Back in June, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the mid-year spike in inflation was temporary, and John Williams, President of the Federal Reserve Back of New York, said he expected inflation in 2021 to be around 3% for 2021. These are the people who are in charge of managing inflation.

At the time, I said I expected 2021 inflation to be above 5%, and that we could look at the numbers at year-end to see whose estimate was closer. As you probably know, the 2021 inflation rate came in at 7%, the highest it’s been since 1982.

Last month, President Biden said inflation had peaked and would rapidly start falling. While the president does not make the policy decisions that affect inflation directly, his views do influence those policymakers who do directly affect inflation. The president’s view (as of last month, anyway) that inflation remains a transitory problem does not bode well for any resolve to invoke strong anti-inflation policies.

Politically, it is difficult to tackle inflation during an election year, because inflation-fighting policies tend to slow the economy, creating an additional impediment to the reelection of incumbents who already face substantial challenges.

Six months ago, the attitude of our inflation gurus was that it was temporary and would take care of itself. One sign of progress is that Chairman Powell now says the Federal Reserve will use its tools to combat inflation. The question is: do they actually have the resolve to do it?

Should elected members of Congress be allowed to invest in things whose value depends upon how the government spends money? Or whose growth prospects depend upon how government rules and regulations affect them?

“Mohammed Nuru, the former director of San Francisco Public Works officially pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal fraud charge,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports, “marking perhaps the most definitive development to date in the City Hall corruption scandal that has ensnared department heads and city contractors.” As this column noted in February 2020, Nuru “should have been axed years ago.” 

According to a January 4 criminal complaint from the U.S. Department of Justice, Colombian national Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, “is charged with conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.”

I’ve made the argument before that people who view greenhouse gas emissions as a threat to humanity should support nuclear power, a proven source of energy that can be deployed now, and that emits no greenhouse gasses. Thus, I have been puzzled that those climate change alarmists seem to be so opposed to the use of nuclear power.

Many K-12 schools and universities have gone to remote instruction in response to the surge in COVID cases, but Florida remains the land of the free, with no COVID-related mandates. No mask mandates. No vaccine mandates. No mandated business closures or reductions in service. Mandates have been prohibited by the state legislature, at the urging of Governor DeSantis. In Florida, instruction is in-person and mandate-free.

If you follow wasteful spending stories involving the misplaced priorities of Washington D.C. politicians and bureaucrats, the holiday season brings a special treat. That’s when Senator Rand Paul issues his annual “Festivus Report” on the federal government’s most wasteful spending programs. The report has become a must-read for anyone needing a good laugh at Uncle Sam’s wackier expenses.

Senator Paul’s Festivus Report 2021 certainly provides a lot of examples to laugh at, which collectively cost U.S. taxpayers over $52.5 billion. According to the report, that’s the equivalent of the taxes paid by over 3.4 million average American taxpayers.

Following Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu’s recent death, in reading an article about his funeral, I was stopped by its description of him as “diminutive.” Casting my memory back to our evening with him, I had to concentrate to recall that, yes, he was a short man, but his presence was immense, emanating love, humor, and inspiration.

In October of 2020, Drs. Jay Bhattacharya (Stanford University), Sunetra Gupta (Oxford University), and Martin Kulldorff (Harvard University) authored the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) to “express our grave concerns over the inadequate protection of the vulnerable and the devastating harms of the lockdown pandemic policy adopted by much of the world.” 

They proposed an alternative strategy “focused on the most vulnerable.” The GBD was signed by more than 50,000 scientists and medical professionals and 800,000 members of the public.

“If science can’t be questioned, it’s not science anymore. It’s propaganda, and that’s the truth.”

That was Aaron Rodgers –  quarterback of the Green Bay Packers – and the 2011 Super Bowl MVP has a point. 

Science is all about empirical inquiry, measurement, and testing. To ensure authenticity, scientific studies need to be replicated by independent parties. Science is not a belief system or any kind of authoritarian construct. That invites comparison with White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, a medical doctor whose bio shows no advanced degrees in molecular biology or biochemistry. 

A government bureaucrat since 1968, Dr. Fauci has headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Since 1984. Since the dawn of the pandemic, Dr. Fauci has reversed himself many times but now claims “I represent science.” He doesn’t, but such an outlandish claim has consequences. 

Aaron Rogers has been accused of spreading misinformation, being an anti-vaxer, and so forth. As the quarterback wonders, “when did science become this blind agreement and not have any debate over what can actually heal people and work for people? That makes no sense to me.” A record number of players had been added to the reserve/COVID-19 list, without open discussion of “the treatment I used to get better.” 

Rodgers has no problem with those who choose to get vaccinated. “It’s your body, your choice,” he explains. “I made a decision that was in the best interest of my body and that’s what it should be. There should be the freedom to choose what’s in your best interest.” 

For Dr. Anthony Fauci, it’s pretty much his way or the highway, with mandatory vaccinations and destructive lockdowns. As the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration note, such lockdowns have caused widespread suffering and damage. Dr. Fauci backed the school shutdowns and lied about funding dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, yet he retains his position of power. That marks another contrast with the world of Aaron Rodgers. 

Players and coaches often violate the rules of football, but the game does not continue until the penalty has been marked off. On the other hand, government bureaucrats can repeat destructive mistakes, deceive the public, and still keep their position. These powerful bureaucrats demand blind obedience, with no debate about what works best for individuals’ health and safety. For embattled Americans heading into a new year, that makes little sense.