With the days ticking down to the Midterm elections there is much talk about the cost of living. And there should be.
Back in 2024 there was much talk about the price of eggs. In 2026 it is the price of gas and diesel and, of course, the high prices for both means continued high prices for eggs and just about all other consumer products.
Prices and inflation are not the same thing. But the two can combine for a double economic whammy. And that's what folks are facing right now, not just in the United States, but also in Ireland and many other countries across the world.
The rioting in France is rooted in the high cost of living there. Cost, poverty, and glaring inequality were root causes of the French Revolution in 1789. Plus ça change.
The same applies to a number of other European countries. And these are the rich nations. In some countries it is not just the cost of living so much as the cost of staying alive. The world, pretty much all of it, is going through a tough time.
Back in 2024, Donald Trump, as a candidate for his second term, promised to bring down the cost of living. It hasn't worked out that way.
Arguably, it is not entirely Trump's fault that cost has gone up and up rather than down. That said, the effects of the war against Iran are his to own.
But there are many other effects, one of them, ironically, that Trump can't point an accusing finger at. The cost of many products are rising due to climate change. Coffee is a case in point. But Trump is hamstrung here. He can't blame climate change because he doesn't believe it exists.
Even if he did accept the reality of climate change the president would be facing a situation beyond his control.
Climate change, global trade, circumstances unique to many individual countries, are a reminder that the rising cost of living and inflation can be beyond the control of single nation states.
Rather like the butterfly effect - the idea that when a butterfly flutters its wings on one side of the planet there is a hurricane on the other side - something negative occurring in one country can have a corresponding negative effect in another country, or countries.
This is a reminder that politics is not always able to deal with the forces of economics. And this is especially the case when the economic forces exist outside a nation's borders, but said borders are not impervious to those negative forces from far away that are knocking on the nation's door.
In our hyper connected world we need to be aware of how interdependent we are. We need to be working together, not against each other. Political leaders have to be very careful before claiming that they can tame inflation on the one hand, and bring down consumer prices on the other; and do so in splendid national isolation.
False expectation and misplaced hope only exacerbate the feelings of frustration and hopelessness among citizens when they see their fiscal and economic prospects running through their fingers like water.
Leaders have to be honest with people. Yes, I will do my level best to bring down prices but we have to work with others to do so. We have to help others in their hour of distress too as much as we have to help ourselves.
Any other approach is merely bloviating and deception - a process where high priced eggs lead to low level political gas.
