1 September 2022

Note from Norm: Want more of the same or time for a change

In between the gnashing of teeth on issues that matter little to Americans who live outside the D.C. Beltway, or aren’t glued to cable television, talk radio or the internet, there are issues that matter deeply to most Americans.

Issues like the price of gasoline, the cost of a gallon of milk, the quality of their child’s public education, the safety of their neighborhood and a lot of other “basic” quality of life concerns that the “average” American family thinks about on a daily basis.

Those issues, unlike the ones that are put in front of us by those wanting us to focus our attention elsewhere, are the ones that define whether most Americans have a chance at gaining their piece of the American Dream.

While the nation’s media and political elite have been trying to get Americans to shift their attention and chase a shiny ball, the rate of inflation still remains at about 8.5% – a year ago it was about 5.4% — and two years ago it was not event at 1%.

Don’t believe me?  Then check out this link and read it for yourself:  US Inflation Rate (ycharts.com)

Cost of gasoline in 2020 at this time?  About $2.27 a gallon.  Today, it’s about $4.00 a gallon.

Don’t believe me?  Then check out this link and read it for yourself:  U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon) (eia.gov)

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “…is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Indexes are available for the U.S. and various geographic areas. Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available.”  increased by 8.5% over the past year.

Don’t believe me?  Then check out this link and read it for yourself: CPI Home : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)

The cost to the average taxpayer for Biden’s “student loan forgiveness” debacle is well over $2,000 – and cost all of us well over $500 billion.

Don’t believe me?  Then check out these links and read it for yourself:  The Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Plan: Budgetary Costs and Distributional Impact — Penn Wharton Budget Model (upenn.edu) and Cost of Student Debt Cancelation Could Average $2,000 Per Taxpayer – Foundation – National Taxpayers Union (ntu.org)

Jason Furman, former Chair of the Obama White House Council of Economic Advisors, tweeted the following after Biden’s announcement: “Pouring roughly half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless. Doing it while going well beyond one campaign promise ($10K of student loan relief) and breaking another (all proposals paid for) is even worse.”

As bad as all of Biden and his Democrat allies economic policies are, it isn’t just prices that have gone through the roof.

So has crime in America.  It’s not a “blip” and it’s not because of the global pandemic.  It’s a reflection of attitudes by policymakers towards law enforcement.  We’ve lost sight of the fact that the single most important job of government is to protect its people.

What we’ve gotten instead is a bunch of idiotic platitudes from progressive politicians.

Politicians who, despite seeing their violence in their communities, not only refuse to add more cops to the streets but blame cops – and not criminals – for the violence that is destroying their communities.

Don’t believe me?  Then check out this link and read it for yourself: Pandemic, Social Unrest, and Crime in U.S. Cities: Mid-Year 2022 Update – Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org)

Elections have consequences because the policies that elected officials enact have consequences on real people’s lives.  I know that focusing on the fact that President Biden and Democrat’s policies impacting the economy and public safety are an inconvenient truth for the nation’s one-party media.

But, it wasn’t Republicans who called for defunding the police – it was Democrats.

It wasn’t Republicans who continued to pass spending bill after spending bill despite warnings from Democrats that it would fuel inflation – it was Democrats.

Today, the nation’s one-party media is consumed with its latest obsession – trying to convince Americans that the mid-term elections are going to be closer than what polls suggest because the driving issue is going to be abortion and people’s fear about the future of Democracy.

Not since the press sold Americans on the idea that Thomas Dewey would be their next President has the media been so willing to ignore the forest for the trees when it comes to the truth of the matter.

Joe Biden and Democrats pass a massive spending bill that will do nothing to tame inflation and the one-party media calls for a Victory Lap!

Joe Biden announces he is forgiving the student loans of millions of Americans who don’t need the help and the one-party media is ready to call him the “Comeback Kid!”

Yet, for millions more Americans who are seeing their quality of life being undermined everyday by Joe Biden and the Democrat Economy there is nothing to be celebrating today.

Instead, they remain focused on trying to make ends meet as Joe Biden and Democrats continue to pass public policy that keeps pushing those ends further and further apart.

Americans will have a choice that is undeniably clear at the polls this November.

Vote for more of the same.

Or, vote for change.

Americans are ready for a change.

Don’t believe me?  Then check out the election results on Wednesday, November 9th.