Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called inflation “an invisible tax on the American people.”
The remarks come as year-over-year inflation in the United States surges to 5.4% — and as Amy Baker, coordinator of the Florida legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, tells lawmakers that high inflation is transitory.
“Whenever you flood that much money into the economy, it always has some perverse effects with it, but that would be transitory, too,” she recently testified to members of the Florida legislature. “I believe within the year we should see it come back to some more normal, stable level.”
During an October 15 press conference in Naples, Florida, DeSantis asserted that inflation is more pervasive than most economists are willing to admit.
“This inflation is real. This inflation is upending a lot of things,” he said. “They said it was just going to be transitory — it’s not transitory.”
“You look at how much things have gone up year-over-year — these are stiff increases, and it’s basically an invisible tax on the American people.”
Bidenflation: “An invisible tax on the American people” @GovRonDeSantis today pic.twitter.com/SnSH4qB5uV
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) October 15, 2021
Indeed, many Americans are beginning to feel pressure from the rising price levels.
According to a recent survey of over 1,000 elderly investors with more than $250,000 in assets, 71% believe that rising inflation will negatively impact their retirement savings. Likewise, 46% of those with fixed income investments worry that low interest rates will impact their retirement income.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirm that the average American’s real wage is falling due to inflation. The agency recently reported that “average hourly earnings” in the United States increased by 3.6% between June 2020 and June 2021. However, when considering inflation — specifically through the Consumer Price Index, which rose by 5.3% over the same period — “real average hourly earnings” diminished by 1.7%.
Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain alleged that rising inflation is only a “high-class problem.”
Jason Furman — a Harvard University professor and former chair of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers — tweeted: “Most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains, etc.) are high-class problems. We wouldn’t have had them if the unemployment rate was still 10 percent. We would instead have had a much worse problem.”
Signaling agreement, Klain retweeted the post with the caption: “This.”