Another week, another bunch of economic bullshit coming from the Puddin’ Head Joe Administration, and from the man himself. Seems Bidenomics isn’t working out the way Leftists thought, so they decided to take decisive action and…gaslight the fuck out of us!
Adding insult to injury came a tweet from Puddin’ Head Joe’s account suggesting any company not lowering prices to match lower inflation rates was guilty of price gouging. Although this squawking point hasn’t gotten spread around yet (with help from social media influencers who know less about economics than Puddin’ Head Joe), I figure I’d try to cut it off at the pass so you know just how full of shit these folks are.
price gouging
What the Left thinks it means – when greedy corporations charge more for goods and services than the market allows
What it really means – when Leftists don’t like you making more money than they think you deserve
Before we delve into the unintelligent muck of Leftist thinking on price gouging, let’s set a baseline. There are a lot of definitions and examples, but this one from EconomicsHelp.org makes the most sense to me:
Price gouging is a situation where business take advantage of an external crisis to charge excessive prices for basic necessities – selling the goods significantly above their usual price.
Granted, there are a lot of subjective terms at work here, but you get the idea. It’s not a controversial position to say price gouging is bad, mkay?, but the way the term gets applied is getting more ridiculous than the social media posts of those trying to tell us Bidenomics is working. But at the very least, Puddin’ Head Joe admitted Bidenomics is a crisis, albeit unwittingly…which is pretty much how he does anything these days.
One of the Left’s favorite targets for accusations of price gouging is Big Oil. During the height of lockdowns, Leftists said oil companies making record profits was proof of price gouging. Of course, there’s a tiny problem with this: namely, the lack of any fucking proof in their statements of proof. A much larger problem, though, is the lack of any knowledge of how economics works.
There’s this little thing the kids like to call supply and demand which is constantly in play regardless of circumstances. In times of scarcity of either side of this equation, prices are going to go up, which means the more people buy, the more money companies make. So, even though the aforementioned oil companies made record profits, it’s more due to the law of supply and demand than it is breaking price gouging laws. Then again, if Leftists knew one-tenth of a fuck about economics, they wouldn’t be Leftists. Or they’d be really rich Leftists.
Unfortunately, most people know less about economics than Leftists do, so they buy into the “Big Corporations Bad!” mindset more easily than getting a crackhead to accept free crack. (By the way, how ya doin’, Hunter?) The Left may not know much about how to make an economy work, but they know how to play on the emotions of the public to get them to grab the torches and pitchforks whenever the Left says gas prices are too high. Of course, if state and federal governments would drop the gas tax, prices would be more affordable, but we can’t have nice things.
Put another way, Puddin’ Head Joe is counting on the public to be dumber than he is and blame high prices on the faceless corporate overlords. And there’s a good chance he’ll be right.
Or will he? Public opinion of Bidenomics sank faster than my interest in listening to “Last Christmas” by Wham this year. Or any year, for that matter. Voters have soured on how Puddin’ Head Joe has handled the economy, which is already getting Leftists scared at the possibility of President Trump 2.0 and offering up conflicting advice from continuing to run on Bidenomics to trying to rebrand it to make people aware of what it’s actually done. And a part of that strategy seems to be to blame others for the shit they caused.
Now, in the interest of fairness, the government can’t control inflation, which is the real bugaboo right now with the economy. However, it can affect it through various means, such as legislation, regulations, and, of course, fucking things up and blaming others for it. Of course, the smart thing for the government to do at a time of inflation is, well, not to do the shit that’s causing inflation to go up. But, this is the federal government we’re talking about here, so the smart thing isn’t on their agenda.
And speaking of agendas, claiming businesses are engaging in price gouging is part of the Leftist agenda. Leftists believe there is a finite amount of money (while they spend it like there isn’t), and that translates to power. If Leftists can’t cuck you into giving away your money to the government (see Bill Gates), they will use any force they can to control the money going into a company (see Elon Musk and the Social Media Platform Formerly Known as Twitter). And here’s the twist: no matter how much money you give to the government or to Leftists, it’s never enough. You’ve just made yourself into an eternal sucker that the Left will always go to for money. It’s like being the parent of an entitled college student, but with less laundry.
