Vox senior correspondent Emily Stone just published an article cleverly titled, "The problem isn't inflation. It's prices." Stone delivers the article much like a sage graciously dispensing wisdom from on high, illuminating the darkness of ignorant people still frustrated that groceries and other basic goods are so expensive.
But all of us laymen feel the reality in our bones: PRICES ARE HIGH BECAUSE OF INFLATION. Prices across industries could not have risen to their bewildering new heights without the sustained spike in inflation rates. It doesn't take a degree in economics to put this together.
I'm not sure what response Stone was hoping for with this article, but the distinction between inflation and prices really isn't that illuminating or alleviating. Whether the exorbitant prices are from yesterday's inflation or today's, I'm still paying $8.50 for a latte, and my dollar still doesn't go nearly as far as it did even just a year or two ago.
Inflation might be starting to slow, but are businesses going to start dropping their prices? Not a chance. That's not how it works. It doesn't take an economics degree to realize that, once businesses raise the general cost of admission, it will never come back down.
Reading this article felt like going to the doctor and being told my suffering isn't actually from a peanut allergy like I suspected, but from a shellfish allergy — and then the doctor hoping I feel relieved about my breakout of full-body hives.
According to the economists Stone cites in her article, people who are still frustrated with inflation and high prices are trapped in a pre-2019 reality. In so many words, Stone's and her economist friends' solution is to get used to the new normal. So not only do I have hives (from shellfish — not peanuts, thank God), but the hives aren't going anywhere and there's no cure.
This was where I felt the heat got turned up on the gaslighting: despite the fact that prices are high and staying high (thanks to inflation), Stone assures her reader that the economy is doing quite well. She and her colleagues can't quite work out why people aren't happy about the country's economic trends:
"Why do people say the economy is bad even when it's good?' is a question dogging economists, journalists, and the White House, which would very much like to convince people otherwise."
Maybe people want to see this "good economy" positively impact their grocery receipts and bank statements?
I definitely felt gaslighted by this article. But am I missing something? Here's the whole Vox op-ed if anyone wants to weigh in.
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