Americans fondly remember the then booming economy. It seems a long time since President Donald Trump was back on the campaign trail in states like Michigan.
Under President Biden, the people of Michigan – my home state – will be left behind. With prices rising across the board, Michigan drivers are still paying an average of about $4 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. Heating oil is even more expensive. From groceries to household goods, the COVID-19 economy is destroying everyday purchasing power in states like Michigan, where inflation easily tops 5 percent.
You know what doesn’t help? The fact that Michigan’s gas tax is 27 cents per gallon (excise tax) in addition to a 6 percent sales tax. Throw in the 18-cent federal tax on gasoline, and prices get inflated even more for all the wrong reasons.
It also doesn’t help that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer continues to veto any form of tax breaks — from an income tax cut to a gas tax suspension. In an election year, Whitmer seems more interested in currying favor with her base than serving the vast majority of Michiganns desperate to return to pre-pandemic levels of spending power.
Unfortunately, Democrats like Whitmer are only following in the footsteps of America’s slippery president, their clumsy party leader. In recent months, Biden’s handling of the US economy has become so utterly clumsy that the polls are incomprehensibly biased – they are unprecedented. And they are not on the side of the Democratic Party.
Since April, nearly two-thirds of Americans have disapproved of Biden’s economic performance. This includes many Democrats, many of whom have abandoned Bidennomics and are now seeing the light of day. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are concerned about gas prices, but there’s little hope that prices will return to normal under Biden’s watch.
A whopping 94 percent of Americans say the cost of food, gas and housing has increased in the past year. Inflation is by far the biggest concern for most Americans, not the war in Ukraine. Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe that reducing inflation should be Biden’s priority, not foreign policy.
So far, however, the government appears unwilling or unable to prioritize the economy at all. Biden officials routinely downplay the inflationary crisis, calling it “temporary” despite many months of evidence to the contrary. Of course, they’re not the only culprits: the mainstream media similarly downplays the inflation problem and devotes disproportionate amounts of time to Ukraine and COVID-19, although they worry most Americans less. As polling expert Nate Silver recently pointed out, news outlets ignore “cost of living” stories more often than they should, presumably to cover the incumbent Democrat.
When even California liberals complain about sky-high gas prices, you know the Democrats are in trouble. (Once again, defying logic, California Democrats have actually proposed a new gas utility tax that will inevitably be passed on to consumers.)
If you read the tea leaves, 2022 and 2024 do not bode well for Biden, Whitmer and other Democrats. Pocketbook spending will always matter most to American voters, and it has never been more important than it is now as we emerge from a pandemic and deal with its long-term economic impact.
Inflation. fuel prices. Steer. The cost of living affects us all, and Democrats are being penalized for not cutting that cost across the country. They have failed for years, and public opinion tells us only one thing: Americans are fed up.
The forthcoming electoral reaction will be purely economic. get ready for it But until then, we brace ourselves for even higher prices and more pump pain.
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