Americans Care About Inflation And Gas Prices, Not The War In Ukraine.

All wars involve lies and propaganda. That just comes with the territory. The War in Ukraine is no different.

The media are filled with stories of heroic Ukrainian “freedom fighters” and how Ukrainian President Zelensky is the “new Churchill”; (in fact, he’s a corrupt oligarch who has arrested political opponents and banned opposition political parties). The Russians are good at it too as they report steady progress in achieving their military goals despite credible reports of large causalities and enormous losses of armor, helicopters, aircraft, and other weaponry.

The truth is out there, but you need to be very good at filtering the propaganda and discovering credible sources.

What about the American people? Are they buying into the U.S. and Ukrainian narratives about Ukrainian success on the battlefield?

To some extent, the answer is: yes. Americans love an underdog. And in the absence of objective media, they tend to follow whatever narrative is being streamed by the White House and its media enablers.

Still, Americans are eminently pragmatic; that might even be the original and primary American philosophy – stick to what works. According to an Associated Press poll reported in this article, a lot of things are not working right now.

Americans are rightly concerned about inflation generally, and spikes in the prices of gas, eggs, milk, beef, and chicken. They are also concerned about broken supply chains and shortages in critical goods like baby formula.

Inflation also hits home in things like Social Security checks. These payments are adjusted for inflation, but there’s a lag. Social Security recipients got an increase based on 2021 inflation, but that’s not enough to keep up in 2022 when inflation now is much worse. The result is that the real value of a Social Security payment has gone down once you adjust for today’s inflation.

Yes, the poll does report that the American people support the effort in Ukraine. About 45% of adults favor prioritizing sanctions on Russia. But, an even larger 51% say that U.S. priorities should be undoing the damage to the U.S. economy caused by inflation.

The 45% in support of sanctions in April is down from the 55% who prioritized sanctions in March. So, Americans still support Ukraine, but the numbers are going down and the number who prioritize fixing the U.S. economy is going up.

As I mentioned, this shows the pragmatic side of Americans. It’s also a trend that’s likely to continue.

Ukraine is a distant battlefield. The battle against inflation is in your face every day at the gas pump and the grocery store. Attention spans are short and patience is limited.

As we move closer to election day in 2022, investors should expect the enthusiasm for sanctions on Russia to diminish if it comes at the cost of higher prices for Americans. And it does.

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