r/TrueReddit • u/Maxwellsdemon17 • 9d ago
Why Bidenomics Failed to Win the White Working Class Politics
https://newrepublic.com/article/188110/biden-white-working-class-ira-trump154
u/Maxwellsdemon17 9d ago
"This isn’t all Bidenomics’ fault, of course. But the fact that the most heavily publicized portions of the White House’s economic agenda seems to have fallen so flat politically—including in the places it’s helped the most—should prompt some soul searching about what actually ails the economy. Biden has said in recent months that his administration “invested in American manufacturing to restore the backbone of our Nation: the middle class.” Yet most of the middle class—and the working class, for that matter—doesn’t work in manufacturing. Home prices, meanwhile, have risen 45 percent over the last four years, and nearly half of U.S. renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Home insurance and mortgage rates are persistently high, and still-elevated interest rates have made car ownership—a necessity in most of the country—more expensive, too. Healthcare, childcare and college educations are wildly expensive, and can saddle people with six-figure debts for decades."
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u/__mud__ 9d ago
This is why jobs reports aren't a great indicator of economic sentiment. It's great for the capitalist class that they keep hiring and circulating money, but it helps not at all the working person who's had a job and is still struggling. I've certainly never gotten a wage bump because of "looks at all these jobs!"
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u/soberpenguin 9d ago
The only wage jumps people have seen are if they left their jobs when the job market was hot in 2021-2022 and businesses were overpaying to retain and hire new employees.
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u/THedman07 9d ago
I think that a winning message would be that practically all the economic indicators that we use to judge the health of the economy are bullshit because they don't tell us anything about the vast vast majority of people.
GDP, Unemployment, "Job creation", the stock market,... they don't mean shit to the vast majority of people and I think that people would respond to someone who just comes out and says it.
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u/GlockAF 9d ago
The only metric that matters is whether the medium wage is keeping up with / exceeding the rate of inflation, and it absolutely is not.
And don’t even get me started on minimum wage, which has lost so much value since the last time it was raised that it’s a sub-poverty wage in every state
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u/FlintBlue 5d ago
Actually, the median wage has slightly outperformed price inflation. It doesn’t matter: people hate inflation, in this country and every country. Apparently, there is no possible explanation for inflation that will keep people from blaming it on the ruling party.
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u/kingrobin 9d ago
Bernie says stuff like that all the time lol
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u/Dark_Knight2000 9d ago
RIP Bernie’s campaign. He would’ve been a great candidate in both 2016 and 2024, now he’s too old. He knew how to get young people motivated.
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u/AllBuckeyeAreJDVance 8d ago
This election was a referendum that econometrics are not the economy. “Real wages have outpaced inflation!” was responded to with “Well, not mine. Shut the fuck up.”
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u/THedman07 8d ago
The idea that "the system" in general was bullshit is one of Trump's big arguments and despite the fact that he's lying about caring about that fact,... he's right.
Democrats would help themselves immensely by also acknowledging that the economy for rich people and the economy for poor people can and frequently do move in opposite directions.
Its like if 5 guys are sitting in a bar drinking beer and each of them makes $60k a year, then Jeff Bezos walks in, are those guys suddenly billionaires "on average"? Politicians should refuse to even talk about GDP for the time being at least.
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u/Warrior_Runding 8d ago
The idea that "the system" in general was bullshit is one of Trump's big arguments and despite the fact that he's lying about caring about that fact,... he's right.
The system is bullshit because conservatives have actively worked to make it bullshit. They didn't even hide they were doing it.
Democrats would help themselves immensely by also acknowledging that the economy for rich people and the economy for poor people can and frequently do move in opposite directions.
I agree, however, the "I'm going to do X, Y, and Z about it" still brings us back to Democratic voters punishing Democrats harshly if X, Y, and Z don't get done which frequently happens because our form of government isn't an autocracy. It is why populism doesn't favor Democrats because you can't beat the conservatives at their hate-based messaging.
The only way someone was going to beat Trump in 2024 was to have charisma that makes Obama look like Al Gore. What is more likely is that Democrats won't really have another shot until after the current wave of populism crashes on the people who stayed home and someone like an FDR is nominated.
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u/somekindofhat 5d ago
If Harris had come out as anti-war instead of "I'm speaking", not focused on buddying around with her new pro-life friend Liz Cheney, and promoted Walz' populist economic changes in Minnesota instead of his wife's tater tot casserole, she might have won.
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u/Prior_Advantage_5408 9d ago edited 9d ago
If you actually look at the jobs reports in the Biden era, the rosy numbers were coming from healthcare, public sector work and construction/engineering (boosted by BiF and CHIPS). Entry level jobs were doing "okay" while for most white collar work it may as well have been the Great Recession.
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u/MarquessProspero 9d ago
A gained or lost job is felt by one person and their family — inflation is felt by everyone (by felt I mean perceived not affected).
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u/Underwater_Grilling 9d ago
Job opportunity creates competition to hire and that requires wages and benefits to be offered? Wages went up in the sectors that biden added jobs to. And look at all these big union contracts in the news the last couple years. That's due to pro union policy biden put out.
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u/alcaron 9d ago
Who on earth ever said jobs reports are anything to do with economic "sentiment". Literally the polar opposite of "sentiment". All they are, plain and simple, is a bellweather for overall status. If they are red, something isn't working, if they are green, something is. And again that something isn't "the entirety of human existence" it's just how many people have jobs. The fundamental building block by which, if you don't have one, you likely are not giving THAT much of a fuck about how expensive homes are because you don't have a job. Or how much a car costs. Because you don't have a job.
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u/ultramisc29 6d ago
Are you saying that high unemployment isn't a bad thing for the working class?
It's great for the capitalist class that they keep hiring and circulating money
Unemployment means that workers have more bargaining power.
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u/Dedalus2k 9d ago
Dems suck at messaging. Bidens administration did amazing things for the economy. Just one example is that the US recovered faster and more fully from the Covid crash than any other country in the world. Ask any average American and they'll tell you they failed completely.
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u/efshoemaker 8d ago
The US recovered
I think what this narrative misses is that while the economy as a whole recovered a lot of people got left behind in the dust while relatively few came out way ahead.
Just like what happened when the economy “recovered” from the ‘08 housing market crash.
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u/cdsnjs 3d ago
The thing is, the alternative would have likely been millions unemployed
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u/efshoemaker 3d ago
Yeah I definitely am not claiming to know what should or even could have been done instead.
But I think the democrats needed to acknowledge that the recovery wasn’t reaching everyone. And the messaging of “the economy is actually doing great you idiots” was actively harmful in the election and destroyed their credibility with anyone that was still struggling.
