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Mood Swings
US consumer moods improved marginally early this month, apparently in response to Joe Biden's decision not to seek reelection.
The main University of Michigan gauge printed 67.8, not "good" by any stretch, but better, at least, than July's abysmal headline.
As the simple figure below shows, it was the first increase since March.
There's a very long way to go before Americans can be described as upbeat.
The marquee gauge of consumer sentiment remains at levels consistent with an economy tha
“Inflation is the cruelest tax” as they say.
I didn’t live through the 70s (which was worse) but the past few years have shown how soul sucking it is seeing your standard of living erode. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have enough means to withstand most of it but absolutely brutal for those living paycheck to paycheck.
Yeah, I mean just imagine having 9-handle inflation to work with as a line of political attack and instead choosing to question the authenticity of your opponent’s ethnicity. It’s ludicrous. If I were Trump, every other word out of my mouth would be “inflation.” He was doing a good job of that right up until Biden dropped out, and then he started to lose the plot. I could understand flailing if, for example, Michelle Obama had jumped in or some other deus ex machina had upended the race. But Harris is just the VP. Why is it so destabilizing for Trump? They (his campaign) should’ve been preparing for Harris since Day One. There’s no excuse for the flailing, and the perception of that flailing is amplifying the excitement around Harris. It’s self-fulfilling, and if Trump doesn’t turn it around and/or win the debate, it’s gonna be a very tough fight to get over the top in November.
Yeah, Trump would do well to stick to inflation and border as the only things he talks about, but we all know he is incapable of discipline and avoiding personal attacks.
We’re starting to see some own goals from Kamala as well with the rollout of her economic plan. Going after grocers for price gouging is going to ring hollow. She’d be better off focusing on abortion, Trump torpedoing the bipartisan border deal, and JD Vance being a heartbeat away from the presidency while offering family-focused economic proposals like tax credits and free lunches for kids, paid parental leave, and maybe throw in some middle class tax cuts. On top of that, just try to keep baiting Trump into saying stupid stuff which shouldn’t be hard to do.
When the conversation inevitably turns to inflation, talk about Trump wanting to increase prices by taxing (via tariffs) all the goods families need to buy and figure out a way to speak about Trump wanting to eliminate Fed independence in a way that voters can understand and why that could lead to economic catastrophe.
Yep.
And I am not even opposed to taking a look at ‘profiteering’ inasmuch as I think that you could have “asked” oil companies or grocers to “take one for the team” in 2021 and not increase prices faster than costs, just because they could.
OTOH – it’s a n issue that would require some nuanced discussions around implementation, even if you decided it was worth doing, and the campaign trail is the worst place possible for a nuanced discussion…