The latest Consumer Price Index report came out last week, delivering more bad news for Americans who were hoping to see prices drop and inflation slow. The news was not good: inflation increased, and prices are still up. You might recall we also hit another milestone last month: one year since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act.
Progressives have tried to spin this latest report and quite literally tell the plebes it’s really not as bad as they think: headlines like “Why the Inflation Rate Really Isn’t As Bad As You Think,” or “Why inflation can actually be good for everyday Americans and bad for rich people” have been in abundance this week. Gas prices are rising, but don’t worry, says the New York Times–the real problem isn’t that they’re rising, it’s that “Rising Gas Prices Provide Fodder for Republican Criticism of Biden.”
I hate to break it to the New York Times, but the problem is not that Republicans are using rising gas prices to criticize President Biden, it’s that gas prices are rising and average Americans are understandably upset about that.
Americans know the truth about the economy, despite the spinning from Democratic circles, because they live in the real world where they are experiencing higher grocery bills, paying more for gas, and eating out less. Even fast food prices seem outlandishly high these days.
Democrats have always seen themselves as the rightful engineers of the economy. They keep trying their hand at it, even though these attempts at some version of central planning often go awry or have the exact opposite intended effect. Most often, the answers lie in the simplest of answers: get the government out of the way and let people flourish.
Bidenomics isn’t working and voters know it. Americans are much smarter than progressives give them credit for–a recent poll found that “Seventy-six percent of independents and even 34% of Democrats said the economy is getting worse. Eighty-four percent of Americans say their cost of living is rising, and food and groceries is the top concern.”
The 2024 elections are a long time off, and much will change before November of 2024. But voters would do well to remember that the summer of Bidenomics was a bad one, and that they were ridiculed for their very understandable frustration.
