In his recent WSJ piece (Biden’s Train-Wreck Economy, May 26, p.A15)Daniel Henninger, aka "Henny" whacks Biden six ways from Sunday by trying to make the specious case that the Repukes "will pocket November". But don't be so sure, sonny. And while your readers may well be ignorant of a lot of what's going on under their nose, many are beginning to wake up.
Henny writes, barely able to keep his keyboard level from premature excitement, I suspect:
"this grand progressive experiment—a final choice between the U.S. as a welfare state or a growth state—came within one Senate vote of reality. Sen. Joe Manchin blocked creation of the transfer-payment state, and the Democrats’ massive Covid outlays produced insurmountable political problems with inflation and labor-market distortions. "
Henny doesn't mention that this "grand progressive experiment" in fact provided households with "$4 trillion in excessive savings" that is now "keeping millions afloat as they swim in a sea of inflation". (WSJ, p. A2, May 28-29) Now, to my way of thinking, Americans can't blame Biden for inflation - and chicken wings costing 30 percent more - and then also blame him for not providing them the money to survive it. Well, some can but those would be dunderheads and conservos whose brains were hijacked by Trump, McConnell, McCarthy and the other GOP goons long ago.
We can then see his use of parlance like "the transfer payment state" is merely another way of sneaking in "welfare" to disparage those 22- odd million Americans who most needed the Covid-based cash infusions. Let's also grasp the "labor market distortions" incepted by the infusions are mostly in Henny's febrile mind. As I already noted in my Dec. 23 post, Covid infections drove many millions to take precautions to heart even after tyrannical red state govoernors took away increased unemployment benefits. As I wrote:
"You can take away all the unemployment benefits you want but it is doubtful it will drive people to work for $8.50/ hr. at the BK, or $10 an hour at Safeway. Or even $12 an hour harvesting onions or soybeans"
I also pointed out previously Trump's role in savaging the H-2B visas and the immigrant labor attached to that, i.e.
Again, Trump- Incepted Immigrant Labor Shortage Is Triggering Most of 'Kitchen Table' Inflation
And even noting a WSJ editorial (Feb. 8, p. A16, The U.S. Legal Immigration Shortage) that pointed out:
Few Americans are willing to relocate every few months for physically demanding seasonal jobs such as shucking oysters in the Gulf Coast or cleaning rooms at Rocky Mountain ski resorts, no matter how much employers pay.
So employers year after year rely on the H-2B program.
There is also an excellent, objective WSJ column by Dan Alman on the same date ('See No Labor', p. A17) that smashes the stupid trope that 6 million Americans just vanished from the labor force on account of generous unemployment or other "transfer payments." In his words:
They didn’t just vanish. Many found ways of working that expose a blind spot in government policy while transforming the economy. They signed up for flexible working apps such as DoorDash, Amazon Flex, Trusted Health and the one from my company, Instawork— apps that match hourly workers with local businesses on a shift-by-shift or task-by-task basis. Yet despite the apps’ popularity, the Labor Department rarely publishes statistics on flexible work"
So contrary to Henny's and other WSJ nabobs' (e.g. Holman Jenkins Jr.) takes, these "missing" workers weren't just loafing around on the largess of the "transfer state" , binge-watching reruns of 'Bonanza' or soaps on TV. They were actually out hoofing it in assorted gigs, time-flexible gigs. So they could also reclaim more time with their families.
But lets salute the WaPo's Jennifer Rubin for totally nailing Henny's and his collaborators' shtick when she wrote:
"It’s not the plague of “polarization” or “distrust,” some sort of floating miasma, that has darkened our society. Bluntly put, we are in deep trouble because a major party rationalizes both intense selfishness — the refusal to undertake even minor inconveniences such as mask-wearing or gun background checks for others’ protection — and deprivation of others’ rights (to vote, to make intimate decisions about reproduction, to be treated with respect)."
The GOP "pocket November"? Only if the mass of the voting populace are semi-conscious, drunk or drugged - or so complacent after the Trumpie Supremes overturn Roe - they 'phone it in' and stay home to watch A-Team reruns. As Eugene Robinson expressed the view of many of us in his previous column:
"We can reject Trumpism, both for its cultishness and for its proto-fascism. We can take a stand. It’s up to us what kind of country we want to live in. We had better speak our minds with our votes — while we still can."
Or to quote a recent commenter in the WaPo responding to a glib column by the WaPo resident Reeptard troll Henry Olsen on how big the Reeps will win in November:
If this citizenry doesn't get off it's collective butt and send the liars and cheats of the Republican party packing, we will deserve what we get!.
Truer words were never spoken, and we can only hope those millions of swing voters are paying attention. No matter how bad they believe the economy is, this November is not the time to swing Repuke Right!
See Also:
by Joan McCarter | June 6, 2022 - 6:09am | permalink
The nation is growing increasingly anxious about inflation, and that’s freaking Democrats out, because everyone knows it’s the party in power that gets blamed for a bad economy. Except this time, maybe there’s something Democrats can do about it: join the majority of Americans who are putting the blame on corporations.
And:
by Thom Hartmann | June 3, 2022 - 6:43am | permalink
And:
by Robert Reich | May 30, 2022 - 5:23am | permalink
by Robert Reich | June 1, 2022 - 7:03am | permalink
Excerpt:
Corporations are using inflation as an excuse to raise their prices, hurting workers and consumers while they enjoy record profits.
Prices are surging – but let’s be clear: corporations are not raising prices simply because of the increasing costs of supplies and labor. They could easily absorb these higher costs, but instead they are passing them on to consumers and even raising prices higher than those cost increases.
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