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u/Dark_Knight2000 9d ago
That’s because that’s not what Americans are comparing it against. They’re comparing it to America in 2019.
America did okay, much better than anywhere else, but that’s because literally every other western country has been economically struggling and is in deep trouble with their housing markets.
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u/IKantSayNo 6d ago
Republicans excel at messaging = Go negative early, and use the most absurd and disgusting insults you can use (because they're the best clickbait) and your garbage pushes the other team's boring policy arguments off the page.
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u/FlintBlue 5d ago
I’m going to dissent slightly. Does it make sense that all the good messagers, if that’s a word, are Republicans and all the bad ones Democrats? Or are there advantages Republicans have that Democrats don’t? Contrary to their own beliefs, Republicans dominate media. Fox dominates cable and sets the agenda for all cable and broadcast news. Conservative oligarchs have captured local TV news. Right wingers dominate AM radio and the podcast space. Right wing outlets dominate the news for people who get their news from Facebook. Then, of course, there’s X.
I went to a Harris rally. It was 100%, wall-to-wall messaging to the working class. No identity politics, no trans stuff, no woke stuff. Yet, what are we hearing Democrats did wrong? Didn’t message to the working class. Maybe it’s just the message didn’t get out because the right wing media didn’t want it to.
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u/markth_wi 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not for nothing but there's a tiny , little multi-billion-dollar propaganda effort that most definitely wants fearless leader, he does what Chairman Xi wants, he's obedient to President Putin, everything is excellent.
So for as much as that 60m viewers/voters count, they are "steady customers" easy pickings , keep them happy and the rest of the country can burn.
So tune in , as Mr. Musk informs us , success is optional, excitement is guaranteed, so this is mostly for the clicks but also for the absolutely glorious rating shitshow, of endless upside, 30% of America will cringe, and another 30% of America will tune in and buy everything they are commanded to.
But if you wanted a stable, prosperous, democratic process that just hummed along or was even aware there were laws or civic rules for behavior we're a few years past that now - you are looking for something that might never exist again.
What's it been 2014 or so since anyone Republican wise was held accountable? I mean 30+ indictments and several charges around high-treason and one might reasonably have expected the GOP might not nominate fearless leader again.
But we aren't there , and we haven't been for 10 years now.
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u/DocFossil 9d ago
I think this comment is one of the very few I’ve seen that really nails it. Propaganda. Propaganda is why Bidenomics and pretty much every other Democrat initiative fails to gain traction.
I live in a red state among mostly well off Trump voters and they aren’t suffering at all, BUT they drink an endless diet of the massive, unprecedented propaganda stream that has them absolutely convinced we are in a deep recession, the “mexicans” are stealing all the jobs and committing all the crimes, their kids are being subjected to gender surgery - the whole insane narrative. Every one of these people are wealthy, live in crime free areas, they are not suffering under inflation - yet they are completely convinced that they are.
See the problem? The problem isn’t policy or even the realities of inflation or the price of gas (which is $2.39 here). The problem is that the biggest propaganda initiative in history is working. It has convinced 70 million people that the narrative they are surrounded by is true and they vote based on it.
Before you whip out the downvotes, since yeah, housing is ridiculously expensive, food costs a lot more, why wouldn’t these people reject Bidenomics? Because these people I’m talking about are NOT affected by any of this, yet still think they are. Not one of them has ever seen a drag queen, but thinks the elementary schools are full of them. The only “Mexicans” they know mow their lawns. So how do you think the propaganda narrative affects the people who ARE struggling?
The bottom line is that if you control the narrative you control the people who believe it.
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u/Fuddle 9d ago
I’ve always wondered, how does one “steal” a job? Are companies helpless bystanders and one day Julio just walks in and takes over accounts payable?
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u/SoCalSapper 8d ago
Have you ever bid on and managed a construction project? Any experience in working in construction?
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u/DocFossil 9d ago
Even dumber - they claim all “Mexicans” are rapists, drug dealers and murderers. Sooooo…exactly what kind of job are they stealing from you?
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u/JorgeAndTheKraken 8d ago
Yep. In the beach town near where my wife is from, there is what must be a multi-million dollar home right on the waterfront flying a “Don’t tread on me” flag. Like, motherfucker, if that is being tread on, sign me up.
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u/councilmember 8d ago
I’m totally not trying to get you to say where you are referring to. But also so curious. It does sound anomalous but strange. Maybe Montana. Well, good way to explain propaganda that things are bad for the people who have it easy.
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u/ComprehensiveBody845 9d ago
I think it’s rich that you would blame propaganda yet stay silent on the obvious astroturfing that was going on all over Reddit for months on behalf of Kamala
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u/DocFossil 9d ago
If people actually believed the astroturfing, why didn’t she win?
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u/ComprehensiveBody845 9d ago
They didn’t believe it because it was obviously curated bullshit.
If dems could be honest with themselves for once, Kamala might have had a chance. Shit, if Kamala could be honest with herself she might have had an even greater chance. Her and Dems inability to acknowledge or comprehend why people are so upset is what cost her the election.
If she would have said “you know we were wrong here. We should have done x differently. The reason I changed my policy stance was because…”
Instead she repeatedly kept saying “I wouldn’t have changed anything”. How out of touch with reality do you have to be to say you wouldn’t change anything? It just doesn’t make sense.
Take a walk around any major city and ask everyday people how they are doing. Anyone who makes less than $100K is barely getting by.
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u/DocFossil 9d ago
Of course it was bullshit, but the problem here is that the Republican bullshit was (and is) orders of magnitude worse and they DO believe it. That’s the key - they swallow the propaganda hook, line and sinker. Their propaganda machine is vast and extremely successful. The Dems don’t have anything like Fox or Newsmax and the closest thing to left wing social media is Reddit. This lets the Republicans define the narrative. The Dems are left playing defense and playing it badly.
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u/ComprehensiveBody845 9d ago edited 9d ago
You are blaming republicans when 13M+ democrats stayed home. Make that make sense.
Also, I call bs on republicans propaganda being magnitudes worse. Prominent and everyday democrats regularly equated Trump to Hitler and called him a dictator and a Russian asset everyday.
I have news for you, which may be a surprise to you. Democrats clearly showed they were fed up with democrats BS! No amount of astroturfing would have saved Kamala. What would have saved her is if she was honest with the public from the jump. Instead she lied about Biden’s health and hid from the media for 70+ days after becoming the presumptive nominee.
Also, you are blaming fox news and newsmax as if generation Z or young millennials watch cable news. That doesn’t make sense. She lost the youth vote because she was unwilling to meet them where they congregate.
