In 2001, Joseph Stiglitz, along with George A. Akerlof and A. Michael Spence, received the prestigious Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which the Sveriges Riksbank created in 1968, decades after the original prizes were created. Stiglitz certainly deserved recognition since his work has been cited thousands of times in the literature, so it’s had a profound effect on economics.

To win the prize, you must have a world-class, original idea, which is quite a feat. However, what’s important to note is that having this one big idea does not make you an expert on everything to do with economics, nor does it make you an objective person.

Over the years, Stiglitz has done just about everything, from teaching at prestigious universities to being the Chief Economist at the World Bank to advising governments at home and abroad. With his credentials, many would assume that he would know what is best for the US economy—yet he backs Harris for President. Given that Harris’s proposed policies are fundamentally socialist, which has eventually destroyed all economies to which they’re applied, why would Stiglitz support Harris’s candidacy?

Perhaps I can unpack that.

For a long time, economics was termed “political economy.” Thus, until very recently, the economics department at Johns Hopkins University was called the Department of Political Economy. What does that mean? It means that economics is tied very closely to politics. It explains to some extent why very intelligent economists can have opposing views. Essentially, politics can cloud your thinking as a scientist.

So, when Stiglitz says that Biden/Harris have done a good job controlling inflation, you have to dig a bit deeper than that pronouncement. Is Stiglitz lying to promote a political agenda? Well, he’s not outright lying, but he is hiding the full truth to promote a political agenda.

What Stiglitz is saying is that recent inflation is under control with the reported 2.53% monthly rate (likely to be revised, of course). The recent low rate looks pretty good if you haven’t been to the grocery store lately or if you ignore Trump’s monthly 1.4% inflation rate when he left office.

More importantly, that rate ignores the vast, across-the-board increase since Trump left office. Under Trump, the total four-year inflation rate was 8%. Under Biden, the 3.5-year inflation rate has been roughly 20%. A monthly decrease in the speed at which inflation is increasing doesn’t change the fact that everything is more expensive. This is “built-in inflation,” which is the price rises in the past that don’t go away by lowering the positive inflation rate in the present.

Thus, I was in Kroger’s recently. I saw that the prices on just about everything are out of sight or the size or quality of the product has been reduced compared to the situation four years ago. Stiglitz, by focusing on the one-month number, is deliberately ignoring the built-in inflation that we see at the grocery store and the gas station, and in rents, housing costs and most everything else.

To reverse built-in inflation from the Biden/Harris years, we would need a negative inflation rate. However, under the Harris /Walz policies, the built-in inflation would never be addressed.

Instead, it’s more likely that month-to-month inflation would get out of hand again. Indeed, the recent cynical lowering of interest rates to spur the job market before the election will simply drive up inflation again. At a fundamental level, Harris/Walz do not care for America and what makes America so successful: God, family, country/borders, jobs, and the American dream.

As a non-Nobel Prize-winning economist, I have confidence that Trump has pragmatic answers to reverse built-in inflation. After all, he did it once, so there’s no reason he can’t do it again.

Image: Joseph Stiglitz. YouTube screen grab.