Today December 10, The NY Times electronic edition has three stories at the top about why the economy is in such terrible shape: "Inflation rising at fastest pace in nearly 40 years new data shows"; "Rising prices continue to complicate Biden's agenda"; "The Morning: Here's why Americans feel grouchy about the economy."
Today December 10, The NY Times electronic edition has three stories at the top about why the economy is in such terrible shape: "Inflation rising at fastest pace in nearly 40 years new data shows"; "Rising prices continue to complicate Biden's agenda"; "The Morning: Here's why Americans feel grouchy about the economy."
The last by David Leonhardt has such gems as:
"Offices remain eerily empty. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights. Subways and buses are running less often. Schools sometimes call off entire days of class. Consumers waste time waiting in store lines. Annual inflation has reached its highest level in three decades.
Does this sound like a healthy economy to you?"
AND
"But I think the answer to this supposed paradox is that it’s not really a paradox: Americans think the economy is in rough shape because the economy is in rough shape.
Sure, some major statistics look good, and they reflect true economic strengths, including the state of families’ finances. But the economy is more than a household balance sheet; it is the combined experience of working, shopping and interacting in society. Americans evidently understand the distinction: In an Associated Press poll, 64 percent describe their personal finances as good — and only 35 percent describe the national economy as good."
In large part Leonhardt blames Covid fatigue. But he fails to make the connection that the GOP is deliberately prolonging the pandemic, despite noting this:
"In Republican-leaning communities, the biggest Covid problem remains a widespread refusal to take the pandemic seriously. About 40 percent of Republican adults have not received a vaccine shot, according to the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll. As a result, the Covid death rate is far higher in heavily Republican counties than in Democratic ones.
Red America’s Covid denialism doesn’t seem to be abating, either. Fox News continues to spread disinformation, as Margaret Sullivan of The Washington Post has noted. Many Republican politicians spend more time complaining about mask and vaccine mandates than trying to persuade conservatives to get a potentially lifesaving shot."
And of course it's all the fault of Democrats.
"Blue America, by contrast, has taken Covid seriously. Fewer than 10 percent of Democratic voters have not received a vaccine shot. Political liberals also tend to be comfortable wearing masks to reduce the spread of the Covid virus.
Yet many Democrats, both voters and politicians, have been almost blasé about the costs of Covid precautions — the isolation, unhappiness, health damage, lost learning, inflation, public-transit disruptions and more. Democrats have sometimes focused on minimizing the spread of Covid, regardless of the downsides: Closing schools, for example, almost certainly harms children more than it protects them, given the minuscule rate of severe childhood Covid, even lower than that of severe childhood flu."
You could conclude from this that Leonhardt is telling Democrats to stop worrying about people dying or the pandemic getting worse. It's essentially the GOP narrative that the cure shouldn't be worse than the disease.
Combined with "the economy is terrible" drumbeat, the media is doing its best to grease the skids for a GOP return to power and Trump back in the White House - and it will all be the Democrat's fault for "doing such a terrible job."
Is it wrong that read about the death rate in red states and think, “there’s hope for democracy, yet. We just have to outlive them”. Yes - it’s wrong. But that’s exactly what goes through my head. This pandemic has found the most evil parts of my soul.
These deaths in red states are the result of the heartlessness and ignorance of those who have the responsibility of governing in those states. Your thoughts are not actions, just thoughts and honestly come by. I’ve had them myself.
“Consumers waste time waiting in store lines.” Wait, are you kidding me? We’ve been waiting in store lines forever, and especially with the downsizing of America that happened well before Covid. What a spoiled baby in a bubble Leonhardt is. He lives in an area where he can get his groceries and so much else delivered in a matter of hours if he chooses and has the salary to do so without a thought. Wow, that’s a stretch.
As to all his points, what about the rising costs of health care and the damage to our health care system from the spread of Covid? He completely neglects this. And there was a sobering article in a local PA publication about a recent study that found people who survived Covid in the hospital often die with a year, including younger people.
The callousness of this reporting matches that of the GOP. Instead of talking about those problems as fallout from the pandemic and how they could be alleviated if everyone got vaxxed it’s turned into blame for the people who actually care about saving lives and protecting health. Maddening!
My thoughts exactly. The press behaves as though the world hasn’t been disrupted, turned upside down and inside out by a 21 month and still counting pandemic. We as a country are STILL being traumatized, both by the awful impact of the pandemic and TFG’s administration and we are trying to find our way back to a sense of sanity, safety and a semblance of economic health as a society - not to mention the challenges from the concurrent sabotaging of democracy on the right. And there is no going BACK to anything like pre pandemic normal. Everything ‘normal’ has been upturned and changed since 2016.