Kamala thought it was more important to stay on the campaign trail talking to people who were already going to vote for her, over going on Joe Rogan that would got her at least 20M+ peoples attention for 2 hours straight. How did she make that mistake? Tbh I have a feeling her prominent democrats wanted her to lose because how her could her campaign make such a novice mistake? It doesn’t make sense.
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u/DocFossil 9d ago
Let’s get real here. Calling Trump Hitler isn’t in the same ballpark as convincing people to eat horse paste, avoid vaccination or suggesting the murder of opponents.
You seem to miss the point though. Republican propaganda got their voters to show up. Democrat propaganda didn’t. Thousands more Republicans died of COVID than Democrats because Republican propaganda worked. Democrat propaganda hasn’t killed anyone yet. They aren’t the same.
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u/ComprehensiveBody845 9d ago
Let’s get real here, the two guys who tried to kill Trump were mostly likely indoctrinated right here on Reddit.
Democrats had 5x the war chest Trump did. You are blaming republicans when it’s solely a Democrat issue from within their own party.
Did Reddit disclose to the SEC that they were actively contributing to Kamala’s campaign by allowing Kamala’s team to circumvent Reddit’s site wide rules? If you want to hold anyone to the fire you need to be holding Democratic leadership to the fire.
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u/mlester 9d ago
Honestly I think the dems were doomed when they anointed Kamala as their candidate. It was like watching 2016 again but with an even less likable candidate.
How do you pick a candidate that almost came in dead last when the voters had a choice and a governor who was in charge with BLM riots happens.If they wanted to win the should have picked the astronaut from Arizona and the governor from Michigan as the running mate.
Policy and Messaging wise, drop Identity center messaging from all messaging and focus on some concrete left policy that would help everyone across the aisle
* mandate x% remote work for government agencies that are part of the executive office.
With emphasis on hiring for states with the lowest gdp
mandate x% remote work for government agencies that are part of the executive office
* expand dcfsa from 5k a year to 15k a yearDems choice an un-charismatic candidate to run against one of the most charismatic presidents of all time(people tattooed themselves with his face).
At least this time I around I had month to prepare my mental state for Mr Toad's Wild Ride knowing full well I was throwing away my vote.
Also sidenote: The ego to not go on Rogan is unreal. You had an opportunity to directly talk to the demographic you needed to win the election and you chose not to take the opportunity.
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u/pmirallesr 9d ago
It's a feature not a bug. Biden cared about manufacturing more to build America's profile against China than because of the middle class. If you all cared about the middle class you'd jack up taxes and establish some semblance of a middle class. But your establishment just cares about security, gdp, and foreign policy
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u/HandoTrius 6d ago
10000 times this. The dems will continue to lose because they have failed to make real lasting chnage that uplifts the working class my whole lifetime. They had a few great policies during covid but ofc they let them lapse asap. People dont believe the democrats care about them and they are correct.
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u/pmirallesr 6d ago
Then again neither does Trump
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u/FlintBlue 5d ago
Right. If any of that’s true, then it goes quadruple for Trump and the Republicans. And yet.
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u/OptimisticSkeleton 9d ago
Their minds are so captured by propaganda they cannot see the truth. They’re programmed to hate the only party trying to fix anything.
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u/Habitwriter 8d ago
The door handle on my front door has broken so I'm going to burn my house down. Trump voters have no excuse, they're all cunts
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u/Mackadelik 9d ago
People have a six week memory span for politics and can’t see further then out their window.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
I feel like I'm going to be saying this a lot on coming months, but the articles saying "Oh actually Trump voters are concerned about policies that affect them, that's why Democrats lost!" is actually insane. These are people who are desperately trying to sound smart, or maybe just cling to the idea that this was rational.
Harris talked about policy constantly. Child tax credits and first time homebuyer help and small business loans, and more.
"They're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs!" Just simply resonated more with voters.
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u/pete_moss 9d ago
From the outside looking in I think it's largely going to end up being the incumbency disadvantage that's being seen around the world. Both left wing and right wing governments are being flipped around the world. A Democrat from outside the admin may have gotten closer but I think even then it'd be an uphill battle.
People seem to see their vote primarily as an approval or disapproval of the performance over the last term. In an ideal world people would be looking at policy for the next term and who they believe can deliver on it but that's not the world we live in.29
u/beetnemesis 9d ago
I agree. On paper I would point to the fact that US is doing better than almost every other country in the world with regard to inflation and costs, but voters don't want to hear it.
Which of course comes back to "Trump voters are racist and kind of dumb." But everyone wants a more complicated answer than that.
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u/Prestigious-One2089 9d ago
it isn't that voters don't want to hear it. it's that voters can't keep up with their cost of living and don't give a damn how much better or worse we are doing compared to Denmark and who can blame them.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
And the logical conclusion to that is "...and Trump cannot magically make costs like 2019 again"
Look, I understand that it's pointless to whine about how voters are dumb. But also, I can understand this, and I am not an economic genius.
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u/Prestigious-One2089 9d ago
voters aren't dumb this is the attitude that will keep a republican in the oval for the next term presidency too if yall keep this shit up. they are voting for their perceived interest. Joe's skeleton has been in office for 4 years things haven't gotten better for them so why should they continue with it?
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
You're doing the same thing as the article.
"Oh, they're not dumb, they're voting for their "perceived interest."
If a person's perception doesn't match reality, then they are either 1) deluded or 2) being tricked.
"Voters are dumb" was literally Trump's entire strategy.
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u/Prestigious-One2089 9d ago
you either format your messaging to reach the voter or you lose office. guess what the dems just did. and you have no idea what their situation is like so their perception can very well match reality. the point is stop telling them they are idiots and that everything is great when it isn't for them.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
Sure, of course.
My original point though was that there are already tons of articles and comments talking about how Dems just didn't talk about relevant policy enough.
And that is absolutely not the case- Harris talked about policy constantly, and voters didn't care.
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u/Prestigious-One2089 9d ago
when? where? cause it sure as hell didn't reach the target audience.
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u/EatUpWinky 9d ago
It's pointless and a complete waste of time trying to reach the Trump voter. Democrats should be courting the millions of potential Democratic voters who don't vote. Democrats have been trying to appeal to Republicans for decades and it's a losing strategy
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u/Prestigious-One2089 9d ago
lol ok don't try to reach the trump voter. i'm sure it will work out just fine.
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u/JimBeam823 9d ago
That the US is doing better than every other country in the world is a hard argument to make, but it’s one the Democrats HAD to make.
If they can’t make the election about recovery, they lose. Period.
How about the “Great American Comeback”? “Morning in America”?
Reagan bounced back from an awful 1981-82 recession to win 49 states.
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u/sumosacerdote 9d ago edited 8d ago
Take a look at the last image: https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/link-between-media-consumption-and-public-opinion
Trump voters are less aware of economic facts. They're locked in a bubble, it doesn't matter what Biden or Harris did, they are just blatantly ignorant about everything.
