(Warning – it is a fake poll, but tell us here at The Price of Liberty anyway!)

(Shadow Statistics claim that the REAL rate (as once measured) is three times this amount right now.)

Who is to blame for galloping inflation?

__ Putin and Russia

__ Oil companies

__ Uncle Joe (Biden)

__ The Donald (Trump)

__ Democratic Party policies

__ Republican Party policies

__ Wall Street

__ The Kardashians

__ The Cardassians (with or without the Ferengi)

Since TPOL is a libertarian-heritage lover-of-liberty site, you may of course use ranked voting, 1-9.

Now, if you were a mainline, loyal Democrat, of course your answer would be “Putin and Russia” – the word is out. (And hard as it is not to blame The Donald.)

If you were a GOP partisan, you’ll probably answer “Uncle Joe” as #1 and “Democratic Party policies” as #2. I daily hear dozens of GOP types blaming them.

If your species is the infamous Boobus Americanus you might answer the Kardashians or the Cardassians (assuming you can tell the difference). You’d have to really be a nerd to select the Ferengi.

Seriously, TPOL would value your feedback, formal or not.

And equally seriously, all joking aside, who is to blame?

In many ways they are ALL guilty, or at least represent the guilty parties. Let me explain.

Certainly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered the big mess we are in right now, but all the actions that Uncle Joe’s regime took in the year BEFORE Russia attacked Ukraine clearly had NOTHING to do with increased money (and demand) and decreased supply of virtually EVERY consumer (and business) good and services. Especially the regime’s actions (or failure to act) regarding such things as the broken supply chain; oil and gas exploration, production and transportation; timber production; and more.

BUT the Trump regime was the one which borrowed TRILLIONS of dollars to “stimulate the economy” through cash payments to virtually everyone in the country. Which panicked society over the beer flu, and did not stand up against those governors and legislatures which shut down their economies, denied constitutionally-protected rights to millions, and luxuriated in their power. Every action, of course, created major problems with balancing supply and demand. (We’ve seen what the WalMart in Gallup New Mexico looked like after the Navajo Nation gave a huge stimulus payment to every enrolled resident of the Nation. Amazing!)

In both the case of The Donald and Uncle Joe, they have been “loyally” supported by their respective parties in what an objective observer would call a constant and relentless pursuit of insane policies. Policies which destroyed the “value” (so-called) of the fiat money now passing for the US dollar.

Of course, people (especially the Democrats) LOVE to blame the evil members of Big Oil – and sometimes the government policies they love to point out subsidize Big Oil. Certainly the oil companies HAVE contributed to inflation, but why? First, because government (Big Government, natch?) creates situations where it is tremendously advantageous for them to do so. Second, because the oil companies’ priorities are very simple: make money for their shareholders, pay off their debts, and survive! So they take every opportunity to sell their products at a higher price. And they too knew that inflation was coming, so (to put it crudely) the faster they can convert oil and gas into gold and silver (or other things that do not lose their value in inflationary times), the better.

So why do we include the Kardashians and the Cardassians in our options? They represent media and entertainment. Big Entertainment, if you please: Hollywood and New York networks and even Broadway and Nashville – and probably Brandon and Las Vegas. Generally “liberal” and supportive of the policies and ideas of enemies of liberty. And honestly, entirely too friendly with the tyrants of Peking and the EU. Now, I don’t know if they benefit directly from inflation the way the other choices do. (But I suspect they do in some way.) Still, it is fun to add these two choice, right?

Which leaves us just with Wall Street. Again, Big Business, but especially the banking industry. Which has demonstrated time after time that they thrive on inflation – on devaluing money. Just as the oligarchs of Russia and Ukraine (and dozens of other countries) do. Just like governments can get tremendous REAL discounts by paying off their debt in inflated dollars, so can banks and brokers and all the rest of the financial industry based on Wall Street, in London, and perhaps even other financial centers. One piece of evidence for this is that the Federal Reserve, our national/central bank, sets goals for a MINIMUM rate of inflation: they WANT the paper dollar to ALWAYS be worth less and less as time goes on. No matter what it does to people and small companies and families.

Which of course leads us to this last question in our poll:

DO YOU PERSONALLY GAIN OR LOSE FROM RAMPANT INFLATION? YES ___ NO ___

Think about it!