Inflation Indeed

Inflation Indeed


The Kenyans have figured it out. Inflation is caused by the Chinese. This blockbuster revelation almost rivals Rupert Murdach’s admission FOX lied and American government agencies suspicion that Covid, like inflation, is a Chinese virus. Whether or not it reaches the profound level of balloons remains to be seen.
Mama mia mama mia, Is this the Real Life? Is this just Fantasy?

I’m currently in Nairobi where yesterday there was a major protest against the Chinese. It seems to have brought together almost all the bickering factions trying to assess blame for inflation.

According to The Conversation, Kenyan food inflation is among the highest in the world. Basic food stuffs are increasing at roughly 2/3 or 67% per annum. Mortgages, school fees, taxes … they’re all going up, too.

So guess what? Right-side politicians are calling for less government spending. Left-side politicians are blaming deficit spending by right-side politicians. Cleave away the balderdash and all politicians are saying that too much money is circulating for too few goods. So the street distills this down to Chinese?

I don’t get it. Inflation is not a mistake or a crime, and it certainly is not caused by the Chinese merchants at Nairobi’s Unicity Mall, which are on the verge of becoming the start of a pogrom, or more hopefully, just the scapegoats. Kenyan government agencies, bowing to street demonstrations, have agreed to audit Chinese merchants.

So I asked my waiter today, “Do you believe this stuff?”

“Oh, yes,” he answered. He then tried to explain what the news media is feeding him: that Chinese merchants are subsidized by the Chinese government. On Citizen TV this morning, I listened to one commentator claim that the Chinese sell everything at a 15% discount because their government subsidizes … everything?

So, I asked him, didn’t the Chinese build your railway? Didn’t they build your big northern road? Didn’t they open a couple hospitals and bush clinics?

“It’s not like that,” he dismissed me angrily. But he couldn’t explain further.

I’ve never been a fan of the Chinese in Africa. As I’ve often written their so-called “aid projects” are designed to if not just gain political favor to ensure political favor with economic blackmail, which while to some extent is true with any aid, is far less morally framed than I truly believe western aid is.
The port in Sri Lanka has defaulted to Chinese ownership. The great Kenyan railway looks similarly poised. No IMF to help them negotiate with the landlord.
But charge them with causing Kenyan inflation?

At home in the U.S. the targets for inflation causers are simply the standard opponents. The right-side politicians blame the Democrats for spending too much. The Democrats blame the Republicans for massive tax cuts. The Republicans blame the Covid and Infrastructure bills. The Democrats blame consolidating wealth with the wealthiest.

Mama mimi mama mimi Is this the Real Life? Is this just Fantasy?

There are 200 more sovereign entities in the world than Kenya or the U.S. Each one of them, including China, is experiencing inflation. So I suggest we all – everyone on the planet from every political or nonpolitical ilk — come together in Nairobi this afternoon at Chinese Square to blame the real culprit, the only culprit, the true opponent of us all, the truly most different thing from the whole damn human race:

Money.

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