Al indicators show the American economy is doing very well. Inflation is down, unemployment remains very low, the Gross Domestic Product is high, the Stock Market is nearing an all-time high, and sales are brisk in this holiday season.
But poll after poll has shown that a significant majority of Americans say the economy is bad. Why the disconnect? Are U.S. citizens just too ignorant to recognize a good economy? Not at all!
The truth is that the economy has reached an epic stage of unfairness. The economy is good for the rich, and great for the super-rich. But the bottom 90% is not feeling the benefits of the good economy. They still struggle with even the low inflation. They have trouble with rising child care and medical/drug costs. And their salaries are not keeping pace.
The real problem is not a bad economy, but an unfair economy -- an economy that only benefits the rich. The gap between the top 10% and the bottom 90% has grown enormous -- surpassing the unfairness of the pre-Depression Gilded Age.
Rep. Ro Khanna is right. It is a mistake for Democrats to just try to convince Americans that they are wrong about the economy. They know better. Instead, Democrats must recognize the unfairness of the economy, and convince voters that they have solutions for that unfairness. If they don't, then voters will do what they normally do in a bad economic situation -- punish the party that occupies the White House.
That would be a mistake, because it's the Republicans that have created the unfairness with their "trickle-down" economic policy -- a policy that promised everyone would benefit from policies that gave more money to the rich. They said it would trickle down and make life better for everyone, but that did not happen. The rich got richer, but no one else benefitted.
Democrats must convince voters that they can make life better for the bottom 90%. And they do have solutions that would do that.
* They would raise the minimum wage above the current poverty wage (putting upward pressure on all wages).
* They would save Social Security and Medicare by fully funding them -- not cutting them as Republicans want to do.
* They would help working families by helping to pay child care costs.
* They would make it even easier for Americans to get and keep heal insurance.
* They would make sure the rich pay their fair share of taxes, while refusing to raise taxes on the middle and working classes.
* They would fight the monopolization of businesses, which allows unfair price-gouging.
There are solutions to the unfairness of the U.S. economy, but Democrats must convince the voting public that they have the solutions. If they don't, they could lost in 2024, and that would just make things worse for most Americans -- because the Republicans are still invested in their "trickle-down" version of economics.
Democrats would be making a mistake to just boast about a good economy. They must convince voters they could make the economy fairer and better for everyone.