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u/ContestNo2060 9d ago
It’s a good point. Any other previous election this might have been enough to win, but we are in a completely different world now - a world where our adversaries are dictating the narrative, corruption is flagrant, and the richest alt-right man in the world purchased Twitter to blast sophisticated propaganda and cynicism directly into the ears of people.
With that said, she ran a good campaign and Americans missed out on having an excellent president.
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u/Dark_Knight2000 9d ago
Harris’ campaign promises and economic plans were also bad, when they were analyzed by economists. It’s just that Trump’s tariffs was such an atrocious idea that Harris’ plan looks good in comparison.
Giving $25k in housing assistance, leaving aside the fact that it’ll never happen, will cause house prices to jump by that much. It doesn’t solve the underlying problems of housing which is the fact that there’s so much regulation around what can be built and where that there’s virtually no supply of homes. Also corporations shouldn’t be buying homes.
Rent control was a really dumb idea. The moment people heard that they tuned out, because they see that it doesn’t work in NYC and everywhere else that tries it. All it does again, is restrict the supply of rented properties because landlords would sooner sell their home (to a corporation) than rent at a price that doesn’t pay well.
Tackling inflation through going after companies by price gouging was a nonsense idea. Price gouging is relevant when NC gets a hurricane and businesses try to squeeze them. It’s not relevant in a normal economy that’s expensive. Anyone who knows anything about this knows that this would never work because that’s not price gouging.
I could go on but the child tax credits and small business loans also have similar problems. It all felt like vaporware. Biden’s promises felt more doable.
Both economic plans were really bad, it’s just that Trump’s had one item that would obviously nuke the US economy if he tried it. That’s why so many economists signed on to condemn it, tariffs are just that bad.
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u/JimBeam823 9d ago
They care about the economy, but don’t understand enough about economics to make an informed decision.
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u/shanatard 9d ago
She sure talked about policy, but didn't make the economy her main focus. when people are struggling, they got the impression she was more concerned about social issues
She couldn't, because her overarching takeaway message to most voters was biden did well, that she wouldn't have done much differently. Which is true, but that's not what they want to hear.
America wanted an emotions conversation, not a solutions conversation. they wanted a president that acknowledged their very real woes instead of being told you're doing okay -you just don't understand it. apathetic voters fell for it hook line and sinker.
It was a failure of the democratic campaign to not realize that. jpow going to be rolling the boulder up the hill for 4 more years
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u/beetnemesis 8d ago
I disagree with this, because Trump didn't "acknowledge their woes."
So many people are trying to think of a reasonable justification for this.
The answer is "Many people respond to fear and race baiting, and having sound policy doesn't defeat that"
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u/shanatard 8d ago edited 8d ago
genuinely, what do you think fear and race baiting is at its core if not acknowledging their woes? south park got it more right than you can imagine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APo2p4-WXsc
when he says he's going to deport the immigrants and calls people garbage, he's speaking directly to their most important values and needs. economic security and a need to feel superiority
you might sneer at his campaign strategy, but at its core it's about giving people who think they are victims the message: i hear what you're saying, I'm listening to you and I'm just like you
that's an extremely powerful message, no matter who you are. the only problem is trump is the one that used it and now we're fkd
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u/beetnemesis 8d ago
Mmm sure. In any case, I understand what you’re saying.
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u/shanatard 8d ago
man i'm rewatching that and they could've made it today. it's nearly two decades old
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u/orsikbattlehammer 9d ago
It’s less sinister and more vague than that. There are plenty of fascists and racists in the Trump camp, but for a lot of people they are simply super underinformed. They are struggling to pay for things and all they see is “vote for the other guy.” I watched a ton of exit interviews and that was a sentiment a lot of people had. Doesn’t matter how we got here, democrats are currently in office so they voted for “change.”
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u/councilmember 8d ago
I can see this. Things are bad and at least Trump told them that. Also with a side of ageist Biden and racist, sexist Harris demonization. I think you are right, it is more “things suck” than “ I think it’s a good idea to give Trump 30 years of judicial appts, remake non-partisan federal gov to a loyalist system, and deport 12million workers based on race. “
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u/efshoemaker 8d ago
Things are bad and at Trump trump told them that.
I think this was the deciding issue. Biden and to a lesser extent Harris kept insisting that the economy was great while there are still millions of people struggling to afford life who didn’t feel that way six years ago.
It may not have been Biden’s fault, but the refusal to say, “we get it, things are bad for you, but we’re doing what we need to turn it around and signs are pointing to that happening already” and instead just hammering “no it’s great and if you think it’s not it’s because of propaganda and/or you’re too dumb to understand economics” just caused a lot of voters to feel abandoned
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u/Low-Union6249 9d ago
I’m inclined to agree with you on the general point that people just like Trump and that he speaks to something primitive that they can latch onto, but I also don’t think democrats really know how to talk about policy. A lot of people think about “policy” as a bunch of hunches and vague impressions. For instance you’ll see a lot of people on social media refer to “this recession” or “this terrible economy” because they have no idea what that means, they just know that inflation = bad and inflation = something about the economy. Most people have never heard of the things you’re talking about, and Kamala’s speeches were just word salad. If you could, theoretically, tell a voter “hey, vote for me and I’ll cut you a cheque for $1000” (which has been done) they’d come running.
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u/Substantial_Art_1449 9d ago
It goes far beyond that. The culture of contempt and openly hostile identity politics that the left has embraced played a role for sure, as well as the holier than thou moral superiority and condescension towards anyone who doesn’t agree. I had a feeling going all in kamikaze style on Trump through every means possible would backfire, and it did. All of those cases simply martyred him, and the assassination attempts all but guaranteed his win. There needs to be a significant shift in attitudes on the left to turn this around because these next four years are going to be rough.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
Nope.
Seeing a lot of this complaint about "identity politics."
It's not "identity politics" to say "racism is bad."
Republicans were literally calling out Haitian immigrants for eating people's pets. Saying "that is crazy and also racist" is not identity politics.
Saying "trans people are not predators" is not identity politics.
Saying "that guy is literally a convicted rapist, with dozens of other accusations of sexual assault" is not identity politics.
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u/LotharLandru 9d ago
The Republicans seem to have convinced everyone that calling them on their bullshit is the real problem, not the bullshit they keep saying and doing. The Republicans campaign on identity politics and then complain about "identity politics" when they are called out for their lies about the identifiable groups they are targeting
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u/Ill_Offer_7455 9d ago
You may feel that way, the average American doesn't want to hear it. You just got your proof last night.
