Dan Aykroyd lampooning Jimmy Carter and inflation on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s was legendary. In one skit, Aykroyd said, “Inflation is our friend! Wouldn’t you like to own a $4,000 suit, smoke a $75 cigar, drive a $600,000 car? I know I would! Everybody will be a millionaire!”
But inflation is no laughing matter. If sending money to people made us richer, our government would have printed millions of dollars a long time ago. The lessons of Argentina, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, who did just that and destroyed their economies, are a cautionary tale. Of course, that didn’t stop Democrats from passing a third stimulus one year ago this month—$1,400 to nearly all and $300 bonuses to not work. Not a single Republican voted for that disastrous bill. Economists shuddered. The $1.9 trillion was all borrowed, and we have suffered the consequences of labor shortages and inflation ever since.
AMAC prides itself on being member-driven. We take our marching orders on the policies we will support or oppose from our members. How do we discern what our members want? Simple. We ask them. This past week’s poll on inflation asked in part, “How have you managed during these bleak economic times?” The top two selected answers were, “I’ve deliberately made my travel more meaningful to reduce trips to save on gas” and “I’m eating out less so I can purchase more groceries.” But there were over 740 comments. Below is just a spot sample of over 20 comments on what you, our valued AMAC members, are telling us, in your own words.
“Our Golden years are greatly and painfully diminished.” – Leslie
“Our Kia is 12 years old and starting to cost more to repair. We’re fearful of another car purchase while this administration is in office.” – Larry & Linda
“Not much I can do but grin and bear it all. – John
“I’ve lost weight.” – David
“I feel terrible for young couples with kids.” – John
“My greatest economic fear is that capitalism is moving in the direction of socialism.” – David
“My grocery bill has tripled since Biden took office. The situation we’re being forced to live under is due to an unwillingness to learn from foolish mistakes for the sake of a chimerical ideology.” – Kim
“You can only poke a sleeping bear so long before it wakes.” – Ron
“We can’t support deserving charitable organizations in the same way we did in the past. Thanks Joe.” – Phillip
“The real problem is once prices go up, they never go back to where they were originally especially in grocery stores.” – Babs
“Pray our members can survive these increases. I miss Ronald Reagan.” – Mike L.
“No spring baseball for me– costs too much.” – G.B.
“I’ve started purchasing more store brands.” – Susan
“If you have to ask what we can do about this, then you are the problem.” – J.C.
“Well, I guess it’s dog food for dinner again. Just because I saved up a few dollars over my lifetime for emergencies and funeral expenses and my kids are grown, I cannot get food stamps.” – Fred
My out-of-pocket Medicare has made it impossible for me to have necessary surgery (carpal tunnel and minor foot surgery). – Donna
“I cut memberships to health clubs to save money. I’m not buying needed clothes to save money. – Dr. K.F.
“I’m trying to eliminate as much travel as possible. I use Zoom to attend worship services. I’ve changed barbers to one closer to home.” – Richard
“Now my car only goes where I have to be.” – Ingrid
“The push for ‘green’ energy and electric vehicles is absolute foolishness and will only lead to more energy problems. It’s sad that our leaders are so ignorant about the physical sciences.” – Steve P.
“My already reduced lifestyle is pulled back even more.’ – Don B.
“I was already living frugally, so I don’t know how much more frugally I can be.” – Darlene A.
“Maybe our savings will last, or maybe not; we don’t know. But we are rich in children, so someone will look after us; but who will look after them?” – Meredith
“All the difficulties we are currently experiencing in this country are totally unnecessary and have been purposely manufactured by our government.” – Jax
Jeff Szymanski works in political communications at AMAC, a senior benefits organization with nearly 2.4 million members. He previously taught high school economics for 15 years.
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I was retired,now I’m back to work.” TY sleepy Joe. I don’t know if I will ever Vote again,what’s the point.? The bad guys steal the election and the “so called “ Republicans continue to ask for $$$$$ and do nothing. By and large (except for a few ) they just take up space
i was kicked off facebook but in a neighborhood community chat that gets political at times over gasoline at the pump, food and other items needless to say to half there it’s not biden fault – Really ? but if you haven’t watched people like Mark Dice on youtube and how Stupid people are look him up as he interviews people on the street – you would almost think it was staged . sadly we have a lot of Stupid people in our nation and we have a lot of crooks in politics , how is it the majority of politicians are millionaires on $170k per year ? biden as vp laughed in a interview that he got a prosecutor in Ukraine than amazingly his boy hunter got a million $$$$ job there . he’s not the only crook in the swamp and on both sides . sadly they will sell the USA and Our Freedom to the highest bidder . we are on the edge of a socialist government if were not already there look at bernie, aoc and others and a good majority on the left and these young indoctrinated kids they welcome socialism because they are to Stupid to know it’s pretty much communism.
Never forget half the folks you meet every day are below average.
You gotta stop hanging out at Democrat headquarters
At the dem headquarters, 80 percent of the people you would meet are below average intelligence.
If you know a Democrat or anti-Trump person, thank them for the present mess we have!
All during the “pandemic,” those issuing the orders continued to be PAID why us “peons” got laid off or forced to take shots! ANYONE who forces someone out of work should receive ZERO $$$ until full employment is resumed!
