The people in charge ought to have known this.
It’s despicable that our leadership, so-called, dodges and deflects responsibility for the economic crisis that is largely of their making.
The President in his first month halted all new oil and gas exploration on federal land including the massive Alaskan field, cancelled a major pipeline from Canada that would have offset Russian fuel imports, and sat on new drilling permits. Prices began rising, and rather than reverse course, he doubled down.
Now, cornered, he blames the Russians, the oil companies, and even the gas stations for record high gasoline and diesel. The Transportation Secretary, so-called, recommends we all buy electric vehicles. Never mind that only 434,879 EVs were sold last year in the U.S., 3% of all cars sold, mostly by Tesla—a company that the Biden regime’s DOJ has targeted for criminal investigation amidst Elon Musk’s criticisms of Green New Deal. Biden didn’t even invite Tesla to his EV summit.
Our leadership is controlled by anti-business socialists who don’t mind that small businesses are being squeezed to death. It just creates more dependency that justifies federal spending programs.
All of this is interesting, but it doesn’t deal with the cause of inflation. Climate Change Alarmism is destroying our economy.
You would think we would have had a debate on whether CAGW is a serious threat before we implemented policies that assume that it is. Unfortunately, we haven’t. Instead we use dishonest language like Climate Change (as if the climate has ever not changed) to express our fears.
I was so pleased to see the shoutout to A.K. Stickle Variety!!
I have been loving that store for years. And wondering how it managed to stay in business. I would cheerfully buy out their entire inventory to KEEP them in business, but there's only so much room for New York State dishtowels and Etch-a-Sketches in my home.
As someone who owned a small business during the last recession (2007-2010), I will say that Biden's COVID-related interventions—specifically his small business loans at low interest rates—seemed a lot more small-business-friendly than Obama's too-big-to-fail bailouts. Obama turned out to be such a mediocre POTUS.
But I don't have a clue what can be done about the current inflationary tide.
And I keep dreaming about wheelbarrows full of worthless paper currency and the Weimar Republic.
They shouldn’t call it Putin’s Price Hike they should call it Greta’s Gas Gouge because this is the result of decades of emotionally-driven imbeciles with minds like children engaging in “environmentalism”. I’ve been saying for a long time that these people are evil and a net detriment to society and now everyone can finally see it.
Up next, now that the fanciful useless cocksuckers from the farmers market have taken over the government, we can have environmentally friendly organic food production mandates which will result in mass starvation. Fucking simpletons.
At least when the ammonia restrictions kick in requiring farmers to use animal waste as fertilizer we will be able to use the nickname Joe Buydung, which is fun.
This began with "You didn't build that." Our leaders ,most of whom have never owned or worked in a real business ,especially a small one where the owners and their families pour their savings and souls into their dreams , pretty much never take any responsibility for their actions and decisions. Let's hope voters now hold them accountable since the notion of personal accountability is not in their lexicon.
I have thought about this often. There are many small businesses in my area and some are my favorite small restaurants. They can't keep printing new menus as their costs go up. Everyone here that I know is aware these businesses are not gouging anyone. Their costs, just as our costs, are going up.
My electricity is supplied by a cooperative. They have raised their fuel adjustment price 3 times since the beginning of the year. The increases have been modest, from $4-6 per so many kilowatts, but they are still increases and with inflation increasing, there will be more. I have adjusted the thermostat higher and have become adjusted to a warmer house.
My grocery shopping has changed. It has become necessities and only real food. Certainly healthier. Many items have become reduced in volume and size by shrinkflation. The 5 lb. bag of cat food I used to purchase is now 3.5 lbs and costs $2/bag more. Glad to get it though because a few months ago the shelves were completely bare.
Now that I am retired I am watching my trips closely. I am trying to make it through the month on one tank of gas. Fortunately I live in a neighborhood where most of the stores I want to go to are within 2 miles of home.
I lived through Jimmy Carter's inflation and it was awful but I was young and working. Not all that difficult to pick up a part time job in addition to my full time job. Now I am retired.
The real worry is the way the Biden administration is destabilizing the country. Inflation, crime, massive illegal immigration, stupid energy and foreign policies that harm the country still spending money hand over fist (Ukraine, anyone).
What happens when several million new immigrants, half of whom speak no English and are not familiar with modern Western civilization, can't get any work, (including the many who have criminal backgrounds), decide to take their piece of the American pie? Looting, home invasion, hold-ups, muggings? It's going to make it look like the Antifa/BLM riots of 2020 were just an outing in the park.
Just as this administration is trying to disarm lawful citizens. Fun times.
I have seen so many people talking about how inflation is bad, but that it and the tight labor market creates the opportunity for those in low wage occupations to demand raises.
With zero comprehension among most that this is the very definition of the inflationary spiral.
