VICTOR JOECKS: Nevada Democrat slams Biden’s economy
Inflation under President Joe Biden is so bad that a Nevada Democratic Assemblywoman is doing DoorDash to pay her bills. Can she connect the dots?
Last week, Assemblywoman Cecelia Gonzalez took to X to express some personal frustrations. “I can’t believe I am door dashing right now to afford rent,” she wrote. “Just, wow.”
Many Nevadans can relate. A recent New York Times poll found 30 percent of Nevadans listed their top voting issue as the economy or inflation. The next highest was immigration, at 10 percent.
This concern is understandable, because prices have skyrocketed in Nevada. The cost of groceries and fast food is way up. Gasoline and utility prices are higher than when Donald Trump was in office.
Rents also have exploded. A 2018 Review-Journal article detailed how average asking apartment rents climbed from $842 in 2013 to more than $1,055 in the third quarter of that year. Today, that sounds like a dream. Redfin recently reported that the median Las Vegas asking rent is $1,505.
Wages haven’t kept up. Nationally, rents have increased 1½ times faster than pay. Buying isn’t an affordable alternative, either. Thanks in part to rising interest rates, local mortgage payments are up 50 percent over the past two years.
Even if it rarely generates headlines, these price increases are stressful.
“I’m sobbing my eyes out,” Gonzalez wrote. “I’ve never felt like this in my entire life. I have a full-time job. I should be able to afford to live. I went (on) 6 weeks unpaid maternity leave that tanked my savings.” In another post, Gonzalez said, “I just want to be at home with my baby.”
This is heartbreaking. Time and connection are vital for babies. It’s wonderful that she wants to be with her newborn.
Sadly, these are the real-life consequences of Biden’s inflationary policies. Even liberal economists warned his American Rescue Plan would fuel inflation. That wasn’t his only massive spending bill, either. Biden has undermined American fossil fuels companies, hiking energy prices.
Federal Reserve officials waited too long to raise interest rates. Inflation remains well above 2 percent.
At least Gonzalez is honest about the problem. The national mainstream media prefer mocking those commoners worried about the economy. “More than half of Americans think the U.S. is in a recession. It’s not.” a smug Axios headline read recently.
Normal people don’t define recession using big-picture measures of economic activity. If they can’t afford the rent, their personal finances are in recession.
The Guardian recently commissioned a poll that found 72 percent of respondents said they believed inflation was increasing. Its article tried to tut-tut them. “In reality, the rate of inflation has fallen sharply from its post-COVID peak of 9.1 percent and has been fluctuating between 3 percent and 4 percent a year,” it read.
Those geniuses apparently don’t realize that 3 percent inflation means inflation is still driving up prices. And it’s compounding off previous years of high inflation.
Ideas have consequences. Implementing the left’s ideas led to runaway inflation and increased human suffering — even for Democrats who supported those policies.
Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.