Did you know you just got a $1,200 raise? Well, you did, according to CNN at least.
“Next time you stop at a gas station, think of it as a $100-a-month tax cut. Or a maybe $100-a-month raise,” Chris Isidore urged in an absurd CNN Business article heralding that “America just got a $100-a-month raise.” “The steady drop in gas prices over the last few months has turned into an unexpected form of economic stimulus, coming at a time when the Federal Reserve is trying to cool the economy and battle rising prices with higher interest rates.”
This spin — that a minor drop in gas prices following a major spike is “economic stimulus” — is about on par with President Joe Biden and his media lapdogs corroborating each others’ fake news that an 8.5 percent inflation increase is actually “zero.” Or the corporate press, after two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, waxing philosophical about suddenly unknowable mysteries like “What is a recession?” Or The New York Times insisting that even though Americans’ quality of life is rapidly declining, “Biden is having a good day” because his aviator shades are back. Or The Washington Post’s resident fake conservative announcing that if everything weren’t horrible, everything would be awesome. The media’s propensity to lie about anything unflattering to the regime truly knows no bounds.
It would be laughable if it weren’t so infuriating and crippling. Rather than a $100-per-month — or $1,200-per-year — raise, American consumers are getting gouged on just about everything they need to live their lives, from gasoline and groceries to energy and rent. Year-over-year inflation rates have been soaring every single month to the tune of the energy index rising 32.9 percent since last year, the gasoline index increasing 44.0 percent, and the fuel oil index rising a whopping 75.6 percent. And shoppers get reminded of the 13.1 percent rise in food-at-home prices every time they get sucker punched at the grocery store (which, P.S., is every time they go).
In fact, contrary to Isidore’s jubilant report that Biden’s gas prices amount to a raise, economists estimate Americans are actually spending at least an extra $5,200 this year just to buy the same things they did in 2021. One calculation put the extra cost at $460 extra each month, or more than $5,500 this year.
Thus, rather than still-high gas prices being a noteworthy raise, Americans’ economic straits represent a significant demotion. This isn’t like a minimum wage worker making an extra two bucks an hour. Score! This is a middle-class salary going from $32,000 to $26,500. Congratulations on another year at this company! Instead of a raise, cough up five grand and your self-respect.
The media’s pro-Biden, rosy-economy narrative is a farce. Anyone who’s looked at his or her bank account knows there’s no raise to be found. So instead, next time you go to the gas station, think of your situation as a direct result of the Biden administration relinquishing our energy independence to foreign adversaries or driving up costs to push you toward their “liberal world order” of electric cars. Think of today’s prices as the natural outcome of reckless fiscal policy, like funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine or into misnamed Democrat wish-list bills like Build Back Better or the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s what’s really going on here.
Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.
Subscribe