Congress doesn’t have to get the jab. Does this tell u anything?
Zuckerberg and the dems stole the election. There’s no damn way this commie received half the votes Trump received.
The Biden administration is a circus. He finally hired people dumber than himself.
Dumber than himself? Is that even possible?
It’s hard to believe that one could employ a greater number of screwballs than has the Biden administration. Virtually every policy that this cast has devised seems designed to destroy America. It’s hard to believe that our once great country will survive the next three years!
There is a very good chance it won’t survive the next three years. Prepare NOW for American Revolution 2.0.
Joebama O’Biden and his idiot cackling sidekick along with his miscast administration are solely responsible for the inflation, highest gas prices ever and what’s taking place around the globe, not Vlad.
All politicians should be taking a high paycut as they are most of the problem and not the solution. Need to cancel all earmark spending. Those in the Administration with a 7 figure salary don’t need a raise. Congress should not benefit in the stock market. Prices on good should not be going up. CEOs and others can take a pay cut and not benefit from this inflation. Manufacturing needs to return to USA so we don’t go through this again.
In the very last bill, they gave themselves a 21% increase in pay. Probably to cover inflation and for us! More inflation! Sound fair? It’s not. They all need to be punished especially those that put it in the bill and those who voted for the bill. I hope they all fkn die!
And how much of a COLA will those on Social Security get? Definitely not 21% plus, if you notice, the cost for Medicare Part B usually goes up enough to take back any raise that we get.
‘CEO’s and others can take a pay cut’? Who, pray tell, are the ‘others’?
Without earmarks, how are they to buy votes? Their jobs are important, you know.
This is like an old broken record that keeps repeating. The Democrats spend excessively creating inflation and in this case stagflation every time they get into office. It’s like they never learn from any of their past mistakes. This current illegitimate regime has added to the misery as a result of their war on fossil fuel, the wide open Southern border, and their complete and total failure in Afghanistan. Their are foreign policy is laughable, not only to us but to everyone else around the world looking at us. They have the Chinese and the Russians negotiating for us with Iran. RUFKM?? You just can’t make this s*** up.
Unfortunately the people voting are too stupid and keep re-electing them.
Yes, look at CA. They had an opportunity to get rid of pretty boy Newsome but voted him in again! CA deserves what they get!
And even if they don’t vote for them they are elected due to massive voter fraud. We are way, way past voting to solve the critical issues facing the USA.
It’s called voter fraud. Get involved in your local politics. We can fix this.
Amen Boxerchef
The current administration is completely responsible for our present situation however the republicans have no solutions to solve the problems……the only we get from our “politicians” is blah blah blah…..there is not a dime’s worth of difference between democrats and republicans…..I will repeat what I have said in the past ad nausea. The politicians will bring our way of life in this country
Fixed income means that something will have to go in order to pay all bills. Thank you democrats.
Question:. If you were to hire someone to make your company more successful and profitable, would you hire Joe Biden or any of the Democrats currently in power with little to no success in actually running a successful business? I surely wouldn’t!!!
That is the way the American people SHOULD look at ALL politicians of both parties. After all, they are being hired (voted for) to serve the best interests of the country, although very few actually do. Sadly, many Americans don’t act in such a rational and logical manner. Instead, most Americans hire their Presidents by who “looks presidential” (a completely subjective and totally meaningless criteria for what a President actually has to deal with on a daily basis) or makes a few good speeches, that someone else wrote for them. Past actions and proof of actual, meaningful accomplishments seems to be way down on the list or not considered at all. It’s like going to a job interview and handing your potential future employer a blank application and resume. Which is a sad commentary of the American electorate. Case in point, Joe Biden made a nearly 50-year long career out of doing essentially nothing but selling access to this office for personal gain. Nothing unusual that most Democrats in Washington don’t do by the way. Yet even if you discount the several million fraudulent votes cast for him in the 6 key swing states in 2020, he still managed to get tens of millions of Americans to vote for him by hiding in a basement, running on a record that is essentially devoid of accomplishments, and promising unlimited “free stuff”, by spending trillions of dollars we don’t have, which the American taxpayers would be on the hook to pay for in the end.
So is it really any surprise that we’re where we’re at today? After all, Biden and Democrats spelled out exactly what they intended to do ahead of time in 2020 and still tens of millions of American voters thought it was a good idea to vote for the guy. Now we’re stuck with him until at least January 2025. A LOT of lasting damage can be inflicted on this country in that amount of time.
EXACTLY RIGHT.WAKE UP AMERICA!!
How right you are, Paul E.
Well, it is possible to get rid of some of the trash in 2022. Vote in a Republican house and senate, Install Trump or some other patriot to speaker then impeach both Biden and Kamala. The new speaker fills the presidential vacancy!
Never going to happen. Remember RINOS? But thanks for playing.
Hate to burst your bubble, but many Republicans also sell access to their office for personal gain.
I do remember some of these comments AMAC & Jeff Szymanski, even at my age, lol!
Despite the negative problems within the comment sections lately, I renewed my membership for yet another year with AMAC, just yesterday in fact.
Over all I believe in the core values that AMAC stands for as they work tirelessly within the halls of our gov’t as a whole for the betterment of We The People…
Bill… :~)
Which “Negative comments” are you referring to? AMAC is doing a great job.I agree with you.