Gas and oil prices have been dropping significantly, and when next months inflation numbers show a

[JohnSJ]

significantly better inflation report, which I suspect, I have to wonder how much the press will give attention to it as they are giving attention to the rising inflation numbers?

Also, with Biden negotiating removing the Tarriffs, all that will add to what I think will be lower inflation numbers next month.

[onecaliberal]

1. Crickets. They've got cheerleading for the ketchup kkklub to do.

[JohnSJ]

2. I think so too

[liberal N proud]

3. The press likes negativity

They will play the inflation card until they can play the recession card

[onecaliberal]

4. Latest reports did NOT support the assertion that we are headed for a recession.

[JohnSJ]

9. Not yet, but there are definite background rumblings going on

[onecaliberal]

17. I pay attention to the numbers. They don't spin or lie and they don't have an agenda.

[JohnSJ]

18. ture

[Baggies]

5. Define "significantly"

It’s 9.1%. What number is “significantly better”?

[BootinUp]

10. Yesterday Biden pointed out

In a tweet that energy inflation was nearly half of the inflation. So it will make a large difference.

[JohnSJ]

12. I think about 1%. Energy prices have contributed the most to inflation, and with negotiations on

removing trump's trade war tarriffs, that will contribute also.

The cost of energy, has been the biggest culprit because it raises the cost of everything.

The shortages due to the mishandling of the pandemic, and the stupid trump trade wars, are also going to improve the situation.

[Baggies]

31. So 8.1%

You do know that’s not how people think. They don’t go “Inflation was 9.1% and now it’s 8.1%. Thank goodness!” They go “It was 9.1% and it’s still going up a whole lot!”

I saw where gas has dropped $.40 a gallon. So for a 15 gallon fill up where I live that did cost me $70, it’s now $63. $7 less. That’s all. Not long ago it was less than $35. People remember these things when they go to balance their checkbook and are still having to squeeze through their budget.

This is going to be tough, if not impossible, to overcome by November. There’s individuals who need to brace for this and all the repercussions.

[JohnSJ]

33. There is more than just inflation. The doubling down of the degnerate republican position on NOT

allowing abortions for rapes, incest, or the life of the mother, we will see how that effects the midterms.

I anticipate that not only will Democrats come out in large numbers, and the majority of women will do the same

Not so much for the House, because of the redistricting, but the Senate I believe will stay under majority control by the Democrats.

Of course a lot will depend on how agressive the Democrats take the gloves off.

Unemployment has significantly improved from the trump mishandling of the pandemic, his trade wars, which accelerated the shortages, along with his giving the green light to putin to invade Ukaraine which pushed the energy prices to the record levels.

Of course I will never underestimate the stupidity of the American public, who in 2016 had no problem voting for a racist, bigot and sexist.

[Sympthsical]

6. Inflation is the worst in 41 years

And the response to it is resentment it is being discussed? Because maybe - just maybe! - the purchasing power of the working classes is kind of important. That people who are living paycheck to paycheck are seeing their real income shrink in the middle of all this.

This is just getting plain weird now, these complaints. It's like we've set up a bunch of snipers at the front gates. "Guys, brace yourselves. Messengers telling us about an incoming army are coming right at us! Take them down!" Meanwhile said army is scaling the walls in back, and it's barely worth noting. In fact, you're somehow the asshole for pointing it out.

I think inflation is likely to come down a bit as fuel prices decrease. But "less catastrophic for working people" is not, "Totally fine, everyone. We did it!"

It's like watching someone walk past a homeless family digging in the dumpster for leftovers. They halt for a moment, regard the family, take note of their circumstances. They decide, yes, they will say something. And what comes out is, "Did you see what they said on CNN last night? Can you believe it?!"

These priorities are out of touch and insular.

[MichMan]

11. People act like if the media didn't mention inflation, no one would notice

People see it every single day with their own eyes.

[gratuitous]

20. Yes, people see it at the checkout line, at the pump, everywhere

And the media are right there, talking to people they don't talk to at any other time, to hear about how a $75 fill up hurts their household finances. The media are never able to find these people at any other time. And curiously, they don't seem to have time to report on the sky-high quarterly profits being posted by Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron.

So next month, when prices have dropped because gas prices are down, people will see that with their own eyes, too. But they won't be getting up close and personal coverage about how their household finances are recovering. Without major media reporting on it, people will forget their present prosperous circumstances and a new crisis will be manufactured to frighten the public as Election Day gets closer.

[Sympthsical]

22. "finances are recovering"

And here's the disconnect, no offense.

If I'm budgeted to pay $3 for a dozen eggs and eggs go up to $5. That's pretty bad. However, if inflation ticks down a bit and now eggs are $4.75 - my finances are not "recovering".