Today December 10, The NY Times electronic edition has three stories at the top about why the economy is in such terrible shape: "Inflation rising at fastest pace in nearly 40 years new data shows"; "Rising prices continue to complicate Biden's agenda"; "The Morning: Here's why Americans feel grouchy about the economy."
The last by David Leonhardt has such gems as:
"Offices remain eerily empty. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights. Subways and buses are running less often. Schools sometimes call off entire days of class. Consumers waste time waiting in store lines. Annual inflation has reached its highest level in three decades.
Does this sound like a healthy economy to you?"
AND
"But I think the answer to this supposed paradox is that it’s not really a paradox: Americans think the economy is in rough shape because the economy is in rough shape.
Sure, some major statistics look good, and they reflect true economic strengths, including the state of families’ finances. But the economy is more than a household balance sheet; it is the combined experience of working, shopping and interacting in society. Americans evidently understand the distinction: In an Associated Press poll, 64 percent describe their personal finances as good — and only 35 percent describe the national economy as good."
In large part Leonhardt blames Covid fatigue. But he fails to make the connection that the GOP is deliberately prolonging the pandemic, despite noting this:
"In Republican-leaning communities, the biggest Covid problem remains a widespread refusal to take the pandemic seriously. About 40 percent of Republican adults have not received a vaccine shot, according to the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll. As a result, the Covid death rate is far higher in heavily Republican counties than in Democratic ones.
Red America’s Covid denialism doesn’t seem to be abating, either. Fox News continues to spread disinformation, as Margaret Sullivan of The Washington Post has noted. Many Republican politicians spend more time complaining about mask and vaccine mandates than trying to persuade conservatives to get a potentially lifesaving shot."
And of course it's all the fault of Democrats.
"Blue America, by contrast, has taken Covid seriously. Fewer than 10 percent of Democratic voters have not received a vaccine shot. Political liberals also tend to be comfortable wearing masks to reduce the spread of the Covid virus.
Yet many Democrats, both voters and politicians, have been almost blasé about the costs of Covid precautions — the isolation, unhappiness, health damage, lost learning, inflation, public-transit disruptions and more. Democrats have sometimes focused on minimizing the spread of Covid, regardless of the downsides: Closing schools, for example, almost certainly harms children more than it protects them, given the minuscule rate of severe childhood Covid, even lower than that of severe childhood flu."
You could conclude from this that Leonhardt is telling Democrats to stop worrying about people dying or the pandemic getting worse. It's essentially the GOP narrative that the cure shouldn't be worse than the disease.
Combined with "the economy is terrible" drumbeat, the media is doing its best to grease the skids for a GOP return to power and Trump back in the White House - and it will all be the Democrat's fault for "doing such a terrible job."
Is it wrong that read about the death rate in red states and think, “there’s hope for democracy, yet. We just have to outlive them”. Yes - it’s wrong. But that’s exactly what goes through my head. This pandemic has found the most evil parts of my soul.
These deaths in red states are the result of the heartlessness and ignorance of those who have the responsibility of governing in those states. Your thoughts are not actions, just thoughts and honestly come by. I’ve had them myself.
“Consumers waste time waiting in store lines.” Wait, are you kidding me? We’ve been waiting in store lines forever, and especially with the downsizing of America that happened well before Covid. What a spoiled baby in a bubble Leonhardt is. He lives in an area where he can get his groceries and so much else delivered in a matter of hours if he chooses and has the salary to do so without a thought. Wow, that’s a stretch.
As to all his points, what about the rising costs of health care and the damage to our health care system from the spread of Covid? He completely neglects this. And there was a sobering article in a local PA publication about a recent study that found people who survived Covid in the hospital often die with a year, including younger people.
The callousness of this reporting matches that of the GOP. Instead of talking about those problems as fallout from the pandemic and how they could be alleviated if everyone got vaxxed it’s turned into blame for the people who actually care about saving lives and protecting health. Maddening!
My thoughts exactly. The press behaves as though the world hasn’t been disrupted, turned upside down and inside out by a 21 month and still counting pandemic. We as a country are STILL being traumatized, both by the awful impact of the pandemic and TFG’s administration and we are trying to find our way back to a sense of sanity, safety and a semblance of economic health as a society - not to mention the challenges from the concurrent sabotaging of democracy on the right. And there is no going BACK to anything like pre pandemic normal. Everything ‘normal’ has been upturned and changed since 2016.