This is where the accusations of price gouging come into play. By accusing businesses of being too greedy, it not only shifts the blame away from those who are actually responsible for it, but it puts pressure on the businesses to respond. And when someone with the governmental force of Puddin’ Head Joe tells you to lower prices, you’re expected to listen. Damn overhead costs and being able to recoup some of the costs of doing business! You either follow along with the plan or you get called out for being a greedy meanie-head!
This is why some people aren’t made for the private sector. Or the public sector for that matter.
Leftists are notoriously bad at economics, so it’s no wonder they resort to emotional manipulation tactics to get people to get angry at companies for trying to make a living in a shitty economy. Although there are cases when companies do jack up prices beyond what they realistically could, not every company is doing it. It’s like calling someone a racist; it’s a serious enough charge with implications on multiple levels, so it shouldn’t be thrown around like beads during Mardi Gras. If Puddin’ Head Joe has any evidence, I’m willing to look it over and determine if it’s actual price gouging or a lame-ass excuse for fucking up the economy.
Something tells me it’s going to be the latter.
Tag: supply lines
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week – Special Edition!
By the time you read this, we will be celebrating or will have just celebrated a pivotal holiday in America. It’s a day to remember the sacrifices of so many to make our country a better place. I’m speaking, of course, of the start of college football.
Oh, and there’s also Labor Day.
Labor Day was established to celebrate the contributions of working Americans, and as you might expect, Leftists are quick to champion those working Americans. Or do they?
working Americans
What the Left thinks it means – the backbone of this country, people who constantly get fucked over by the corrupt rich and corporations
What it really means – a wide swath of Americans who constantly get fucked over by the corrupt Left
If you listen to Leftists (and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a stiff drink or five), the only ones fighting for the working men and women are Leftists. They work so hard to get middle class tax cuts, only to be thwarted at every turn by those evil Republicans who are in the back pockets of the greedy rich. It’s all they can do for the people we rely on so much to make the country run as smoothly as possible.
Which is complete bullshit.
Oh, I know there are hard-working Americans out there because I am one. But the Left’s fawning over folks like us is phonier than a Karine Jean-Pierre excuse for why the country is on proverbial fire right now. Leftists have a healthy contempt for working folks, and no matter how many flannel shirts, blue jeans, and hard hats they wear, they can’t escape their attitudes or looking like a member of the Village People.
As frequent readers know or have figured out on their own, the Left hates anyone who isn’t them. Meaning, rich white Leftists. Everyone else is treated like pawns to be moved across the political chessboard as the elites see fit. Granted, the Right does this as well, but not to the extent and levels of deception the Left does. And when it comes to the game, the Left is Garry Kasparov.
The way Leftists deceive…I mean persuade people of their pro-worker stance is by playing into their emotions, namely greed and jealousy. After all, if working people are struggling, it has to be because someone is stealing from them and living the high life. It can’t possibly be any other reason!
Wellllll…except that it can, and a lot of times it’s because of what the Left proposes to “help” people. More on that later.
By playing into our natural negative emotions and setting up a nameless, faceless villain, the Left sets itself up to be our white knights. And although they profess to be fighting for all of us, they actually don’t. They like working folks who belong to labor unions and consistently vote for Leftists, even if it winds up shooting themselves in the foot with a Gatling gun.
Personally, I’ve seen this contempt for working Americans for a couple of decades, but it’s only recently that the contempt has been more overt, provided you know what to look for. And there is no better textbook on this than Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? Fortunately, I read it so you don’t have to because, dammit, I care! (Actually, it was because I was curious to see what Frank had to say about conservatives in the Midwest, but I still care.)
