WSJ is taking a page out of the Babylon Bee and writing satire

Or is this a real suggestion ?

To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast (wsj.com) (https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/cpi-report-today-january-2023-inflation/card/to-save-money-maybe-you-should-skip-breakfast-fSd6mz0miaAPhUFb2jgy)

The article mostly details the rising costs of breakfast staples.

Great idea . To really save money stop eating period . Now there's a plan .

Perhaps instead we should increase the unemployment rate ...... of swamp critters . There is the true source of inflation.

It's amazing how we the people have apparently decided to tolerate this mediocrity the Biden admin has placed us in.

It goes back to 2008 when we were introduced to Modern Monetary Theory in practice. Basically it was the belief that there should be no restraint on printing monopoly money.
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT): Definition, History, and Principles (investopedia.com) (https://www.investopedia.com/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-4588060)

Since then 3 Fed chairs printed in excess of $9 trillion monopoly bucks between 2008 and 2019 .The Fed's balance sheet ballooned 10x.

Every buck printed above what is needed devalues the dollar . Those devalued buck unleashed in the economy caused inflation. (too many dollars chasing too few goods) . Inflation is the result ;not the cause .

Quantitative Easing /liquidity injection whatever you call it is a theft of the wealth of the nation . The government takes the monopoly money and invents ways for the government to spend it . Almost every lawmaker commits to spending more than collected in taxes. What wealth they don't grab through taxation is eroded by the cost of consumer goods.

One could almost make a conspiracy theory that says this way they create a dependency on the leviathan nanny state .

The Fed's balance sheet ballooned 10x.Expand on that some.

That was before Clueless Joe's unprecedented spending spree . All I know is that it took interest rate hikes up to 20% to cure the inflation of the 1970s . I expect at least to around 10% to get ahead of the current inflation . I see no cooling of the economy yet so I don't get the optimism of people who think the Fed will ease off the brakes . There is no soft landing in our future ....... and then we have to think about paying off the debt .

GAO is warning it was unable to provide an opinion on the reliability of the federal government’s consolidated financial statements.

"This is especially troubling given the significant domestic and international challenges facing our government, which place a premium on the need for accountability and transparency," U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said Thursday. "The difficulty in providing an opinion is due to long-standing financial management problems at the Department of Defense, inadequate accounting for transactions between government agencies, and weaknesses in the process for preparing the statements."
Pandemic relief programs added to the problems, he said.
"The Small Business Administration had continuing financial management deficiencies in their pandemic relief programs, the Department of Education could not adequately support the costs of its loan programs, and improper payments totaling $247 billion were reported across several federal agencies and programs," he said in a statement.
"It’s essential that the federal government has complete and accurate financial information, both across the government and within each agency, to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible," Dodaro said. "While the federal government has made significant strides in improving its financial management, this year’s audit report emphasizes the need for the government to address these serious financial management weaknesses and for Congress to develop a plan to put the government on a path toward long-term fiscal sustainability."

Federal agency says Congress needs to put U.S. on path toward financial stability | Just The News (https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/federal-agency-says-congress-needs-put-us-path-toward-financial)

The troubling part is that this whole thing could go south in a hurry if we're not careful, and with the current crop of self-serving pols we have, I have no optimism about that.

ZeroHedge notes that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has whipped inflation wooohooooo !


Just redefine what inflation is .


But it seems like the bureaucrats have finally found a way to reduce inflation.
No, it has nothing to do with reducing regulations, cutting taxes, and re-embracing capitalism.
The bold solution that our courageous policymakers have come up with is to change the way inflation is calculated.
So rather than actually stop the destructive things they’re doing that are actually causing inflation, they’re simply inventing a new way of calculating it. It’s genius!!
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that, beginning this month, they will calculate the Consumer Price Index (the CPI, which is one of the key benchmarks of inflation) in a different manner.



They finally figured out how to lower inflation! | ZeroHedge (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-01-25/they-finally-figured-out-how-lower-inflation)

Is that surprising in any way? Government, almost by definition, is self-serving.