Inflation panic is the new deficit hawkery

“After years of hypocrisy and bungled forecasts of doom, the budget deficit no longer provokes panic,” economist Max Sawicky recently wrote in In These Times. “The elites need a new bogeyman, otherwise Congress might actually spend us into happiness. Now, the new monster in the closet is Inflation.” With all eyes on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which would entail massive and sorely needed social investments in education, healthcare, childcare, clean energy, and more, a familiar chorus of budgetary hand-wringers has emerged to argue that such social spending is the cause of increased inflation. As Sawicky argues, that’s nonsense.<br /><br />In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc and Sawicky break down the current levels of inflation and discuss the political motivations behind the moral panic over inflation, which is essentially a new form of old-school deficit hawkery. Max Sawicky is an economist, writer, and senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research; he has worked at the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Government Accountability Office.<br /><br />Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday and Thursday on TRNN.<br /><br />Pre-Production/Studio: Stephen Frank, Dwayne Gladden<br />Post Production: Stephen Frank<br /><br />Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:<br /><br />Donate: <a href="https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mss" rel="noopener">https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mss</a><br />Sign up for our newsletter: <a href="https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-st" rel="noopener">https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-st</a><br /><br />Get The Marc Steiner Show updates: <a href="https://therealnews.com/up-pod-st" rel="noopener">https://therealnews.com/up-pod-st</a><br /><br />Like us on Facebook: <a href="https://facebook.com/therealnews" rel="noopener">https://facebook.com/therealnews</a><br />Follow us on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/therealnews" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/therealnews</a><br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.</a><br /><b></b><br /><b>Follow us on:</b><br /><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bluesky: @therealnews.com</a><b><br /></b><a href="https://facebook.com/therealnews" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Facebook: The Real News Network</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/therealnews" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Twitter: @TheRealNews</a><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/therealnews" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">YouTube: @therealnews</a><br /><a href="https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork</a><br /><a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><b></b></a><br /><b></b><a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><b>Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!</b></a>