Joe Biden’s administration can claim its full measure of mismanagement and blunders.  This said, Joe might echo his predecessor’s assertion he inherited a “mess.“  A mess largely created by that predecessor’s paralysis on being told, in early 2019, that an anonymous upper respiratory virus was sweeping China and would, inevitably, leap the Pacific.  Biden’s primary headache, inflation, may be attributed to that leap.    

In early spring, spurning a “Pandemic Playbook” crafted for just such an emergency, President Donald Trump assured Americans the “China” virus would infect a handful of Americans and vanish, “a miracle!”  By Easter churches would be packed, people “raring” to go back to work.  Through the remainder of his term, Trump’s denials and obfuscations greatly exacerbated America’s COVID-19 suffering and deaths.

A Lancet Commission report concludes that, had Donald Trump taken early, decisive, contravening measures, 40% of American’s COVID-19 infections and deaths “could have been averted.”  By July 2, 2022, 87,626,140 Americans had contracted and 1,017,266 died from the disease.  Rather than cower behind fear and denial, had President Donald Trump stepped forward with the courage and wisdom of real Leader, upward of 30,000,000 illnesses and 400,000 deaths from COVID-19 could have been averted.

The impact of COVID-19 on America’s economy cannot be overstated.  To ameliorate spread of the virus, businesses were forced to close.  Basics like toilet paper disappeared from Super Market shelves.  Desperate to rescue out-of-work, out-of-cash Americans, Congress flooding the country with free money.  More money chasing fewer goods and services: the classic recipe for inflation is.  A major piece of Biden’s mess.