Americans Concerned About Inflation - And They Should Be

The chart above was made from a recent Rasmussen Poll. That survey was done on January 18th and 19th of a random national sample of 800 adults, and has a margin of error of 3.5 points.

It shows that a whopping 70% majority of Americans is concerned about inflation. Some of you may wonder why such a large segment of the population is worried about inflation. After all, the current inflation rate is not abnormally high. Personally, I think they are justified in that worry.

Even a small inflation rate can eat away at the buying power of a pay check, especially if that pay is stagnant (i.e., not going up). And that is exactly what has been happening in this country -- not just for a couple of years, but for decades. Ever since the Republicans were able to initiate their "trickle-down" economic policies during the Reagan presidency, the wages of the bottom 80% of Americans has been stagnant (while the top 20% has seen a small increase, and the top 5% has seen a substantial increase -- especially the top 1%). That means inflation has been lowering the buying power of 80% of Americans, and has been doing that since the 1980's -- and it continues to do that today.

I wish I could say that things will soon change, and most Americans will soon see their wages rise significantly -- but that is just not true. Now that the Republicans are in control of both houses of Congress, there is no chance the harmful trickle-down policy will be changed. The Republicans oppose everything that could put an upward pressure on wages.

They oppose raising the minimum wage to a livable level (which would also means a rise in the wage of many who are making just a little over the minimum wage). They oppose strengthening labor unions (which is where the most successful upward pressure on wages has originated). They oppose stopping the exporting of good American jobs, or eliminating the tax break corporations receive for exporting those jobs. They oppose tax cuts for the working and middle classes (while supporting more tax cuts for the rich and corporations). And they oppose requiring capitalists to share some of the rising productivity with their workers.

With the GOP in charge, wages are going to remain stagnant, and the buying power of those wages is going to keep going down -- even if inflation remains low. That is why the American people should be concerned about inflation.