I can summarize Frank’s entire book in one sentence: Conservatives have conned working people, and only Leftists can save them.
There. I saved you time, money, and emergency room visits for blunt head trauma from hitting your head against a wall repeatedly.
Frank’s attitude towards people living in the state he came from, merely for voting for Republicans, drips off each and every page. Although he does blame Democrats for sounding and acting fiscally conservative in order to win elections, he saves the bulk of his venom for conservatives who he felt corrupted politics in the state to work against the best interests of the voters.
The reason Frank’s screed…I mean book is a great example of the Left’s hatred of working Americans is because it exposes the rift between what the Left knows about working Americans and what working Americans actually are. What Frank attributes to conservatives convincing people to ignore their best interests is actually conservatives listening to working people and proposing ideas that they might actually like.
And judging from how well the Left has been dealing with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, they still haven’t figured it out. While the Trump Administration wasn’t exactly the best and brightest, they did get quite a few things right, including cutting taxes for working Americans. And contrary to what Leftists want us to believe, those tax cuts weren’t just for the wealthy. According to the IRS, middle class and working class people benefited the most from Trump’s tax cuts.
Then, Joe Biden rolled into town and undid all of that. Yay?
Of course, the Administration had answers for just about every concern we had about rising costs and how to address them. A lot of them involved, surprise surprise, initiatives the Biden Administration and Leftists want. Worried about rising gas prices? Get an electric car! And if you’re still concerned, just laugh! Having trouble paying for groceries? It’s Russia’s fault! Supply chain problems? Spend more on infrastructure! Unemployed? Support green energy!
I haven’t seen anyone this tone deaf since William Hung, and we’re being run by several of these assclowns. But, hey, no mean tweets, amirite?
Yet, for all of the answers the Left seem to have, few of them actually apply to working Americans. The only thing preventing Republicans from getting more working class voters is they’re incompetent when it comes to closing the sale. For all of his faults, Donald Trump at least made an attempt, which is more than a previous Republican Presidential candidate and rich guy, Mitt Romney, did in 2012. Guess what? It fucking worked!
Right now the door is wide open for Republicans and conservatives to make the sale they might be better for working Americans than the Left is. The Left is too busy focusing on social issues that turn off many Americans and finding new ways to fuck up the country to bother with Joe Sixpack’s problems. Trump gave the GOP a blueprint, much to the chagrin of people like Romney, whose version of a Republican President is as exciting as mayonnaise.
While Republicans try to figure out how to attract working Americans and Leftist try to find new ways to screw them, the working class are left with financial problems, rising costs, and more broken promises than a treaty with Native Americans in the 1800s. And the only way that changes is if working Americans are open to change their thinking. Many of them are locked into voting for Democrats because it’s what they and their families have always done. It’s like a rite of passage, only with more bureaucracy. As Donald Trump said in 2016 when asked why working people should vote for him, “What have you got to lose?”
Given how expensive things are now, we can’t do any worse.
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Over the past two weeks, the world’s eyes have been focused at least in part to our neighbors to the north, Canada, due to a trucker convoy so long C.W. McCall is considering making a comeback. Thanks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin “Justine” Trudeau’s mask mandates, truckers across the Great White North joined in a caravan to protest in what is being called the Freedom Convoy. In response, the Left has openly supported the truckers for uniting and standing up for their rights as workers.
Just kidding. They hate the Freedom Convoy.
But the Left’s ire isn’t just about people standing up to them and their mandate demands. It goes a lot deeper, as we’re about to find out.
Freedom Caravan
What the Left thinks it means – a far right wing movement connected to white supremacy designed to undermine the societal good of masking
What it really means – a movement being slimed by authoritarian asshats
I have a rule of thumb when it comes to political movements: the more unhinged and unfounded the accusations are against it, the closer it is to a sensible position. It doesn’t always work, but it works well enough to use as a baseline.