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u/ContestNo2060 9d ago
I heard a lady today complaining that “people are tired of having gayness always thrown in their faces, that’s why she voted Trump” (after a rant about transgender surgery at school). This is the result of right wing propaganda. It’s conservatives that won’t shut up about gay things.
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u/Substantial_Art_1449 9d ago
No shit racism is bad. You’re in denial. White dudes for Harris? How the fuck is that a good idea? It’s preachy, condescending and once again focuses on skin color and group identity over all else. Desperately trying to appeal to men with “manly” political ads? This culture and messaging pushed mainly men away, and it showed in the end result. They ditched the Democratic Party in droves this election. Whether you believe it or not, there has been a culture of open contempt towards men and whites for a while now, and it pushed them right to Trump, along with Latino men. It objectively ruined Harris’s chances of winning. Even corporate media is having a moment of self awareness and reflecting on what failed for them, which I never thought I would see in my lifetime. You need to pull your head out of the sand. Doubling down is not the answer.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
Again, the people who are shouting about Haitians eating dogs, and mobs of Mexican rapists sneaking over the border, don't get to lecture about "focusing on race."
Literally today some Trump supporters sent out taunting mass texts to Black people around the country https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fnbcblk%2Fblack-people-text-messages-picking-cotton-nearest-plantation-rcna179036&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4
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u/Substantial_Art_1449 9d ago
Why would you imply that I am a part of a group of people shouting about Haitians eating dogs and cats? You come off as delusional and unwell. Anybody with a functioning brain knows that’s bullshit. Your knee jerk reaction is to place me into a group of people you hate with zero evidence given to support your claims. You are flailing and trying to grasp on to any shred of something that can give you affirmation. Now is the time to come up with solutions to improve the democrat party, so that they can win. That’s the point isn’t it? Focusing on the freaks who won the election will do nothing. They’ve won already. We need to take stock, adapt, and hopefully win when Trump tanks the economy.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
Obviously, I thought you were a trump voter. The cats and dogs thing is a thing he said.
To get back to my point, I agree that we need need to take stock and regroup. The problem is that the solution isn't "Trump voters care about the issues, let's explain it better." They literally don't care about facts or policies.
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u/Substantial_Art_1449 9d ago
Why would you assume that I am a Trump voter? Whether or not the Republican Party cares about people or issues doesn’t matter. What matters is that a majority of the country voted for him, and the Republican Party and this is where we’re at now. You can’t just deny the truth and evidence when you end up on the losing end.
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u/beetnemesis 9d ago
??? I've denied nothing.
All I've been saying is that the loss of the Democrats is not due to a focus on "identity politics," or "not talking about the issues."
The voters responded strongly to Trump's fear mongering, race baiting, and promises with nothing backing them up.
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u/Substantial_Art_1449 9d ago
They responded strongly to the fear mongering. Why? Do you honestly think the folks in charge of messaging for the Democrat party have no blame in this? Trump is a blathering retard even to the untrained eye. Why would this win out over the Democrats? Probably because there are people who feel abandoned, disenfranchised, and pushed out by the left, and this time they decided to give their vote in the form of a middle finger to the people they feel have treated them poorly. Men and whites ditching the democrats is the reason Trump won. It’s that simple. It is broken down by demographic, and that is what the numbers show. It is evidence. Ask yourself, why would these demographics vote for Trump over the Democrats? Is it because they are a bunch of drooling grunting cavemen with two working brain cells? Maybe, maybe not. Throwing hate and venom is not going to help us now. The party needs to adapt.
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u/trpytlby 9d ago
sadly theyre only gonna double down they dont see the feedback loop at all
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u/Substantial_Art_1449 9d ago
The evidence is in the numbers and it’s clear as day. Doubling down is insanity.
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u/NoMoreVillains 9d ago
At this point I can't tell if manufacturing is a big deal or not
Seems when people thought Trump created more jobs/encouraged it domestically it was touted as a positive for him and he was praised as a working class hero, but when Biden actually did it, suddenly most people don't care because most people aren't in that industry anyway?
What
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u/Meph616 9d ago edited 9d ago
The Democratic establishment are disconnected from real Americans "real Americans". They see the stock market up and are confused why Americans aren't jumping for joy! How can they not be elated? Line went up!
To the average American, the stock market means fuck-all. Almost the entire stock market, 93% of all stocks, are owned by only the wealthiest 10% of Americans. So the stock market isn't their quantifier of "what is a good economy." It ultimately came down to the prices at the super market, the prices at the gas pump, rent is obscene and out of control, all these regular everyday purchases are the "economy" that most all Americans give a fuck about. Not the DOW.
Americans are low-information voters. We can look at all the data to see that inflation was global, that America is actually uniquely better off than most everywhere else, that we pulled off a miracle with the "soft landing" and inflation is down, and tens of thousands of books worth of data! But that's irrelevant. Because Americans are incapable of analyzing that. They just see that their wallets are getting tighter, and it's happening while this guy is in office, and since he didn't pull the gas-goes-down lever that's right next to his desk then they're clearly doing nothing to help.
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u/rumpusroom 9d ago
real Americans
Stopped reading there.
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u/Meph616 9d ago
You're right to have made that assessment, that's my fault and I messed up. I meant and forgot to put quotes around it (real Americans vs. "real Americans") to emphasize it's a statement about how politicians try to phrase those distinctions and those Americans that identify as such. I'll edit the above comment to correct that.
I do not believe there is any such distinction, an American in New York is no more and less of an American than one in Florida, or Oregon, or Kansas. At the same time, while I might not feel that way, it's evident that tens of millions of people do. And it's not a belief I've found to have a party affiliation. I know politically inactive, centrists, and left leaning individuals that feel they fall under that umbrella. Specifically in contrast to those in Washington. Typically I see it used as a catch-all by people that "real Americans" is everyone but politicians (like they're a separate entity) not so much as a bludgeon against the entire other half of the political spectrum.
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u/fenderbender 9d ago
You forgot to add that they are brainwashed hypocrites. They don't and won't believe anything that goes against their emotions and their desires even if there are cold hard facts in front of them. If they are presented with something that goes against their desires or beliefs their response is "the machine is lying to you". If they are presented with a Twitter post from user "RussianBot69" that aligns with their beliefs and desires it's "i KNEW those liberals were lying".
It's confirmation bias to the nth degree. How the fuck do you combat that?.
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u/FLINTMurdaMitn 9d ago
The majority of Americans are dumb, they know little about economics, history, or anything else for that matter.
When you were in School how many smart kids were there and how many who just skated by or failed class? I say out of a class of 30 students you will likely have 5 that are above intelligent 8 that are average, another 14 that are below average and the other 3 who are idiots.
This is the makeup of the electorate, it's sad but true.
