Both Parties Are Lying About Inflation and Your Wallet Is Paying the Price

Welcome to the “We’re Less Bad” Tour

The political spin on inflation right now is breathtaking in its shamelessness. Republicans are running around telling Americans that inflation is down from its peak of 9% in 2022 to 3.4% today, and they want applause for that. Democrats spent four years pretending the inflation problem either was not happening or was someone else’s fault. Both sides are lying to you, and I want to break down exactly how.

Let me be clear about something. I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican. I am someone who follows the data and calls it like it is. And the data says both parties share responsibility for one of the worst sustained inflation episodes in modern American history.

The Tariff Lie Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud

Let us start with something concrete. Across a sample of 67 categories of everyday goods, inflation was 2.9 percentage points higher because of tariff policy. Not because of foreign countries. Not because of Biden. Because of tariffs. The price of those goods would have actually gone down without them.

• Tariffs are a tax on consumers, full stop
• Every politician who tells you tariffs only hurt foreign exporters is either ignorant or lying
• The bill always lands in your shopping cart

Now, you can make arguments for tariffs as strategic trade policy. I get it. But do not stand in front of a camera and tell Americans you are fighting inflation while simultaneously implementing policies that push prices higher. That is an insult to everyone’s intelligence.

Six Years of Financial Damage That Nobody Wants to Own

Here is the part that infuriates me. We have had six years of compounding inflation. Six years of COVID money printing, emergency spending, and then completely unnecessary follow-on stimulus packages that kept the fire roaring long after it should have been contained.

Republicans blame Biden. Democrats blame supply chains and corporate greed. The truth is far more uncomfortable:

• Trump-era emergency spending flooded the system with cash that had nowhere productive to go
• Biden’s spending packages were largely indefensible from a macroeconomic standpoint and made the problem significantly worse
• The Federal Reserve sat on its hands and called inflation “transitory” while it burned a hole in every American’s paycheck

Everybody touched the stove. Nobody wants the blister.

The Hamster Wheel Is Real and It Is Doing Real Damage

Here is what the political class does not understand or simply does not care about. Inflation compounds. Even when the rate slows down, you are still paying the accumulated higher prices from every prior year. A 3.4% rate on top of six years of elevated prices is not relief. It is the wound continuing to bleed, just slightly slower.

Most American workers have not received raises that kept pace with cumulative inflation over this period. That means:

• Your real purchasing power is lower today than it was before COVID
• Every grocery run confirms this whether economists acknowledge it or not
• Voters are not confused or irrational when they are still angry despite the rate coming down

Technology is going to keep a ceiling on wage growth. Automation benefits shareholders before it benefits workers. I do not see a wage surge coming that rescues the average household from this hole.

Stop Waiting for Politicians and Start Protecting Yourself

The finger pointing in Washington is not going to add a dollar to your bank account. What will help is understanding what has actually happened to your purchasing power and making decisions accordingly.

• Get honest about your real wage growth versus cumulative inflation since 2019
• Make sure your investment portfolio is positioned for an environment where prices remain elevated even if the growth rate slows
• Stop holding excess cash in accounts earning less than the actual inflation rate
• Treat any politician claiming victory on inflation with the same skepticism you would give a used car salesman telling you the check engine light is nothing to worry about

The establishment on both sides failed you on this one. The least you can do is refuse to let them gaslight you about it.