A 1979 Inflation Flashback Returns to the Modern Era (Video)

Tonight I had planned to pen a piece on something else.

Then one of the accounts I follow (and you should also) QE Infinity (@StealthQE4) posted this TikTok video, which is just one of thousands that are being posted now, about the state of the economy for the lower and lower middle class working Americans. This is NSFW (Not safe for work) and if you have a sensitive ear, then please, do not criticize the man, listen to his heart and the message.

I’ll continue to share these stories.

Another family suffering from the high cost of living.

How long until people snap? pic.twitter.com/gTFxLOqHzv

— QE Infinity (@StealthQE4) September 11, 2023

He was sincere. He is angry.

And yet his video is just one of the millions screaming in anger about choosing between insurance, medical care, a special meal like Applebee’s out for the family, or just getting by.

Yet the politicians on both sides of the aisle do not give a shit.

No apologies for the strong language, just stating the facts.

Is this anything new?

No.

In 1979, I was finishing up high school. While I was in college during the massive stagflationary recession of that era I had to work my way through school to keep a vehicle to get there and pay what part of my way my middle class parents could not afford. I was not a great football player, I had excellent grades, but because I was not one of the “special” people I did not qualify for grants or extra scholarships in that era because I worked and our household made too much money.

I didn’t whine, I dealt with it. I went to work 20 plus hours per week, carried a full class load, and drove one hour each way to school. Then the Carter stagflationary recession really hit home hard. My hours were cut back to 4 to 8 hours per week and my parents saw reductions in pay and benefits to keep their jobs. Needless to say with my meager pay of $2.81 per hour, that was less than optimal as expenses continued to rise. Thankfully I had acquired some silver, while I was a few years younger, which I was able to sell for a nice profit and keep up with most of my expenses but many of my friends were not as fortunate.

That’s enough about me fighting the bears as I walked to school every morning and dealing with blizzards, solar eclipses, global cooling, and sunspots as I fought my way to a Quantum Physics class that I hated anyways.

In fact, the truth is that the economic reality deteriorated so much, even the New York Times, the most anti-American leftist rag still in business, published this article on July 30, 1979 (the archivist at the NYT made a typo in the title at the link below):

Inflation in Price of Necessities Makes the Poor Choose Debt or Hunger

Excerpt:

As if to underline the findings of a Presidential advisory panel that inflation “batters” the poor, just after the Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the Consumer Price Index showed an Inflation rate of 13.2 percent over the first six months of this year, news came over the wires from San Antonio that 91year‐old Mottle Schultz had been jailed overnight for allegedly stealing $15.04 worth of food from a supermarket.

The annual report of the National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity, made public last Monday, said that “the households in the lowest 10 percent of income distribution spend more than 119 percent of after‐tax income” on necessities. The council’s analysis was based on a finding that the current inflationary surge was led by food, energy, housing and medical costs. Thus, it indicated that many of the poor either go into debt to obtain life’s basic needs or do without some of them.

It was reported that Mattie Schultz lives on Social Security and veterans’ benefits totaling $233 a month.

“I have to pay $75 a month for rent, my utility bill is about $18 and I have medical bills,” she told interviewers. “I can’t buy much food, just milk and cereal.” She was charged with shoplifting sausages, ham and butter.

The bold and italics are for emphasis by myself.

We are returning to that era. Those “experts” claiming that inflation is “moderating” or that a “soft landing” is incoming are smoking crack. Until the Federal Reserve and the US Government start reigning the out of control monetary expansion at a rate faster than inflation, be it real CPI or real PCE, then the rate of price increases will continue to stifle and punish the lower third of our society.

If one thinks this is not important, review what has happened in Argentina, Venezuela, and yes, the United States when the average working family is pushed to the brink. The America we all have been spoiled by the past 30 years is now at a crossroads.

Choose wisely what happens next.

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