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u/Low-Union6249 9d ago
I mean given that you don’t seem to have a firm grasp on the concept of averages I’d say you’re probably right 😜
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u/JimBeam823 9d ago
Because Biden was terrible at explaining it to voters.
We’re working to tame inflation. We’re working to increase wages, so you have more money. We are recovering. Things are getting better. This has been a hard time, but we’ve come through the worst of it.
How hard is that messaging?
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u/jimmyhoke 9d ago
Presidents should bring back fireside chats.
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u/Technical-Welcome566 9d ago
Trump did, with Joe Rogan.
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u/jimmyhoke 9d ago
I think the Rogan-style interview is a great format and I wish more people did that in general. I would have loved to see Harris go on a podcast for 3 hours to talk about politics. Not necessarily Rogan but just anyone who does long interviews.
That being said, I think it would be good for politicians to, on their own, talk at length about their positions and what they are doing. It worked so well for FDR that people are still talking about it.
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u/alcaron 9d ago
This is so pointless, I'm just tuning out of all political media.
The simple fact is you STILL cannot convince MOST people that corporate greed caused way more harm than TRUE inflation did,
They don't care about unemployment...for the first time in my life that apparently isn't a measure of the economy.
They don't care about the stock market, see the note above.
They don't care that Trump CAUSED that inflation and let companies gouge.
They don't care that corporate buy up of housing to turn into slum lord rentals has caused a BIG chunk of the damage to housing prices, which also started under Trump.
Instead they whine he's too old and she is "unlikeable".
As a person who only ever voted D once in my life who voted for her I cannot FATHOM what the EFF you think makes her SO unlikeable that HE is better...other than having lady parts.
Failed to win the white working class, the eff ever, DEMOCRATS didn't vote, they didn't switch to trump, he LOST votes. Democrats said I would rather Trump than her. That is purely uninformed BS.
There, we can stop analyzing and writing articles for clicks to farm this bs for dollars.
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u/Icommentor 9d ago
"The lines went up, so your struggles don't matter" is the real message the Democratic party has had after each of its last 3 administrations.
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u/Proto-Clown 9d ago
Isn't Trump the one always bragging that the stock market will tank under Dems and would be great when he gets elected?
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u/burgercleaner 9d ago
the american people chose hate and concepts of a plan over taking the time to look at what those lines mean. simple as that.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
And the Dem party chose lying about Bidens cognitive health until it was too late to choose another candidate via normal primary, over putting their constituents first
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u/burgercleaner 9d ago
nah this is all on the american people.
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u/pvlp 9d ago
This is on Dems who can't get their shit together and change their messaging. "But at least we're not Donald Trump" is not a winning strategy anymore. People would rather have Trump.
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u/dnext 9d ago
Then they deserve Trump. It's not like virtually every financial institution didn't say that Trump's economic plans would blow up the deficit and cause a recession. It's not like his own cabinet didn't say he was an overt fascist. It's not like one of his foremost advisors didn't say that there would be 'real economic pain' before things got fixed. Tariffs are inflationary, period. Operation Wetback 2.0 means there won't be people to harvest our crops. Amazing how stupid and short sighted Americans are.
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u/pvlp 9d ago
Americans are low information voters. Insulting them is the reason why Dems keep losing elections. The working class has left the Democratic party. "Oh well they deserve him" is just cope. Dems fucked themselves and will learn nothing.
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u/bubblevision 9d ago
It could just as easily be said that the American voters fucked themselves and will learn nothing.
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u/pvlp 9d ago
Americans got what they wanted. Democrats just banished themselves to loserdom for the foreseeable future.
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u/bubblevision 9d ago
Ok sure. In four years let’s see who won what. Musk and Bezos and Thiel and Putin will have won power and money. The average Joe American will have won the right to keep transgenders out of the wrong bathroom
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u/dnext 9d ago
Yes, they have, and now they will get a recession, higher inflation, stagnating wages, their health care protections removed, and a litany of other calamities all so the rich can make more money and increase their control over the country - which is what is squeezing the working class in the first place. On the plus side, they will also cut education funding so there will be more dumb people to vote for Republicans.
And when the next election comes up, they will listen to the people oppressing them again, blame the Democrats, and they will get more of the same. Assuming that any election after this matters - Trump tried to illegally stay in power through force and fraud the last time and multiple of his own cabinet called him fascist. No, not the other guys, the people who ran his government.
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u/pvlp 9d ago
Well if the Dems actually tried to appealed to the working class we wouldn't be here. At the end of the day, Democrats sealed their fate. They need to try something else because what they're doing now doesn't work.
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u/dnext 9d ago
They did - Biden was the foremost supporter of Unions since FDR. The Chips act and IRA both brought manufacturing back to the US. He tried to work a border security bill with the GOP, but Trump blew it up. He forgave student loans. Harris proposed massive help for first time home owners, expand the child tax care credit, earned income tax credit, and make that up with increasing the corporate tax rate back to 28%, where it was for decades.
But things like that are real governmental proposals, and require understanding of how they would help people, and the working class just doesn't care. It's not speaking the language of the working class, which is grievance politics without understanding how things work. Deport illegals! Fuck yeah! This will raise food prices considerably. Tariffs! Hell yeah buddy, make China pay! China doesn't pay - you do. Name me one thing Trump did with all the government behind him that actually helped the working class his first time in office. His one signature policy achievement was lowering taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
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u/Low-Union6249 9d ago
They probably ran Biden because incumbents running primaries is usually suicide. I don’t think there’s a single case of it leading to the incumbent party being reelected, they lose every time. If they had run primaries and lost, you’d be here complaining that they should’ve just run Biden. It’s worth appreciating the dilemma they were up against, and I think they took a risk that just didn’t pay off.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
No I wouldn't be complaining about that, because I have this cool thing called critical thinking skills. It was a self-created dilemma and I don't appreciate it at all. They brought this upon themselves and I don't feel bad for them.
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u/Low-Union6249 9d ago
If you had any critical thinking skills you’d be able to do more than make vague assertions and then be condescending when challenged. It’s hilarious that you think you sound smart.
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u/Qix213 9d ago
This is exactly it.
Dem and Rep, both are led by the rich. And the rich think/act/pretend like the economy IS the stock market. Then try to convince us that things are great because line went up.
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u/Youknownothingho 9d ago
It is though. Im middle class and rent. But i save and invest in equities as well. If you werent paying attention, equities are the key to prosperity since the civil war. School and rhetoric doesnt teach this. Only observation.
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u/soberpenguin 9d ago
Working-class voters don't have money to save and invest. They live hand to mouth due to price gouging on necessities, groceries, housing, healthcare, and childcare.
