GOP legislative candidate wants to fight rapidly rising inflation

ht/t Minnesota Brown

First to say something nice: the endorsed GOP candidate for State House district 6B is pro-union:

I am a Republican and I am proud to be a union member. I do not support making Minnesota a right to work state. I believe workers already have the right to choose for themselves whether or not they want to work for a union employer. I do not want to lose my right to be a union member and to have a livable wage.

Good for him. He's right that workers already can choose to not join a union if they work in a union shop. They can opt for "fair share", where they cover their share of the cost of administering the collective bargaining agreement. Anti-union conservatives tend to complain about paying about 85% of what members pay, unaware of not only how much they get, but that most of a union's costs are in the workplace, not other activities. That's how right-to-freeload breaks a union. Non-members get the full service while bearing non of the cost. Imagine a business had to serve all customers but couldn't charge those who chose not to pay. So give Colangelo credit for being on the right side of this issue.

If that sounds preparatory to saying something critical, well, yes.  
Elsewhere in his press release, Colangelo says, "I strongly support reducing our debt and the rapid rate of inflation." Rapid rate of inflation? A rate of 2.3% is "rapid"? That's a pretty low rate, and it's been consistent or at least a year. Low and nor rising is a queer definition of "rapid". Of course, if you're drinking the conservative powdered fake fruit drink about how the national debt and fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus are supposed to cause hyperinflation, and you ignore conservatives have been making this prediction since the crisis of 2008, maybe you believe that. I can only assume the rise of the Paulites in the Republican Party means there's been a run on wheelbarrows for hauling cash to buy one loaf of bread, maybe two loaves if they're day old.

If we're so deep in debt though, wouldn't actual inflation be a good thing? Inflation is your friend when you're a debtor. Sucks if you're a creditor, because your debtor is paying you with devalued money. That means creditors have to raise interest rates to make up for the devaluing of the money while the debt is being repaid. So, if we have high inflation, which assumes the BLS is lying or getting it very wrong, then interest rates must be shooting up. And indeed, they have risen all to the way to ... lower than they've ever been.

What about that debt? Even after the state government took a blow to its credit from the government shut down (thanks for that, GOP) the state can pay record low interest rates on its bonds. The notion that the state faces some sort of debt crisis is pretty ridiculous. Maybe Colangelo meant the fed4ral debt, or is conflating them, but I'd hope not since he surely knows state legislators don't deal with the federal debt. He does know this, right?

Any other imaginary problems we should solve instead of addressing real ones?