Inflation under Democrats vs. Republicans since WWII

“Mailbag” offers insight into comments and emails I get from my readers — good, bad or in-between — and my thoughts about their feedback.

Readers think I'm missing a big piece of the highestin-four-decades inflation story: politics.

The feedback runs from “the real root cause of this hellish inflation is due to the policies of the Biden administration, Democrat party and their naive, gullible supporters” to “pretty big reason for inflation is not mentioned, “the current occupant of the White House,” to “lying Democrats raise the cost of everything far more than Republicans.”

It's time for the trusty spreadsheet, even though I know, no matter what math I use, somebody will always complain!

To test my audience's theory, I looked at inflation rates dating back to World War II and which party controlled the White House. I also staggered results by six months — so credit or blame for whatever happened in presidential transition years was somewhat shared.

Let me note the president is just one force playing a role in the ever-changing cost of living. The inflation climate is determined by everything from foreign economic and political influences to workerto-boss relationships and the ratesetting Federal Reserve.

The spreadsheet found that over nearly 80 years, inflation averaged 3.69% when Democrats were in command versus 3.59% for Republicans. That's not much difference, but we know politics is a “what have you done for me lately” business.

Looking at the cost of living when Democrats had the White House since 1944, inflation rose in four of five eras — from the year before Democrats gained power, to their last year in command.

For Republican presidents, inflation rose by the same metric in just two out of five periods of control.

Caveat

There is one flip side to inflation. It often moves in the opposite direction of unemployment, because you typically need lots of hiring to overheat prices.

So, let's look at U.S. unemployment in this same post-World War II period, using the same math: With a Republican in the White House joblessness averaged 5.7%, slightly above the Democrats' 5.6% rate.

Joblessness rose during all five periods of Republican control and just once under Democrats.

Bottom line

This math shows us that blaming the president — or their party — for inflation is reactionary and silly, no matter who's in charge. The U.S. cost of living, in particular, is often heavily influenced by factors outside the reach of the world's most powerful leader.

Yes, President Joe Biden — a Democrat — has seen inflation