That's slightly less screwed.

If it were framed the way you want, you'd have a reporter out there asking, "How does it feel to be slightly less fucked this month?" "Feels great, Jane! I was getting hit with a baseball bat, but fortunately they've switched to golf clubs."

People are spending more time worrying about how to shape narratives and less time worrying about the person getting clubbed to begin with.

Voters see this stuff, and their reaction to it is rarely great.

[gratuitous]

25. Also not mentioned: Wages are going up, as well

So yeah, last week's $5 carton of eggs is $4.75 this week. When the carton is going for $3 again by the end of August, nobody's going to be asked about that. Just like right now, more workers are getting paid more by employers desperate to fill positions in a tight labor market. Do the media ask anyone how they're doing on $15 an hour instead of the $9.75 an hour they were paid 12 months ago?

[MichMan]

32. Do you think every employee got a 50% raise ?

Some did, many received only a small fraction of that, or little at all. Wages at the bottom end of the wage scale have gone up, but that doesn't mean everyone got a proportionate amount.

[Sympthsical]

35. I don't think you understand how this works.

And I say this with all due respect. Inflation slowing doesn't mean prices will go back down to $3. It means prices won't increase as quickly as they have been. Companies may reduce prices a very minor amount as inflation eases if purchases drop off, but those $3 eggs are gone forever.

This damage being done? It lasts. The bag of frozen chicken breasts I buy. I had been paying $22. Now it's $28. It is never going to be $22 again. Ever. Unless it starts raining chickens.

When was the last time a friend called you up, "So hey, my landlord just called. He's reducing my rent by $300! Yeah, he said inflation is ok now."

When discussing wages, you have to look at real income. Real income is wages vs. inflation. Here are the real income wages per hour, and I got these figures from bls.gov.

June 2021: $11.26
April 2022: $11.04
May 2022: $10.97
June 2022: $10.86

Wages may be going up, but purchasing power has been falling steadily. Inflation is eating all the increases alive. People's purchasing power dropped an entire percent in one month.

So this talk about "recovering" isn't grounded in reality or how all this works. It's why I keep pounding that I think people insulated from this are increasingly out of touch. If we are serious about winning in November, we gotta get in touch real quick. So OPs complaining that they don't like media coverage of these issues are just totally bizarre to me.

It screams, "I have no idea what people are dealing with, and I don't care to."

[JohnSJ]

14. The biggest problem with inflation with those who live pay check to pay check, is their income

cannot keep up with the inflation. A large part of that inflation is due to the high price of energy, because that affects most every industry. Fuel prices have dropped about .50 to .70 throughout the country, and that drop has not been factored into the last CPI numbers

[Sympthsical]

24. Yes, I saw that press conference, too

That doesn't make the current lived reality different. People are still struggling. Even if inflation went down to 8.5% next month, it's still . . . 8.5%. It's still not great. People are still being bled. It's progress. Hooray. And people who couldn't afford things still can't keep up.

I think it's very strange to value narratives over people. Very, very strange. I think this is one of those, "Too much time on the internet," things. If you're working at a factory for 8-12 hours a day, you've neither the time nor the energy to be mad that a cable show no one watches is talking shit.

This obsession with the narrative over people hurting is a creature of the laptop classes, the media, the retired, and the unemployed.

In other words, mostly the comfortable. And hooray for us! I'm comfortable, too. I'm currently waiting for my boss to call me back while entirely procrastinating on my homework while I sit here in my gym clothes sipping coffee and listening to music.

Frankly, it is a miracle I am not on Twitter. I'm like the prime candidate for it.

People like me need to get a grip and stop telling people who are struggling what's important, that they don't feel what they feel, that they don't experience what they experience, or that they don't struggle how they struggle. "Guys, wrong narrative. We need to be talking about this hashtag now. Sigh. It's like you never listen!"

That's selfish and out of touch. Which is a phrase I find myself saying more and more as we get closer to this election. I desperately want people to wake up and see the danger. And they just don't. Because the computer screen and cable news have become the world to them.

[Baggies]

34. TY!

In your 3 posts here, you’ve made more correct observations about what’s going on, and how dismissing it is a mistake, than many members are even willing to discuss. Like you said, the overwhelming majority here refuse to even acknowledge what’s clearly taking place. It’s like swimming through smoke.

Personally, I don’t see how it helps advance the Party by pretending things that most voters don’t care about will sway an election, whereas inflation, being the #1 grand, bigger-than-life issue, will. People take it out on those in power. The buck stops here.

[themaguffin]

7. And the impact of interest rates too. The media is terrible and lazy

Every day, the same stories. The same, fucking stories.