All western governments need to be replaced with people that get it, Biden and Trudeau have caused this.
It is gut wrenching to read these stories. It has become painfully clear the bureaucrats in Washington not only don’t care about small business owners, they despise them...because it would be easier to put their boot on everyone if all gas stations were run by Amazon and every Chinese food restaurant was owned by McDonalds. For all the degrees these fools in DC have, they understand much less about the economy than a small business owner. I would take every one in this article in a Presidential cabinet over the over educated frauds there now.
Make no mistake, folks. This is the point of socialist policies.
The people in Washington DC live in a bubble. They have no idea what it’s like out in the country, and they don’t care. I have seen no evidence whatsoever that Biden or Harris, or anyone in his cabinet can relate to any of us. The proof is in his clueless press secretary who has no shame and comes out every day with a pack of lies. Biden, plagiarist in chief, lies every single day. So does his wife. All of these people hate us. Their policies prove just how much they hate us. As I look over other Democrats who may want to be President in the future, there is not one who cares about the middle class. Not one of them has a policy that would actually benefit the citizens. They are beholden to the elites, the donors, the coastal states, and that’s it. If your party reveres people like the jackal, George Soros, nothing good will ever happen. I hate all of them.
Where have all the workers gone? In my town there are signs everywhere saying, Help Wanted. Chic-fil-A is offering $19/hr for full timers. Construction has ground to fits and starts as people can get workers only unreliably and unpredictably. Restaurants are open only 4 days a week. What are people doing if not working? With high prices for everything you would think everyone would be working a lot, even a second job.
Listen to the DEMOCRAT selected Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Energy and know that this is all INTENTIONAL. There is a war on the middle class and on freedom. They don't want you driving, they don't want you to be able to afford fuel to drive or heat your homes, yet there are no realistic alternatives being offered. Keep voting for the democrats and this is what you will continue to get. Small business are and will continue to shut down. Think about this next election before you re-elect your local democratic congressperson or senator "he/she is not part of the problem..." If they are democrats they ARE part of the problem.
It is the same in the UK. Gas prices (due to tax) are much higher. The oil refineries around the world are running close to capacity, particularly for diesel. Russian refinery capacity has been taken out of the equation. The price of oil has fallen in the last few weeks but it is only now working its way through to the pumps. Because people are driving less, they are using less gas and thus the independents (not supermarket chains) are getting squeezed even more.
The supply chain crisis is worldwide and small business owners worldwide are getting squeezed. Because of globalization (which was a deflationary force), people are affected by lockdowns and factory closures in far flung parts of world (such as China). It can be about getting that little part to finish production (something factories in the UK experienced last year).
The price of hen and duck food keeps going up (something which poultry farmers need in order to produce hens and eggs) for example. I keep hens and ducks -- the cost is now 38.5% higher than last year.
The big worry is hyper-inflation or stagflation in a way which has not been a worry since the early 1990s and the rise of the internet etc. I would suggest that people read Sowell's Basic Economics if they have not already done so.
The current regime despises the independence and autonomy of small businesses. Obamacare forced consolidation in medical providers, driving most independent practitioners into large health”care” conglomerates, because they are easier to control. The globalists undermining our national sovereignty would like to have the same control over every aspect of commerce. Much easier to control and manipulate. Compulsory participation in the globalist agenda is the goal. So many other facets to this: control the movements of the population by making travel expensive. Control indoctrination in public education by forcing a racist, repressive curriculum. Control individual achievement by eliminating meritocracy, advanced placement, gifted and talented programs, and overlay every subject with the mantle of imaginary racism. Ensure equity, rather than equal opportunity. That’s how a society gets pushed into the cattle chute of communism.
All very well planned for decades. Sadly the elites want complete control of our body’s and souls….and they wont stop at this point until they achieve it. Throwing us into socialism (more like communism it appears at this point) is their main goal. Flooding the states with migrants is the key to so much of this. It should be obvious to most at this point tearing down the US is the ultimate goal. It’s not like the WEF hasnt been telling us thats what theyre doing for 10 yrs now. They want complete control.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that the stimulus checks were a disaster. They went to everyone, regardless of their circumstances. The unemployment bonuses went to everyone, regardless of their circumstances.
In the last five years, we have finally risen to the top end of the working poor class. But we were floating in cash in 2020. I had an "essential" job, so I was working (at higher wages, as a result of the risk). My husband was only unemployed for three months before his factory got back to work, but during his stint on unemployment, he was making MORE (due to the bonus) than he was when he was working.
If we were doing so much better financially during the pandemic, I can only imagine how things must have been for those making more than we do.
And now we are all paying the price with the resulting inflation. You can't print money without causing inflation. The stimulus checks raised a niggling worry in the back of my head, because I know this. The people in charge ought to have known this.
