Q&A of the Day – South Florida’s Inflation Rate Under Trump & Biden
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio How’d you come up with the inflation figure? I want to be able to explain it.
Bottom Line: And I want to make sure you’re able to explain it, so let’s dive in. Today’s note is in response to my recent Tweet saying: During the four years of the Trump administration the average South Florida inflation rate was 1.9%. Through the first two years of the Biden administration, it has averaged 8.5%. The average annual difference in cost per person has been $3,267 from Trump to Biden. Expensive vote! In yesterday’s takeaways, I took a little time to break some of this down. In discussing South Florida’s highest in the country inflation rate, which is currently 9.9% compared to the 6.5% national average, I drew the comparison to what happened under the four years of the Trump administration, compared to what we’ve lived through under the first two years of Biden’s.
The first, and perhaps most important point of all, isn’t intended to be a political one. It’s a reality check. One of my greatest frustrations in life is reporting that’s devoid of reality. For example, the reporting on the current national inflation rate, at 6.5%, has been framed as a huge positive. Inflation is on the decline, right? Except that no, it’s not at all actually. Yes, the rate of the increase of inflation has declined, however no, life is currently more expensive than it's ever been, inflation is still far higher than wage growth – meaning that the average family is still falling further behind by the day – and that 6.5% inflation rate is still in 40-year high territory as it is. That’s why the Federal Reserve is still aggressively raising interest rates to attempt to bring it down. It’s anything but acceptable and the news surrounding inflation is anything but “good”. It’s simply less bad than it was at the peak last summer. An important point in this conversation, which speaks to the real impact of inflation and all of these numbers we can throw around, is that the current inflation rate of 6.5% is in comparison to what was already a 40-year high rate of inflation a year ago. For perspective, exactly two years into the Biden administration, the two-year compounded inflation rate has been 13.1%, a number is greater than double the most recently reported figure. Who in their right mind would suggest that’s good (other than President Biden and his allies in the elitest news media – although it could be argued that they’re not in their right mind)? And that takes me back to today’s question and the point I was illustrating with South Florida’s inflation rate. As we’re this far into extraordinarily high inflation, it’s no longer instructive to simply compare the current rate to where we were a year ago.
We now have two full years of inflation under President Biden, which can be compared to the four years under President Trump, to paint the real picture of what’s happened with our buying power under each. Now, rather than talking about the national averages here, I’m specifically focusing on what’s happened in South Florida, where we now have highest inflation in the nation. In providing a greater explanation regarding how the cost of life in SFL has been a total of $6,534 more for the average Floridian through the first two years of Biden compared to the four years of Trump... The average inflation rate has been 6.6% higher under Biden than under Trump. The median income in Florida is currently $49,500. 6.6% of the state’s median income is $3,267. So that’s approximately how much more buying power has been lost in current real dollar terms annually under Biden compared to Trump. That’s the specific breakout which hopefully makes it easier for you to be able to explain to others.
It’s well known that Jimmy Carter presided over the worst inflation crisis in American history. His average inflation rate during his four years in office was 10.4%. Joe Biden through the first two years of his administration has the second highest average inflation rate to Jimmy Carter in recorded American history. And in South Florida, where much of the country wants to be, we’re now feeling the worst effects of it. Multiyear high inflation rates have the potential to create a “boiling frog effect”. But here’s what’s real. The average American, the average South Floridian, is worse off today than two years ago financially and is still falling further behind daily due to the impact of still 40-year high inflation. That’s the reality on the ground which isn’t clearly articulated with the warm and fluffy headlines from the elitist news media about the inflation rate coming down. And yes, those who voted for President Biden and congressional Democrats cast especially expensive votes...for all of us.