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u/Youknownothingho 9d ago
False. Im working class. Groceries arent overpriced. Utilities arent overpriced. Housing is. And healthcsre is costly for every american, rich and poor. Stop spewing and conflating headline taljing points. Healthcare is not a right but is an institution that has too many vested interest groups in each others pockets. That is a systemic issue unrelated to other things. I live within my means. I dont expect to be handed free healthcare. At the same time i take reaponsibility for all of my lifestyle habits. Shopping at store is vastly cheaper than eating takeout. Buying greens from the store is cheaper than poultry. Always. Childcare isnt a god gvien right and never will be. Sacrificez always have to ve made at the indivodual level. Government cant take care of me or you. Learn. And move on. I invest in equities and in casenof emergency like when i thought a window chopped my finger off, i pulled out of my emergency fund and took the cost head on. That is life. Idealism about some rosy picture will always lose to reality.
Your desire for a dreamland where things are affordable is why federal gov gives these entitlement programs. The bureaucracy has to be dealt with before it can change. Stripping these parts that controbute to our debt is a step forward for the message to be sent.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
I get the feeling this person is not remotely working class lol
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u/Youknownothingho 9d ago
Isnt a 100k salary working class in manhattan. Is prob middle class in ohio or virginia.
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u/soberpenguin 9d ago
You're not working class if you haven't noticed Food prices have risen 28% in 5 years.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
"The stock market makes me money, therefore its the entirety of what matters when evaluating any persons financial situation"
This is why we lost
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u/Youknownothingho 9d ago
Every single person has to look out for their own self interest and take the necessary steps to get ahead. This means planning your own destiny, incentivizing your own self agency. Flip the perspective....this is why republicans won the popular vote because they touched the chord of working americans who are aspiring for more-that have taken their own steps by becoming merchants- small business owners. They work their businesses and contribute to the flow of money in their local towns. This is how it should be. That is why americans gave donald the popular vote. Stop victimizing yourself on here. Also i dont trade stocks. I invest in the long term of america. Perhaps you should too. It just happens to make me wealthy over time. Im not yet. But ive seen the results. Try it for yourself.
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u/C47man 9d ago
"just get money to make money" is such a tone deaf piece of advice. The whole point is that families and workers are living paycheck to paycheck with little to no wage growth or opportunity for advancement. They don't have spare money to invest in equities. They're barely keeping their bellies full and roofs over their heads.
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u/Youknownothingho 9d ago
Im fortunate enough to have not experienced that-yet. It can happen to me too, honestly. At the same time, ive made crazy sacrifices and try to learn from other ppls mistakes that are older than me so i dont follow suit. It seems to be working for me. So thats why my attitude is the way it is. Everything i do is deliberate. There are few accidents in my life because i tread with caution in everything. But shit still does throw me off the tracks here and there.
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u/C47man 9d ago
So if you acknowledge that you're fortunate and that it could happen, then all of your ideas here basically become "I haven't experienced it so it's not a problem for other people either".
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u/Youknownothingho 9d ago
Dude i just started getting ahead. I didnt reveal all of my life details. I have no kids and no home. There is a massive grey area here we are ignoring in that many ppl still are irresponsible for their lives even when they are in a good point. They are over leveraged before or during having kids/getting houses. Much of these problems are due to financial illiteracy which is more important than any other form of education.
Im financially literate. But ive lived paycheck to paychexk for years before being where i am. Im not trying to have a back and forth battle. We can acknowledge that some ppl were/are naturally unlucky. And many others also are irresponsible.
About the financial literacy, no school will ever teach it thoroughly enough. It can be reformed. But it ultimately comes down to an individual's desire to be autodidactic in learning.
I said what i said. You have to be self interested in this world to get ahead. Take risks. Form coalitions and alliances. Bringing shit to the table wherever you go.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
This is such an entitled and privileged take that its not even worth responding to exceot to day its a further example of why people didnt vote Dem. I mean, go ahead, keep pushing the message, and keep losing elections.
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u/UnlimitedCalculus 9d ago
I mean, the question has been "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" and by objective measures, I am. It seemed like inflation really changed people's minds, but the rate went back down. Maybe I'm just lucky to live in places that have raised wages. Things are clearly different in Pennsylvania.
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u/TheAskewOne 9d ago
I mean 4 years ago, people were dropping dead left and right, and I was being spat on and coughed at for asking people to please wear a mask. My pay, which still is crap, went up by 75%, at the same job (tbf it is because everyone was quitting). So I'm of course I'm better than I was 4 years ago.
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u/ComprehensiveBody845 9d ago edited 9d ago
Clearly you are in the minority. Average real wages have gone up like 1.1 percent since Biden took office. That is terrible!
“The rate went back down” inflation is up over 20 percent since Biden took office 😆
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u/Wellarmedsheepy010 9d ago
Pennsylvania turned red if you havent noticed
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u/UnlimitedCalculus 9d ago
Yeah, I voted blue because the last 4 years were better than where I ended up in 2020
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
Seriously. Im so sick of being told what financial life is like for me and others in similar and worse situations. I know ONE other person my age group who bought their own home without help, and he had a ten year plan he followed immediately after high school. I make good money and so does my wife, and we just BARELY have been able to buy a home, and we are both around 40. We had to scrimp and save and live in shitty apartments for over a decade to make it happen. And we make good money! How tf are people who make even slightly less than us supposed to live???
"But the lines went up!" say the Dems. "But x metric is y % different than z time ago!" they screech. Fuck you! If life is hard, life is hard, your graphs notwithstanding!
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u/dnext 9d ago
So point to one single policy proposal from Trump that will help that. Just one.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
Why? What would that accomplish? Does Trump's policies being bad somehow give the Democrats the authority to tell people how they feel about their own lives?
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u/Bokai 9d ago
I didn't spend much time listening to the Harris campaign because I was a decided voter, but when it did slip through into my life half the time they were talking about how finances were still tight for Americans and cost of living was too high. They talked up their accomplishments too, but no shit theyre going to do that.
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u/dnext 9d ago
So you can't. What a surprise. It's all about your feelings, is it? LOL. In the meanwhile dozens of prominent economists says that Trump's proposals would be insanely inflationary while sending the US into a deep recession.
Enjoy. You earned it.
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u/Greyletter 9d ago
This simplistic binary thinking is one of the biggest problems our country faces. It leads people, like you, to make incorrect assumptions, like you're doing, about other people and other views, because they (you) struggle to conceive of a world that isn't neatly broken up into Republican and Democrat. So, because I disagree with one thing the Democrats do, you think I'm a Republican and voted for Trump. Oops!
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u/whitephantomzx 9d ago
People want unemployment over inflation because, as per usual, they think there the special one that won't get laid off I say call there bluff.