[JohnSJ]

15. Yes, the rising interest rates should slow down inflation

[BootinUp]

8. They'll be on to the next fake outrage

More than likely. It’s going to be up to the dems to stay on message. Maybe Pete B can make the rounds, he’s good. Like how the ladies in the recent hearings pushed back on Hawley. We need to get our points in every time.

[GoCubsGo]

23. They're already onto the next outrage.

That being a "possible" recession coming your way soon. Not a definite one, mind you, but with the media's hair-on-fire screeching and fear-mongering over it their speculation, it's as if they're trying to drive us into one. And, they're still failing to mention that the entire world is suffering from inflation, and that the rest of them are doing far worse than the US. Yeah, the Dems need to get more folks out there, like Secretary Pete. But, the media also has to give them the air time, and that's half the problem.

[Peacetrain]

13. JohnSJ.. they will be hiding under some rock

looking for the next outrage..

[JohnSJ]

16. LOL. That elusive rock is right.

[former9thward]

19. The Commerce Secretary says lifting tariffs will not reduce inflation much.

Labor unions and some top officials, including Trade Representative Katherine Tai, support keeping the tariffs, which they believe give the US leverage in negotiations with China. Others, such as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have argued for reducing tariffs on Chinese goods to help curb the fastest pace of inflation in 40 years and reduce consumer prices on everyday items.

“We should be clear about what lifting tariffs would and wouldn’t do, right?” Raimondo told NBC. “Like, lifting tariffs isn’t going to bring down top-line inflation in a very significant way.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-10/biden-decision-on-china-tariffs-may-come-shortly-raimondo-says

[JohnSJ]

21. we will see. Tarriffs have never been a good thing, and contributed to the deep 1929 depression

Right now it is bringing down energy prices that will bring down inflation quickly

[GoCubsGo]

28. Yeah, and they still need to go away, regardless.

Most, if not all of Trump's tariffs were instituted because of his stupidity when it comes to how the economy actually works. Some of them were put in place because of petty grievances. A lot of them were attempts to punish other countries, like China, while ignoring the fact that consumers are the ones who wind up paying the tariffs, not the objects of his tantrums. Whether or not it helps inflation, they should have been gone on the afternoon of 1/20/21.

[former9thward]

36. Tariffs had almost nothing to do with the Depression.

International trade was about 1% of the economy in those days. Tariffs are hated by college free market economists and Wall Street types so they attack tariffs "without showing their work".

Tariffs are needed to protect American jobs which is why Biden has left in place the existing tariffs a year and half in. He has tinkered with some but most are still there.

I don't know what is going to happen with inflation but we have been hearing "its temporary" for a long time now.

[JohnSJ]

41. Read the history of the Great Depression. Just as we were coming out of the depression, they had

the brillant idea to institute the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which drove us into deeper into the depression, drove the world deeper in depression, along with other nations retaliating by imposing their own tariffs.

Well respected economists, and I don't mean the racist xenophobic pig Peter Navaro, mostly have the consensus that it was the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act worsened the effects of the Great Depression, reducing both imports and exports by huge numbers.

In fact, when Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, more than a thousand economist urged Hoover to veto that bill, which he didn't do.

Not only did it deepen the Great Depression, but increased isolationism among the countries, contributed to the rise of political extremis, and helped enable people like hitler to seize power.

The trump presidency is a perfect comparison for repeating history

[BannonsLiver]

26. People suffering have a right to be upset.

I feel for them. Who I don’t feel for: People who whine about gas prices and then go sit in a Whataburger drive thru for 30-40 minutes idling in an SUV. And anyone who has ever been to a whataburger knows 30 minutes is the NORM.

[Mr.Bill]

27. They will spend ten seconds

telling us the gas prices are down, then spend the next several minutes of the segment talking about how high the prices were and how rough that was for everybody.

[Marthe48]

29. I got heavy ribs this week for 1.18 lb

I thought that was a good price, and will get 2 meals from the pack I bought

Pres. Biden is doing a great job, especially when r's are dead set against any moves forward.

GOTV Nov 8, 2022.

[louis-t]

30. They've already started on Biden's "controversial" Saudi trip.

I've only seen one story that didn't have the word in front on the headline.

[former9thward]

37. You don't think its "controversial"?

When a nation is labeled a "pariah nation" and their leaders decline to take your phone calls, there is certainly some controversy when a trip is made.

[louis-t]

38. Gee, they took tfg calls when he asked them to cut oil production

to stabilize prices.

[former9thward]

39. So why isn't the trip controversial?

[louis-t]

40. It's a trip to try to undo tfg fuck ups.

What makes it controversial? You have a Arab leader who in some ways is modernizing and relaxing archaic rules on women. In other ways he is keeping the harsh punishment for law breakers or anyone he doesn't like (journalists). The trip isn't controversial, the Arab leader is.