By Татьяна Креминская @Adobe Stock
Who’s Laughing Now?
1. A wolf makes a campaign promise to a flock of sheep: “After I’m elected, I’ll become a vegetarian.”
2. The sheep believe him.
3. End of story.
Kamala Harris has never been competent or popular, as Roger Kimball in American Greatness states the obvious:
What the media has done to or with her these last couple of weeks is more of an outright fabrication project. In part, as I wrote last week, it is a product of “magical thinking,” the belief, of at least the hope or pretense, that by saying something is so, you magically make it so.
Inflation Hits Hard
For example, if inflation is slowing, why doesn’t it feel like it is? There are gut-wrenching increases on things most of us can’t do without, concedes the WSJ.
Rent and electricity bills are up 10% or more over the past two years, and car-insurance costs are up nearly 40%, according to the Labor Department’s index. Shoppers might be able to trade down from prime steak to cheaper cuts of meat at the supermarket, but they can’t really do the same thing with the water bill.
Rising prices have been front and center in the U.S. over the past three years, affecting how Americans feel about the economy and how they are planning to vote.
A softening jobs market will only amplify their concerns.
US Housing, the Biggest Expense
Overall consumer prices have increased 6% since June 2022, when inflation hit its recent high. Services—which include such things as dental cleanings, haircuts and eldercare—have risen nearly twice as fast. That is partly because dentists, salons and nursing homes have had to increase wages for their own workers, who are also dealing with rising prices.
Despite robust career paths and two working spouses, many households are facing less financial feasibility.
According to the Labor Department, essential services such as water, sewer and trash collection have jumped nearly 11% in price over the past two years, and electricity has climbed 10%.
