When I was very young, I felt very proud to know that scientifically, bumblebees could not fly. Clearly, they flew, but this was because they didn’t know that they couldn’t. This was one of the great mysteries of my young life. If bees, which could not fly, could fly, maybe there was a God after all.

Well, it wasn’t long after that when I realized that what I had heard was just plain wrong. Bumblebees could fly. (And that this whole question had little, if anything, to do with the existence of a God)

Today, it isn’t bumblebees, it’s the American economy. I can give you reason after reason as to why the American economy is doomed to failure. Yet, time after time, all this clear knowledge not withstanding, the American economy seems to prosper.

OK, not a great analogy. I know that. But there are similarities. And one major difference. Ask ten entomologists, and they will give you the same answer about bumblebees. If you can find two economists who agree as to the reasons for the success of the American economy, you are a better man/woman than I am.

In academia, you expect economists to disagree. But what about in government? Why is it that the Federal Reserve, with all of its power, believes that crushing inflation is the most important thing, and is willing to sacrifice American jobs, and consequently family incomes, to bring inflation into a reasonable range? And why does the Fed thing that the way to fight inflation is to increase borrowing rates to slow down the economy?

The economy itself seems to defy the Fed. Interest rates have risen dramatically, but every month, when the nation’s job reports come out (assuming that they are accurately reflective of the economy, which is a different question), hundreds of thousands of new jobs are created, and unemployment remains at a record low.

The reaction of governmental officials to these strong numbers is instructive. The Fed’s position is clear – we have to keep the pressure on, keep raising interest rates, the economy will soon respond and slow things down. The current jobs and employment statistics are unfortunate.

Meanwhile, the President and the executive branch is saying the opposite. Look at all the jobs we are creating!! Look how low unemployment is!! We are doing great!!

How is that little kid, who just learned that bumblebees really can fly, whether they know it or not, to process all of this? How is he to process a Fed, filled with experts, who can’t bring inflation under control? How is he to process a president, touting job increases, when inflation is destroying a family’s budget?

More importantly, how are all those American voters, who start with a suspicion of Joe Biden’s competence, and who don’t understand what the Fed is in any event, and who see prices rising and their incomes not rising, or rising more modestly, going to vote? We already see that the polls show that more voters, by far it seems, trust the Republicans (and specifically Donald Trump) more than the Democrats and Joe Biden on the economy.

Unless something changes, this trend will undoubtedly continue. In politics, the old saying “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know” does not seem to apply. Or, perhaps in this case, when you know both devils, you always hope the one out of power can do better.