Op-Ed: One Sentiment is the Greatest Threat to the Democrats’ Election Hopes

This article was authored by Andy Puzder for Fox News on August 8, 2024

Should Harris prevail in November, we will get more – or worse – economic incompetence

"I want my life back." It’s a broadly held sentiment that poses the greatest threat to the Democrats’ election hopes this November. Here’s why. 

For working- and middle-class Americans, it means returning to a time when you could go to the grocery store or fill your gas tank without being shocked by the costs. A lost and better time when getting a burger and fries was not a luxury purchase, your savings were sufficient to meet an unexpected expense, buying a house was not an impossible dream, and getting that new car was something your budget could handle. 

Those bygone days harken to a time before Democrats saw the pandemic as an opportunity to transform our economy. Recall the February 2021 The New York Times article titled "The Biden Team Wants to Transform the Economy. Really." Democrats don’t talk about that much anymore, and with good reason. 

Their post-pandemic spending spree caused "inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation" – as their economist emeritus, Larry Summers, warned it would. As he predicted, inflation surged, dealing a devastating blow to American family budgets and aspirations. 

So, no one should be surprised that voters are now yearning for a president who spends less time rebuilding "our economy from the middle out and the bottom up" – whatever that means – and more time actually increasing their incomes with no or low inflation? 

Perhaps the greatest irony of the Biden-Harris effort to grow the economy "from the middle out and the bottom up" has been its "trickle up" effects. The wealthiest Americans have been benefiting from elevated levels of investment income.

Working- and middle-class Americans, on the other hand, have seen their wages depleted by inflation, personal savings well below pre-pandemic levels, and credit card debt at record highs. In fact, rapidly growing credit card and car loan delinquencies are signaling "increased financial stress, especially among younger and lower-income households," according to the New York Fed. 

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