It’s despicable that our leadership, so-called, dodges and deflects responsibility for the economic crisis that is largely of their making.
The President in his first month halted all new oil and gas exploration on federal land including the massive Alaskan field, cancelled a major pipeline from Canada that would have offset Russian fuel imports, and sat on new drilling permits. Prices began rising, and rather than reverse course, he doubled down.
Now, cornered, he blames the Russians, the oil companies, and even the gas stations for record high gasoline and diesel. The Transportation Secretary, so-called, recommends we all buy electric vehicles. Never mind that only 434,879 EVs were sold last year in the U.S., 3% of all cars sold, mostly by Tesla—a company that the Biden regime’s DOJ has targeted for criminal investigation amidst Elon Musk’s criticisms of Green New Deal. Biden didn’t even invite Tesla to his EV summit.
Our leadership is controlled by anti-business socialists who don’t mind that small businesses are being squeezed to death. It just creates more dependency that justifies federal spending programs.
All of this is interesting, but it doesn’t deal with the cause of inflation. Climate Change Alarmism is destroying our economy.
You would think we would have had a debate on whether CAGW is a serious threat before we implemented policies that assume that it is. Unfortunately, we haven’t. Instead we use dishonest language like Climate Change (as if the climate has ever not changed) to express our fears.
I was so pleased to see the shoutout to A.K. Stickle Variety!!
I have been loving that store for years. And wondering how it managed to stay in business. I would cheerfully buy out their entire inventory to KEEP them in business, but there's only so much room for New York State dishtowels and Etch-a-Sketches in my home.
As someone who owned a small business during the last recession (2007-2010), I will say that Biden's COVID-related interventions—specifically his small business loans at low interest rates—seemed a lot more small-business-friendly than Obama's too-big-to-fail bailouts. Obama turned out to be such a mediocre POTUS.
But I don't have a clue what can be done about the current inflationary tide.
And I keep dreaming about wheelbarrows full of worthless paper currency and the Weimar Republic.
They shouldn’t call it Putin’s Price Hike they should call it Greta’s Gas Gouge because this is the result of decades of emotionally-driven imbeciles with minds like children engaging in “environmentalism”. I’ve been saying for a long time that these people are evil and a net detriment to society and now everyone can finally see it.
Up next, now that the fanciful useless cocksuckers from the farmers market have taken over the government, we can have environmentally friendly organic food production mandates which will result in mass starvation. Fucking simpletons.
At least when the ammonia restrictions kick in requiring farmers to use animal waste as fertilizer we will be able to use the nickname Joe Buydung, which is fun.
This began with "You didn't build that." Our leaders ,most of whom have never owned or worked in a real business ,especially a small one where the owners and their families pour their savings and souls into their dreams , pretty much never take any responsibility for their actions and decisions. Let's hope voters now hold them accountable since the notion of personal accountability is not in their lexicon.
I have thought about this often. There are many small businesses in my area and some are my favorite small restaurants. They can't keep printing new menus as their costs go up. Everyone here that I know is aware these businesses are not gouging anyone. Their costs, just as our costs, are going up.
My electricity is supplied by a cooperative. They have raised their fuel adjustment price 3 times since the beginning of the year. The increases have been modest, from $4-6 per so many kilowatts, but they are still increases and with inflation increasing, there will be more. I have adjusted the thermostat higher and have become adjusted to a warmer house.
My grocery shopping has changed. It has become necessities and only real food. Certainly healthier. Many items have become reduced in volume and size by shrinkflation. The 5 lb. bag of cat food I used to purchase is now 3.5 lbs and costs $2/bag more. Glad to get it though because a few months ago the shelves were completely bare.
Now that I am retired I am watching my trips closely. I am trying to make it through the month on one tank of gas. Fortunately I live in a neighborhood where most of the stores I want to go to are within 2 miles of home.
I lived through Jimmy Carter's inflation and it was awful but I was young and working. Not all that difficult to pick up a part time job in addition to my full time job. Now I am retired.
The real worry is the way the Biden administration is destabilizing the country. Inflation, crime, massive illegal immigration, stupid energy and foreign policies that harm the country still spending money hand over fist (Ukraine, anyone).
What happens when several million new immigrants, half of whom speak no English and are not familiar with modern Western civilization, can't get any work, (including the many who have criminal backgrounds), decide to take their piece of the American pie? Looting, home invasion, hold-ups, muggings? It's going to make it look like the Antifa/BLM riots of 2020 were just an outing in the park.
Just as this administration is trying to disarm lawful citizens. Fun times.
I have seen so many people talking about how inflation is bad, but that it and the tight labor market creates the opportunity for those in low wage occupations to demand raises.
With zero comprehension among most that this is the very definition of the inflationary spiral.
All western governments need to be replaced with people that get it, Biden and Trudeau have caused this.