War and peace and its collateral damage.

When I write about the war in Ukraine, as I did yesterday, my post views drop by half.

My drawing at Instagram @klonskyart

A predictable thing happens depending on the topic I choose for my almost daily post.

When I write about pensions, Medicare and Social Security my page views go up big time.

When I write about the war in Ukraine, as I did yesterday, my post views drop by half.

Let me suggest that there is a solid line that connects the two.

Of course, everyone should be concerned about the humanitarian crisis, the death and destruction that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has visited on the people of that country.

Since the start I have argued (for what it’s worth) that the Russians, the U.S. and NATO must be pushed to find a way to de-escalate, negotiate and find a quick way to end this war.

There are already enough dead and the longer the war drags on, the danger of a wider war increases.

So far, Biden, Putin and the Western military alliance have chosen the different path, one of military escalation.

It is a global economic disaster.

To start, Russia and Ukraine fed much of the developing world before the war.

Together they accounted for about 30% of global wheat exports, 20% for corn, mineral fertilizers and natural gas, and 11% for oil. Prices for these commodities increased sharply after the onset of the war.

If the war continues, there is high risk of a food crisis. Supply disruptions are rising, particularly threatening the global south, which is highly dependent on Russia and Ukraine for basic food staples. With public budgets stretched by two years of the pandemic, these countries are struggling to provide food and energy at affordable rates to their people and are at risk for wide-spread famine.

The sharp rise in prices is impacting inflation, which will force households worldwide, including here, to cut back on other items to pay for basic energy and food.

Before the war, when retired friends would get together for breakfast or lunch the conversation was the “organ recital”.

You know: What hurts. The latest surgery. The results from the last doctor’s exam.

Now talk is all about the cost of everything and the daily struggle to afford it.

The CPI is up 8% over a year ago. Our teacher pension remains at 3% over a year ago.

Is inflation Biden’s fault?

You bet it is as long as he is focused on feeding the war’s consumption of weapons and doing nothing to work to end it.

The war in Ukraine has reduced any hope for a quick end to rising inflation from COVID-19 related supply bottlenecks seen across the global economy during 2021 and early 2022.

High food and energy prices and the continued worsening of supply-chain problems mean that consumer inflation will continue and reach higher levels than previously thought.

Economic projections show the large and global impact the war is having on inflation, which has already reached 40-year highs in Germany, the United Kingdom and here at home.

This is the collateral damage of war.