In Great Britain, the inflation rate is 10.1 percent. In response, the Conservative administration, headed by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss, announced a plan to reduce taxes on the wealthy.
Immediately, the British currency plunged in value and stock and bond markets registered precipitous declines, leading to Truss’s resignation. U.S. inflation is at 8.2 percent. In response, the Democratic administration headed by President Joe Biden announced a further release of crude oil from the strategic reserve, mitigating a rise in gas prices, and has passed legislation to bring about an immediate decrease in prescription drug and hearing aid prices for seniors.
Other legislation passed by the Democratic Congress reduces the cost of renewable energy, increases the manufacture of computer chips in the United States and reduces supply bottlenecks through infrastructure investments. Republicans offer no solutions to inflation. The only policies suggested by Republican leadership are a national abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy (Sen. Lindsey Graham), sunset provisions for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (Sens. Rick Scott and Ron Johnson), an end to support for Ukraine in the war against Russia (House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) and refusal to raise the debt limit, threatening the world economy and the credit-worthiness of the United States by failing to pay our already-incurred debts (McCarthy).
How will these policies solve the problem of inflation? Like the Conservatives in Great Britain, the only economic policy the Republicans seem to know is to reduce taxes on the wealthy. Historically, this policy has only served to increase the government deficit (itself inflationary) and worsen the problem of wealth inequality. This would be just as disastrous for the United States as it has proved to be in Great Britain.
Peter Toumanoff
Hancock