Inflation Gaslighting Has Begun

“There is no inflation” has quickly become “inflation is good for you.”

Remember when all the ‘experts,’ including the head of the Bank of Canada and most top politicians said inflation wasn’t really happening?

Talking about inflation was ‘disinformation’ and a ‘conspiracy theory.’

Once it became obvious that inflation was so prevalent that it couldn’t be dismissed, the talking point became that it was ‘transitory.’

Those who pushed back against the ‘transitory’ claim were then again dismissed as people spreading ‘disinformation.’

We were supposed to listen to the so-called experts, like the Bank of Canada Governor.

But then, with inflation continuing to rise, even the Bank of Canada had to admit that it wasn’t ‘transitory’.

In a pathetic word game, the BOC Governor claimed inflation was now ‘transitory but not short-lived’.

What is the idea behind all this deception, and all the attempts by the government to have us deny what is right in front of us?

Gaslighting on inflation

As I’ve been saying for some time, there is a clear link between what we are seeing in terms of rising inflation, and the unhinged climate promises being made by leaders in Canada, and other Western nations.

The fact is, to hit the ‘targets’ set by our public officials, our standard of living would have to go way down.

Politicians like Justin Trudeau, and institutions like the Bank of Canada that now serve the statist agenda know this, they just can’t admit it.

So, they need a way to make it appear that people have ‘more money,’ even as they get poorer and lose purchasing power.

Voila, inflation is the perfect tool to do that.

If everything goes up in price 6% in a year, while the average person gets a 2% wage ‘increase,’ people will see a bigger number in their bank accounts, while being 4% poorer overall.

Do this year after year, and you can dramatically lower the purchasing power of most individuals, without it being directly obvious in people’s bank accounts.

By contrast, hiking taxes 4% would generate far more outrage, since people would see a direct reduction in their earning power, as opposed to having to figure it out through price increases.

Thus, politicians and government institutions are using inflation to impoverish Canadians by stealth.

This means that those who talk about inflation and expose what is going on are a serious threat to the radical statist agenda.

By showing people what is really happening, we expose the manipulation that is taking place.

That’s why Pierre Poilievre gets the Liberals so angry, since he is a rare politician who stands up and reveals the truth:

To counter that truth, statist politicians and government institutions are trying to gaslight the population into either ignoring inflation, or absurdly thinking it’s a good thing.

For example, CBC recently published an article asking “Will inflation be a horror or a healthy readjustment?”

In that article, they discuss an Intercept column that tried spinning inflation as good:

“Last week, commentator Jon Schwarz, writing in The Intercept, offered a take on the economic argument for why inflation is good — a sort of natural repair mechanism for an economy out of whack.

“Inflation is bad for the 1 per cent but helps out almost everyone else,” says the headline at the top of Schwarz’s story.

The nub of the argument is that for people who have big loans, inflation makes them smaller in dollar terms. As wages and prices inflate, loans can be paid off in inflated dollars. For lenders or people with piles of cash, the effect is the opposite.”

Obviously, this is completely absurd.

For those who are already wealthy, they can easily put their fiat currency into inflation hedges such as stocks, crypto, and precious metals.

Indeed, the rampant money printing behind the recent surge in inflation has benefitted the largest banks and biggest investors the most, since the money flows through the banks first, and that money then flows to the largest investors.

As noted by Elon Musk, inflation is indeed a highly regressive tax:

“Inflation is the most regressive tax of all, yet is advocated by those who claim to be progressive”

While the gaslighting goes on in Canada, similar ‘pro-inflation’ arguments are being made in the United States.

A recent Bloomberg article talks about how Americans should consume less and live more like Europeans:

“It’s become the conventional wisdom that the U.S. economy is built on Americans’ endless appetite to buy lots and lots of stuff. Household consumption makes up about 67% of GDP. When the economy falters, we’re told spending is our patriotic duty. But suddenly, Americans can’t spend like they used to. Store shelves are emptying, and it can take months to find a car, refrigerator or sofa. If this continues, we may need to learn to do without — and, horrors, live more like the Europeans. That actually might not be a bad thing, because the U.S. economy could be healthier if it were less reliant on consumption.

After all, Americans haven’t always acted like this. We’ve entered an age of overabundance. We consume much more than we used to and more than other countries. Consumption per capita grew about 65% from 1990 to 2015, compared with about 35% growth in Europe. Household consumption makes up only about 50% of GDP in Germany.”

And of course, the game is given away here:

“Finally, if we are truly serious about protecting the planet, being a good global citizen will take more than driving an electric car or installing solar panels. It means consuming less so that we throw less away. Maybe that means getting by with only one refrigerator or avoiding fast, disposable fashion.”

Interestingly, when you compare the GDP per capita of the United States and the European Union, the difference is stark:

US per capita GDP is 63,543.58 USD, while EU per capita GDP is 34,244.56 USD.

Meanwhile, Canadian GDP per capita is 43,241.62 USD.

If Americans, and Canadians lived ‘more like Europeans,’ that would mean smaller houses, less purchasing power, and higher taxes.

Now, many people like the lifestyle in parts of Europe, but that is in large part due to the architecture and amazing history of the continent. North America doesn’t offer that long range of history, and architecture here tends to be much worse, but what we lack in those areas is made up with wide open space, more freedom, lower taxes, and a higher standard of living.

And remember, if per capita GDP in the US and Canada went down dramatically, that wouldn’t impact those at the top. They would still continue to do just fine.

It’s the middle class and working class that will be crushed by inflation and the cost of radical climate policies.

Fight back against the normalizing of high inflation

With all of this in mind, we can clearly see that there is an agenda of normalizing high inflation.

This agenda – whatever excuses those pushing it use – is about enhancing centralized government control, reducing individual and economic freedom, and making the vast majority of people worse off.

That’s why we need to keep speaking out against the normalization of high inflation, and be principled advocates for the principles of limited government and sound money, as those principles are what Canada and the Western world needs now more than ever.

Spencer Fernando

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