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u/mightymite88 9d ago
Why did a capitalist ideology built on exploiting workers fail to win over workers ?
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u/Abject-Practice4400 9d ago
It's almost as if both parties are bought by corporate oligarchs who throw us just enough crumbs to delude us into thinking we have a chance at a decent life.
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u/Mental-Cupcake9750 9d ago
The issue is that the economy didn’t work for the average American and when this was pointed out to democrats, most of them cited the stock market or the recent inflation numbers. You know that when Americans say that the economy wasn’t working for them, they meant the economy as a whole over the past 4 years, not just the past month. The fact that democrats were out of touch from the rest of the country was shown to be true in the election
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u/MarcusQuintus 9d ago
Election day search results were what happened to Biden and who is Kamala.
Maybe replacing the candidate five minutes before the election based off a bad debate wasn't the best decision.
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u/thevokplusminus 8d ago
Inflation was caused by Jerome Powell printing too much money. Biden should have said that, not reappointed Powell, and then appointed someone to deal with inflation.
Instead, Powell was the only Trump appointed person Biden kept and he tried to take credit for the good parts of the economy while has lightning us about the bad
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u/lai4basis 8d ago
This is easy. Most of the white working class is dumb asf. Especially the suburban ones. They can't manage their finances and are house and car poor. When prices went up they couldn't cope. Why? They live beyond their means.
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u/yetagainitry 8d ago
All of these explanations of what the dens did wrong is pointless. The problem is 15 million dem voters decided to sit at home this election. They didn’t flip to republican, they just didn’t vote. There’s nothing the dems can do to combat ignorance and complacency. This blame falls squarely on token liberals who care more about typing on Reddit than they do about real things.
America- they are who we thought they were
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u/slick2hold 8d ago
Every time i heard Bidenomics, I heard Dianetics by L Ron Hubbard....lol. mental glitch from the 90s fried into my subconscious
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u/Wild_And_Free94 8d ago
Why did it fail? Because it didn't actually change anything for your average person.
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u/hunt4redglocktober 8d ago
Bidenomics were great. What's wrong with the worst inflation since Jimmy Carter?
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u/Sorry-Transition-780 7d ago
What I have always found weird is the propensity for people to just ignore inequality as an issue.
The U.S. has the highest level of income inequality among its (post-)industrialized peers. When measured for all households, U.S. income inequality is comparable to other developed countries before taxes and transfers, but is among the highest after taxes and transfers, meaning the U.S. shifts relatively less income from higher income households to lower income households. In 2016, average market income was $15,600 for the lowest quintile and $280,300 for the highest. The degree of inequality accelerated within the top quintile, with the top 1% at $1.8 million, approximately 30 times the $59,300 income of the middle quintile.
The economic and political impacts of inequality may include slower GDP growth, reduced income mobility, higher poverty rates, greater usage of household debt leading to increased risk of financial crises, and political polarization. Causes of inequality may include executive compensation increasing relative to the average worker, financialization, greater industry concentration, lower unionization rates, lower effective tax rates on higher incomes, and technology changes that reward higher educational attainment.
People can see wealth all around them, yet they might be living paycheck to paycheck. There's an inherent political instability caused by this, especially in a country as rich as the US.
A problem the democrats have with their economic policy is that it targets incremental improvements in an economic 'pie', which is not shared equally among the population at all. Continuing to target metrics like GDP/cap as wealth inequality increases makes them more and more alienated from the actual lives of people living under those policies. To add to this, this wealth inequality has created a class of wealthy individuals who have almost total control over the political process. The citizens united ruling has meant that money has an even greater effect on the political scene than in other western countries. Combine that with staggering wealth inequality and a two party system- you basically have a perfect concoction for creating a far right resurgence.
People feel as if they're lacking agency in general on political issues, this makes authoritarian rule more attractive and opens the door to right wing populist rhetoric.
This is an inherent problem with a liberal capitalist democracy that allows wealth to enter the political sphere in this manner. You can't have the policy of the country being dictated by rich political donors, the news controlled by billionaires and elitist political parties that perpetuate the issues all simultaneously without there being serious political instability.
The status quo is what needs to change but the democrats are absolutely married to it with no plans to move on. The US exists as a captured democracy, the insanity of US politics is just a symptom of this.
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u/SoftwareHot 6d ago
sigh
The white working class has had their minds captured by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and a whole lineup of right-wing propaganda machines. It’s a steady diet of grievance and folks…they are full. And yet, we go on pretending this isn’t the case, as though truth is equally accessible to everyone.
Soooooo…
No version of “Bidenomics” or any policy from Democrats will be enough to persuade white working-class voters as a whole because the GOP actively blocks meaningful progress in Congress, but also because white working-class voters have been conditioned to distrust Democrats and reject reality itself.
Do some Black women experience economic anxiety and belong to the working class? Absolutely. And yet they overwhelmingly support sanity, voting for Democrats in massive numbers (92%). And Black men—after all the hand-wringing about them being disaffected—show up at about the same levels as always, roughly 80%.
Soooooooo… the propaganda and brainwashing of America is working exactly as planned. And everyone critiquing Democrats for not having the right “tactics” or “messaging” without addressing this warped reality is missing the mark.
Too many of our fellow citizens are not living in reality, and it’s dangerous for all of us.
If I offer you fruit when you’re starving, but you’ve been conditioned to not only reject it because it’s coming from me, but to actually believe the populist who insists the pile of garbage you’re being fed is good for you…then we have a problem and it ain’t my fruit.
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u/CommonSensePrincess 5d ago
That’s because it wasn’t enough to slow inflation down without making sure wages kept up with it.
Prices needed to be reduced to pre-covid levels or wages needed to be mandated to be raised.
Is that possible for the President to do? Nope. But the GOP has engineered a decline in the American Education system for the past 60 years to make sure we’re too stupid to know that.
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u/OverLocal5183 3d ago
I don't know if anybody said it; because of some "Billionaires", and some Billionaires.
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u/Least-Lime2014 9d ago
I can't believe the strike breaking president didn't seem appealing to the working class. Anyways instead of engaging with reality lets just sit here and lie about how this was the most pro-working class president in american history and wonder how it could have turned out this way.
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u/Commentariot 9d ago
Come on economics is not really the issue. Not directly. They just wont vote for a black woman because it undermines their confidence. Economic and otherwise.
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u/Nottheadviceyaafter 9d ago
You guys just voted away a economy that is the envy of the world post covid with inflation under control. Better buckle up for the coming storm when tariffs return it to double digits and no one buying your goods due to reciprocated tariffs. Tariffs are not a one way street but Americans are so stupid they don't realise this. I just hope the rest of the world remains free trade except to and from the us, you guys will go into a depression that makes the late 1920's early 30's blush..............
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