We Democrats want to make the political issue of our time the Insurrection. As a Democrat, it is the ultimate betrayal of our Democracy. It\u2019s easy to get fired up against those that manipulated the Nation into that crisis, just as easy as it was for those same manipulators to fire up their base to \u201cStop the Steal\u201d. That base thought they were acting to defend the country. It isn\u2019t the guy down the street with the \u201cF**K Biden\u201d flag that\u2019s the problem, it\u2019s the manipulators who continue to lie to him about our Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happened around January 6th, and what\u2019s happening still today, are incredibly important. But voters on either side of that issue are frozen in place. Democrats, like me, are enraged by the Insurrection and will vote solely on that issue. The guy with the flag down the street will too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s not what\u2019s deciding elections these days.\u00a0\u00a0Democrats can\u2019t be blinded by our rage at the betrayal of the Constitution.\u00a0\u00a0For the precarious middle of our national politics, the small percentage of voters that decides who wins Virginia and Ohio and Pennsylvania and the other \u201cswing\u201d states; the issues are what they always were.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s a blindness in that as well, but it\u2019s fact.\u00a0\u00a0As Democratic Operative James Carville said back in 1992 \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s the economy, stupid\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The economy is slapping people in the face today.\u00a0\u00a0They see it in the price of construction. The cost of lumber and other materials have skyrocketed.\u00a0\u00a0The cost of beef at the grocery store is up 40%.\u00a0\u00a0But the most striking increase is visible every time you drive down the street \u2013 the cost of gasoline.\u00a0\u00a0Gas today here in Pataskala is $3.35 a gallon.\u00a0\u00a0So a fill up for my Jeep is now $50.\u00a0\u00a0And the pickup truck is almost $75.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$75 for a tank of gas.\u00a0\u00a0One of my early political jobs paid $75 a week (but it only\u00a0\u00a0cost about $4 to fill-up of my 1967 Volkswagen).\u00a0\u00a0Rising prices eat away at all of the \u201cadvances\u201d people make in their jobs.\u00a0\u00a0They are proud of getting a raise, but the end result is that raise is gobbled up (no Thanksgiving pun intended) and their standard of living doesn\u2019t change.\u00a0\u00a0And for those living on a fixed income \u2013 like old teachers who are retired \u2013 costs go up, but the pension check remains the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happened \u2013 why are we literally \u201call of a sudden\u201d looking at 6% annual inflation?\u00a0\u00a0It takes a look at the past nineteen months, America in pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0We all remember the beginning, St. Patrick\u2019s Day of 2020.\u00a0\u00a0All of a sudden schools moved to online classes, hospitals braced for skyrocketing Covid cases, and places of employment shut down.\u00a0\u00a0Service industry jobs in restaurants and gyms disappeared.\u00a0\u00a0Other jobs became work from home, a good thing, as many children were at home in \u201conline school\u201d, and many daycare centers were closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We still needed police and fire, grocery stores and delivery drivers and healthcare workers. But the shutdown was eerie. There were those amazing pictures of New York City so closed down, that coyotes were wandering the streets. Here in Pataskala, Broad Street grew oddly silent, even at rush hour. But we still needed those folks to work in the meat packing industry, and the canning factories, and the bakeries, and all of the other \u201cessential\u201d areas. They took the risks the rest of us avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The economy was dramatically slowed down.\u00a0\u00a0Unemployment approached 20%.\u00a0\u00a0Gas prices hit a modern era low (of course, no one was driving much).\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the oldest rule in economics \u2013 supply and demand.\u00a0\u00a0The supply of gas was high, demand for it was down, so the price went down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that happened for a lot of other products. We couldn\u2019t go out, who needs nice clothes? We didn\u2019t fly much \u2013 airlines were near giving tickets away. For those earning money, there wasn\u2019t a lot to do with it. So we stashed it, in bank accounts, and we added the Covid incentive payments, Covid pay increases, and even Covid unemployment benefits to that money \u201cunder the board\u201d. (Remember Monopoly? It was always good to stash some early money under the board. That way if you had a bad run, you had some extra. And if things were going well \u2013 your opponents didn\u2019t know how well you were really doing). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There were supply issues then too. We lined up for toilet paper and paper towels early in the morning. Some products, like cleaning sprays, were hard to find. That made sense. But other, odd things came up missing \u2013 like low calorie bread. Beef costs went up too, as the workers at the processing plants came down with Covid. Farmers had products, but couldn\u2019t get them processed to go to market. The \u201csupply chain\u201d was broken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It lasted through the spring, then eased some in the summer as we began to adjust to the pandemic. But our economy was still restricted, unless you were selling campers. Then it was a booming market \u2013 a vacation, outside, with a contained environment was one of the few ways out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t until the vaccine arrived and larger percentages of the nation reopened that the economy started moving again.\u00a0\u00a0While it seems like an eternity, that was really only six months ago.\u00a0\u00a0People had money, they were ready to spend, and there were more jobs available than people who wanted them.\u00a0\u00a0Again, basic economics:\u00a0\u00a0demand for products went up, supply of products hadn’t even caught up to the pandemic level, so prices went up.\u00a0\u00a0We have inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a standard macro-economic definition: if the supply of money increases without a corresponding increase in the supply of goods, the cost of goods will increase. Increased supply of money is often a product of government spending more money than it brings in, deficit spending. But our current inflation isn\u2019t about government spending. It\u2019s being created by the imbalances of a pandemic world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats are in control of Federal Government, no matter how tenuous that control may be. Being \u201cin charge\u201d means taking credit for the good, and blame for the bad. Getting our current prices increases under control is not only in the interest of Democratic success, it\u2019s in the interest of the country. Democrats must do something to take the credit, or prepare to bear the blame at the polls in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Basics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n