And so, when you take that corporate profit explosion, and put it against an indexed CPI, you see some similarities in the data.

As corporate profits increased at a rate not seen in recent memory so did prices.

9/

fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1Ol8s

But another strange thing happened in the wake of the pandemic...corporate profits EXPLODED.

And if that explosion was explained just by stimulus checks that ended in March of 2021, it wouldn't have gotten even higher since then.

8/

fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1Ol7S

All told, a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children) would have received $11,400 in that 12 month period.

That's a lot of money to pump into the economy.

But the unemployment rate peaked at nearly 15%, and didn't get back to "normal" until Jan of 2022.

6/

fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1O9W9

And while that chart looks really bad, especially in 2022, its important to put this into context in terms of what was happening on a monthly basis. (your measure is annual only)

So here's a monthly chart of the Consumer Price Index.

2/

fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1Ol6i

Susan Collins is up for re-election in the 2026 cycle. She DGAF about what's in the bill, but she DOES want to get re-elected.

There's more to this Mexican Naval wreck in NYC.

There was no reason for it to go under the Brooklyn Bridge to make it out to sea.

There was a tug right next to it.

Nope, it was going the wrong way from South Street Museum.

We got all these books out about how Biden was senile at the end of his term.

Now our current clown car of a President is says he doesn't believe in stealth planes because they're...

checks notes...

ugly.

We're living in Idiocracy.

This may be true. On the other hand, if he keeps fathering children, he'll keep making humans no one wants to fuck...which isn't helping his central thesis.