You Are Way Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago | The New Republic

At the start of Wednesday’s presidential debate, David Muir of ABC News pitched Kamala Harris a softball and Harris ducked it. Here’s the question in its entirety:

I want to begin tonight with the issue voters repeatedly say is their number one issue, and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country. Vice President Harris, you and President [Biden] were elected four years ago, and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?

The correct reply was a resounding Yes! But Harris changed the subject to two economic policies meant to distinguish her program from that of President Joe Biden. In so doing, she lost an opportunity to inform viewers about the Biden administration’s excellent record on economic policy (which to a great extent is also her own) and inadvertently lent credence to Donald Trump’s subsequent outrageous lies about Biden’s “terrible economy.” At one point Trump said: “They’ve destroyed the economy, and all you have to do is look at a poll.” That was half right: Polls continue to fault Biden’s handling of the economy. Public sentiment has, for some time, failed to align with nonsubjective data that tells the opposite story. That’s why Harris didn’t dare tell Muir: “Of course Americans are better off than they were four years ago.” But that’s the truthful answer, even as voters refuse, exasperatingly, to believe it.

via newrepublic.com

An example of the higher gaslighting. Do not consider that your pound of Starbucks now costs you $13 not $9. That housing prices have increased however many 100's of $K than the last time you looked. That lunch for you plus one costs you closer to $30 (I'm cheap) than $20. And try looking for a job right now. The CPI numbers should come with a warning label. The degree to which the official numbers are just cooked these days -- and I say this as a former semi-hemi-demi-professional economist--are frankly shocking. But whatever! Kamala probably did us a favor by skating on the economy question. We would have just heard more lies and who knows, perhaps cleverer ones. Trump has a different set of lies, but one I'm convinced will do less harm than Kamala's, which have been tried too often before (e.g., price controls). And then there's the whole regulatory super-snafu. I'm surprised Elon is surprised it takes longer to permit a rocket launch than it does to build the rocket.