I’m not sure why people who want to be economists go to an expensive school and spend years studying something that’s really pretty simple. If there is a bunch of something, the price goes down because there’s so much of it, the seller needs to unload it. If there’s not much of something, the price goes up because the buyer has a hard time getting it and will pay more just to be able to obtain the things he or she needs or wants. And another rule is this—most people in government, especially the ones who have only been in government and never been in business or signed the front of the paycheck, just aren’t real smart about the economy works. And that’s why when they tell you they are going to fix it, you should know they are about to really screw it up. And recently, that’s just what they have done. What I’m about to tell you isn’t so much about Democrats or Republicans or the left or the right. It’s about the right and the wrong, and we’ve got some folks really getting it wrong when it comes to how much it’s going to cost YOU to put gas in your car, heat your home this winter and put groceries on your table and clothes on your family.

For about a year, the government has been paying people not to work. The idea was that Covid and the government-mandated shutdown cost a lot of people their jobs. Now keep in mind that not a single GOVERNMENT employee missed a paycheck. Even if they didn’t have to show up for work, no one got laid off from the government. And they felt bad that they were getting paid for doing nothing and figured they ought to pay others for doing nothing as well. It made sense when government ordered businesses to close and workers really did get laid off. But when the economy starting to coming back, the employees didn’t. Some realized that with government benefits, there are no taxes or take-outs, and some people made as much or even more money not working than working, so they got used to getting up at the crack of noon and watching Netflix all day. Even though there are “Help Wanted” signs on every street in America, people stayed home. And the government’s brilliant idea to fix that? Keep paying them for not working. I learned something from raising kids and training dogs: If you want a behavior to continue, reward it; if you want a behavior to stop, consequence it. If you punish people for working by taking out chunks of their check in taxes and social security obligations but reward others with tax free income for doing nothing, more and more people will take the doing nothing option. And remember that when there is a lot of stuff, it costs less, but when there is a lot of need but little supply it costs more? There’s a huge need for workers, but small supply, so labor costs more. And that makes everything else cost more. And because Joe Biden turned off our pipelines and punishes our home-grown energy industries and transportation industries because he thinks “climate change” matters more than feeding your family, your gasoline costs much more, groceries are up between 10-20%, and shelves are empty in our stores. You have to work really hard to be that dumb about turning a great economy into one where politicians brag about how money they are borrowing from your grandkids while no one can afford bacon and eggs or the gas to get to work.

When the politicians tell you they want to fix the economy, you better vote for some different politicians. The best way to FIX the economy is to get the politicians out of it, pay people to actually work instead of sitting home, and let farmers farm, let builders build, and let YOU decide whose business ought to be supported based on what you decide to buy and how much you’re willing to pay for it. See, you don’t need a PhD in economics to understand that. Just some common sense and a government that gets the heck out of your way!