And thanks to the Prime Minister, the Freedom Caravan is utterly sensible using my rule of thumb. Since the truckers started making their way towards him, Trudeau went from calling them a “fringe minority” to racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and flavor-of-the-month-phobic among other insults. If you believe the Prime Minister, you would think the Freedom Caravan was only a couple steps away from Hitler (and still six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon…or would it be Kevin Backbacon in this case?), so let’s take a look at what they’ve actually done.
No deaths. One alleged act of violence against someone possibly connected with Antifa for trying to make the truckers look bad. But worst of all…they honked. Honked, for the love of all that is holy! I don’t know for certain, but we could be dealing with Geneva Convention violations here. I’m sure we’re 943 tersely-worded UN memos away from them doing something really serious.
In the meantime, the larger issue at hand isn’t what the truckers are doing to make the Left lose their shit, but what they’re doing to dismiss the concerns they’re bringing to the table and what implications may be around the corner. Spoiler Alert: there’s a chance some shrugging will occur, if you know what i mean.
The Left loves to think they’re smarter than everyone else (just ask them), even when they’re not even as smart as the coat rack. In this case, the coat rack may be way smarter than they are. As much as the “Follow the Science” crowd crows with confidence at their scientific knowledge, they’re letting their egos prevent them from actually, you know, following the science. As recent studies have shown, lockdowns haven’t helped, cloth masks are ineffective, and the vaccinated are spreading COVID-19 as much as the non-vaccinated are alleged to be spreading it. So, instead of admitting they fucked up, they doubled down more than KFC bringing back the greatest sandwich in the history of fast food.
Which leads to them looking like authoritarian assholes when they continue to force their stupidity on others. Of course, they are authoritarian assholes so it all works out.
What may not be working out in the near future are the attempts to dismiss the Freedom Caravan as fringe actors. Judging from the reactions we’ve seen and heard from Canadians on the tundra, the truckers represent far more people than the Prime Minister and his sycophants want us to believe. I don’t have hard numbers on this, but I get the sense more Canadians support the truckers over the Trudeau.
And here’s the thing that make the Leftists very nervous: American truckers are thinking of doing a Freedom Caravan here. Something tells me it’s going to be as big and as maligned as the Canadian version. Hoo boy!
What the Left isn’t thinking about, among other things, is what impact the Freedom Caravan will have on an existing issue, that being supply line delays. Whether you believe President Joe Biden’s ineptitude caused the empty shelves peppering the country or you believe in whatever bullshit the Left wants us to believe is the cause of the problem this week, the scarcity is starting to get noticed, which causes an immediate political headache for Biden and the Left.
Oh, and did I mention there are elections this year that could affect what the President can get done legislatively?
Anything that keeps the shelves from being stocked is another nail in the Biden agenda’s coffin. That includes…oh, I don’t know…pissing off truckers who can get goods from the ports to the stores. Knowing Joe Biden like I do, he will consult with experts, weigh their advice to devise the best possible outcomes, and support the worst idea with all the passion of a true believer. Doubt me? Guess who came up with the three-state solution in Iraq, an idea worse than letting David Duke host the NAACP Image Awards.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t that bad. It was worse than giving David Duke an NAACP Image Award.
This leads me to believe the President will follow the Prime Minister’s lead and insult any trucker who decides to be part of the American version of the Freedom Caravan. If he does, the Left will cheer him on…until they realize the truckers aren’t bringing goods to the stores they frequent. Wait until their Whole Foods is half stocked.
Then, they might start to feel a shrug of the Atlas variety. Serves them right for discounting Ayn Rand as often as they have, even though her observations are as salient today as they were when she first penned them.
Although the Freedom Caravan has experienced some setbacks in the form of Leftist pressure/coercion from GoFundMe, they are winning where it counts: in the hearts and minds of freedom-loving people around the world. The longer the Caravan exists and gets, the more pressure it puts on the Left to figure out an exit strategy.
It can’t go any worse than Biden’s Afghanistan exit strategy, right?