The economy is listed as one of the top concerns for the 2024 presidential election. Of course, “economy” is too general a term; specifics are what are bothering people. Generally speaking, the economy is humming along nicely—thank you, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris! You’ve done wonderful work there considering we’ve been recovering from that economic disaster created by that “f&^%ing moron” and his mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. Yes, nicely…and just as good if not better than the one Donald Jackass Trump inherited from Barack Obama and then destroyed before handing it over to Joe Biden. It’s a miracle that it actually has recovered in four years.
Most Americans aren’t big investors, entrepreneurs, or have a lot of old family wealth. They work week-to-week or month-to-month in salaried jobs without the perks of CEOs and CFOs, getting by the best they can: Income and property taxes maybe aren’t onerous for them percentage-wise, depending on where they live (Trump the Chump exacerbated that situation, of course, as retribution against the blue states), but their absolute cost can be killers. It’s not that mortgage rates are so bad now—they’ve come down from that post-Covid high—but the actual bite they take out of our paychecks can still be a bitter pill to swallow.
By far, what people feel most are the cost of drugs and groceries, those day-to-day survival staples. People often need both to survive, so it really hurts when those costs rise. They’ve gone up instead of down in too many cases, making the economic situation seem worse than it actually is.
The problem? These two sectors is where we find the notorious price-gougers. I cringe when I see the price of the cereal I like and have to eat for health reasons (the box comes only half-full and costs $7—that’s seven bucks for a half-full box of cereal that might cover three breakfasts!). It used to be that I could hope to live on cereal as an elderly retiree. Now I guess I’m doomed to consume water and stale bread?! I might as well take the place of that “f&^%ing moron” in jail; prison chow is probably healthier than what a lot of elderly people eat, especially for an ex-president. Yes, cereal makers are price-gougers!
I can’t imagine how an average family of four can manage with all this price-gouging of groceries. Cereal protein, for example, once thought to be my security blanket as an elderly person, should be complemented with animal protein in a healthy diet for working adults and growing children. Forget your steaks, though. Have you noticed the prices of low-grade hamburger or cheap hot dogs lately? The groceries we all buy are still high because the companies that produce and sell them practice price-gouging. That leaves a big hole in anyone’s family budget, especially for those who are just getting by…like most elderly and many families with small kids.
While groceries are a main culprit, drugmakers are the worst price-gougers; they’ve been winning the price-gouging awards here in the US like forever. No one buys their argument that the high prices of drugs are due to their having to pay for all that expensive research that other countries—for example, those in Europe—don’t have to pay. As the Brits would say, “Bollocks!” The facts are that the US government pays for most drugs research, not the drug companies; and lots of research is done in government and university labs, not in the drug companies! Obamacare did not solve the problem of high drug prices because it didn’t rein in the drug companies as they continue to price-gouge! Now more than ever before!
Only one candidate has had the courage to attack the price-gouging bastards! That candidate is Kamal Harris, not Donald Jackass Trump, who’s always been in bed with big business. (You’ve seen his hands in motion at his rallies. One’s for the grocery manufacturers; the other’s for the drug companies.) It’s not about the economy, stupid! The problems of ordinary people are caused by greedy, sociopathic assholes like Trump who look down their noses at you and your family, give all of us the middle finger, and rob us blind by price-gouging.
Yes, the costs of housing, transportation, childcare, and so forth are onerous and hurt many family budgets. Harris will attack all of these, including price-gouging, if you just give her a chance. Trump never will because he and the rest of his MAGA fanatics, especially his rich donors, don’t give a rat’s ass about the struggles of ordinary Americans. They say they do, but they’re all lying. We saw that during his first term. This wannabe fuehrer’s second term will be much worse because he’ll think he has no constraints!
Don’t let him get away with scamming America! The lives of your family and friends depend on it!