President Joe Biden goes into next year’s election with a vexing challenge: Just as the U.S. economy is getting stronger, people are still feeling horrible about it.
Pollsters and economists say there has never been as wide a gap between the underlying health of the economy and public perception. The divergence could be a decisive factor in whether the Democrat secures a second term next year. Republicans are seizing on the dissatisfaction to skewer Biden, while the White House is finding less success as it tries to highlight economic progress.
“Things are getting better and people think things are going to get worse — and that’s the most dangerous piece of this," said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who has worked with Biden. Lake said voters no longer want to just see inflation rates fall — rather, they want an outright decline in prices, something that last happened on a large scale during the Great Depression.
“Honestly, I’m kind of mystified by it,” she said.
Wages have not kept up with inflation. Why is this so hard for the media to understand?
Wages have shot up like crazy over the past few years. But the FTC has not enforced antitrust regulations over the past 30 years which led to everything being owned by megacorps with no competition - so we’re getting the screws turned on us right now. The FTC is finally engaging in some antitrust measures, but it is too little, too late. It’s kind of hard to blame that on the current regime.
My wage has certainly gone up. I also can’t seem to go grocery shopping without spending $400 now. Literally everything is more expensive, bills included.
So if I look at my wage as 100%, rent and groceries and bills all take up a larger percentage of that then just five years ago.
Unless there are enforced laws around consumer pricing, every company on the planet is gonna raise prices when wages go up.
You literally use the term regime to describe yourself.
It really doesn’t help to have snooty liberal assholes telling those of us on fixed incomes that our financial situation is great because their 401k’s are appreciating and we’re just too stupid to realize how great the economy is.
The Hillary Clintonism runs strong. Bill at least pretended to give a fuck about people. The democratic pitch being “hey, at least we’re not doing a Gaza to you! Be happy with your scraps” needs a rework Stat.