To the Editor
Dear Editor:
Letter writer Sam Foust attacks President Biden on inflation and implies that Donald Trump has been the victim of a political witch hunt facilitated by liberal media. I disagree.
Trump’s prosecutions have been brought by different prosecutors from around the country as well as different grand juries composed of regular citizens in different states. He has received much deferential treatment compared to anyone else indicted on felony charges, now numbering 88.
Trump and his organizations were sued 4,000 times before he ran for political office. This is more than the top six real estate investors in Manhattan combined, even though Trump was not even in the top dozen.
The only reason Trump is a public figure is because of his wealth combined with prodigious self-promotion as a self-made businessman, when he is, in fact, a terrible one.
He inherited $400 million in the ‘80s. Had he invested it all in a simple S&P index fund compounding dividends and interest, and spent his days finger painting, he would be worth almost $40 billion. Instead, he was worth just $350 million before Truth Social recently boosted that to about $4.5 billion. This business is a house of cards and soon its value will likely plummet.
The collapse of supply chains wrought by the pandemic unleased pinned up inflationary pressures. About a third of inflation is the product of consumer expectations. Most economists thought the U.S. would experience a hard landing with a major recession or even a depression, but strong monetary and fiscal policy under the Biden administration helped avert this fate.
Core inflation has dramatically improved from its peak and personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE)—a better measure of costs based on personal spending patterns---is even more encouraging. Combined with the dramatic increase in wages, despite inflation, purchasing power has improved 2%.
William Culbert
Oak Ridge