Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick
Would anyone care to explain what Joe Biden’s re-election committee was thinking when they appropriated the heretofore derogatory term “Bidenomics” and made it the centerpiece of the 2024 presidential re-election campaign?
Anyone? Seriously, I’m asking. Anyone?
The economy in the last two years has been anything but a walk in the park for most Americans. Even the president’s PR agency, the New York Times, raised a red flag, recently reporting:
“Polling last month from Democratic organization Navigator found that 25% of Americans support Biden’s major actions, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, but still think the president is doing a poor job handling the economy. It’s a group that tends to be disproportionately younger than 40 and is more likely to be Black or Latino voters critical to Democratic victories.”
The powers-that-be seem mystified. Why the disconnect, they ask. Allow me to explain.
At the end of the month, when all the bills are paid and American families push away from the kitchen budget table, they have less money to spend than they did before Joe Biden took office. And, the poorer you were at the start of the Biden presidency, the worse it is for you.
Why the thinkers surrounding Biden decided to go into the 2024 election cycle touting the economy may go down as one of the more colossal blunders in re-election history. It’s a miscalculation that could only be made in a D.C. political think tank by people who take the bus to work and chow down on crab puffs at the nightly cocktail parties thrown by lobbyists.
No one – rich or poor – is doing better.
Sure, jobs may have bounced back from the COVID shutdown. And hourly wages have gone up. But every penny increase in a paycheck has been more than obliterated by inflation. And, to compound it from a political perspective, people are reminded of this every time they shop for food or put gas in their cars.
Do the math.
If the average Bay Area household fills up the work car once a week with, say, 20 gallons of gas at $5 a gallon, they are spending 100 bucks when they used to spend $50 when gas was half that price. If the family has two cars, that’s 200 bucks of spending power that gas prices alone rip from the family wallet every week.
The price of food is up 25-plus percent since Biden took over. And, as the Marin IJ reported two weeks ago, the cost of school supplies jumped up 24% in just the last 12 months.
My back-of-the-napkin calculations show that between gas, food and maintaining a pre-pandemic lifestyle, Bidenomics costs Bay Area families about $20,000 more per year. Few saw their paycheck grow that much. Seniors on Social Security saw only a 6% increase this year.
And, don’t get me started on mortgage interest rates. As any real estate agent out there can tell you, Bidenomics flattened the housing market, with no fix in sight as long as high inflation stalks the economic landscape.
Leading with the economy? Makes little sense to me.
IT’S COMPLICATED
A new CNN poll hit late last week. A broad 67% majority of Democrat-aligned voters say the party should nominate someone other than Biden. But one of the comments made by a guy surveyed put his finger on where I think a lot of folks are these days.
“I think he’s a trustworthy, honest person. But he’s so old and not totally with it,” wrote one 28-year-old Democratic voter. “Still love him though. But I also wish he was more progressive. It’s complicated.”
MASKED MAN
To follow up on the idea that Joe Biden isn’t totally with it but support for him is “complicated,” did you see the mixed message on masking recently sent by the White House. After Jill Biden tested positive, the White House said the president will mask when indoors and around people.
An hour after that statement, the president attended a war hero ceremony in which he draped a medal around the neck of a Vietnam chopper pilot. He entered wearing a mask, but took it off as he draped the medal around the neck of the honoree. He then exited the ceremony without wearing a mask.
The White House isn’t commenting.
THANKS, WENDY
Reader Wendy writes: “Great newspaper, as usual. I was wondering if the Sausalito Police Department still contributes to the police log.
The answer to that is “Yes, they do.” I have noticed a slight change this year in the details provided. Seems like there’s an effort not to report as many encounters with homeless troublemakers. Might just be my imagination, however.
ONE MORE THING
– There is a top secret bakery in Fairfax. I can’t tell you about it because it’s on a knead to dough basis.
– I just made synonym rolls, just like grammar used to make.
– Sept. 22 is the first day of Fall. Not today. Not tomorrow. Put down the pumpkin.
Thanks for reading in this little corner of Bay Area journalism. Until next time, remember to laugh a little and always question authority.
(“Properly Subversive” is a commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, the Ross Valley Reporter, the San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick leads Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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