In politics, lies that are not met with truth become the playing field.
There are some huge ones this year.
The Economy
We’re told, and assume, that the economy is terrible. It’s not.
There is inflation, but full employment and pay raises means the impact on most families is modest. The U.S. GDP rose 2.6%, on an annual rate, in the last quarter. Thanks to the government, millions of families have savings, a cushion against hard times, to see them through, at least for a while.
But this year has sucked for one group of people. Investors. Especially rich investors.
The men who control the Cloud Czars have lost trillions of dollars in market cap this year. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have each lost $100 billion of their fortunes. But these losses are dwarfed, in impact, by the trillions more lost by smaller investors, and speculators, in SPACs, in crypto, in stocks and in bonds.
We don’t live on our investments. We’re not supposed to. Those who are near retirement, like me, are supposed to move into cash and interest-bearing accounts for living expenses. Those who have done so are doing OK. For the first time in decades, we can get a return on our money. The return is guaranteed when you buy I-Bonds, government paper whose interest rate is indexed to inflation.
But the rich are “suffering” and they are busy convincing the middle class they must make up the difference, and that until the poor truly suffer the Fed can’t be expected to ease off. Remember, the rich demanded the Fed fight inflation, last year. The Fed has and they haven’t responded. It’s their own fault.
Inflation
It’s the investment class that has committed malpractice on itself. Investors refused to heed the Fed’s warning last year to get out of stocks and let them battle rising prices with higher interest rates.
Inflation, then, has become the bugaboo being used against Democrats. Vote for Republicans because inflation. It’s the Democrats who caused inflation, we’re told, by their unlimited spending.
But is it? Every other nation in the world is suffering from inflation. There are two primary causes. The Ukraine War acted like the Arab oil shock of 1973, especially after the Saudis refused to act against it. Climate change has caused drought, and extreme weather, that has decimated crop yields. In California, in the Midwest, and around the world, we’re seeing the effects of our oil addiction in our bellies. Rising interest rates, meanwhile, increased the value of the dollar against other currencies. We’re exporting inflation. It’s at a cost to America’s reputation. But we’re not suffering as much as others.
Do Republicans offer any cure for inflation? Why, yes! More oil drilling. Less spending on human welfare. But drilling undertaken today won’t impact supply for a year or two, by which time the war will likely be over. Cutting spending on people may help, but at a cost in human lives and misery that aren’t worthwhile.
Crime
The biggest lies are being told on crime.
Generally, crime is down. It has been falling for decades. Cities are generally safe. It’s in our suburbs and rural towns where crime is rising. You can prove this with statistics, facts expressed in the form of numbers.
Murder is up. But we know why murder is up. Guns. Poor people get guns and kill each other over trifles. Rich people get guns and kill poor people over trifles. Wherever action is taken against guns, murder rates drop. This is also easily proven with statistics.
Maybe it’s because I live in the South. But the political ads I’ve seen do not challenge these lies about economy, about inflation, or about crime. They don’t deal with the causes. They play on the liars’ field through deflection and attempts at bipartisanship.
Both sides do it. Both sides let voters believe lies. We’re all worse off for it.
