Glenn Grothman: “We heard a little bit about inflation, and we are going to talk about the economy a little bit more. As has been widely…”

“We heard a little bit about inflation, and we are going to talk about the economy a little bit more. As has been widely reported, inflation is at a 40-year high, the worst it has been since 1981. Over 8 percent. However, I feel that we are doing a disservice to the current situation to pretend that inflation is only 8.3 percent. In the official figures they talk about housing going up 5\1/2\ percent. Does anybody think the cost of housing has only gone up 5\1/2\ percent in the last year? I know somebody who builds houses; the cost of a new house that he sells has gone up over 25 percent in the last year. We look at interest which has to be eaten by landlords or a person buying a house that has gone up from 2\1/2\ percent on a house to 4\1/ 2\ percent in a year. That doesn't sound like any 5\1/2\ percent to me. You look at, anecdotally, how much rent has gone up. You look at assessments, how much they have gone up on property taxes. In Wisconsin, I am told it is not unusual to find 10 to 20 percent increases in assessments. When politicians talk about this 8.3 figure, I think it is really a lot higher than that. There is no way the cost of housing and rentals in this country has only gone up 5\1/2\ percent in the last year. I also had the pleasure in the last few days to talk to people in the automobile industry. The official numbers say used cars have gone up 16.1 percent in the last year. Where are you going to find that?…”