Looking in the Rearview While the Economy Crashes

by Kerry Dougherty

Want to see an out-of-touch congressperson in action? Take a gander at Rep. Elaine Luria’s Twitter feed over the past 24 hours:

Non-stop January 6th.

Literally dozens of Tweets about January 6th and Trump. Not a single word about gas prices, inflation or the crashing stock market.

Is this what the voters of the 2nd District will care about on Election Day?

Either Luria is taking campaign advice from loser Terry “Trump, Trump, Trump” McAuliffe, or she’s already conceded the race and has decided that her life’s work will be spent obsessing over someone who lost the presidency and who was impeached twice, or she’s playing the dutiful Democrat and trying to create a distraction from the crashing economy before she loses her race.

I’ve got news for Luria and any other Democrats who think the January 6th hearings are going to cause voters to flock to the polling places to send them back to Washington for another term: You’re insane.

This is just another sign that these politicians spend too much time in the Washington bubble while losing touch with the ordinary, decent people back in their districts.

Hard-working people like the owner of a painting company who told me yesterday that he spent $6,000 last month on gas for his team of painters – some live as far away as Newport News and come to Virginia Beach to work on jobs.

Funny, he didn’t mention January 6th.

Or the gas station manager who told me yesterday that his owner notified him yesterday to raise the price of gas 10 cents by the end of business.

He didn’t mention January 6th, either.

Or the guy who owns a lawn service company that employs a handful of workers. Every single piece of equipment they use is gas-powered. They’re afraid to raise prices, he says, because he fears his customers will just start mowing their own grass.

I guarantee you, he doesn’t care about January 6th.

Or the young mom pumping gas next to me at Kroger last week who was doing that delicate trigger thing with the pump, trying to put in exactly 20 bucks-worth of gas.

I doubt she was thinking about January 6th as she fretted about how far she could get on four gallons of gas.

How about the retirees who are watching their life savings vanish in their IRAs as the stock market plummets and they’re suddenly faced with a very different lifestyle than the one they thought they had planned for?

I doubt they’re fascinated by January 6th. Pass the Meow Mix.

How about the military families — they’re slated to get 2.7% pay raises this year, which may get bumped up to 4.6% — who are struggling to put food on the table and gas in their cars? Luria professes deep concern for service members, yet I can guarantee that the enlisted Navy wife who’s feeding her kids beans from the commissary doesn’t give a rat’s patootie about Jan. 6th. She cares very much about her family, however.

This economy isn’t just rocky, it’s an unmitigated disaster. Wealthy Americans, like Luria, are insulated from it.

Someone tell Luria — the star of Sunday‘s “Meet The Press” — that Trump is no longer president. He was already impeached over January 6th and those involved have been arrested and await trials.

The riot at the Capitol on January 6th was ugly and awful. Trump bears much of the blame for his supporters behaving like animals. If he’s indicted over the actions it might do the GOP a favor, as they can then nominate Ron DeSantis and win 48 states. Still, Luria’s singular obsession with the hearings seems tone-deaf when Americans are suffering under out-of-control inflation.

Unless I’m reading the electorate wrong, voters in the 2nd District don’t want to spend time looking in the rearview. They want to know what actions Luria and her Democrat pals are taking to reverse the course of Biden’s disastrous economy.

The answer to that: Nothing.

This column has been republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed & Unedited.


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61 responses to “Looking in the Rearview While the Economy Crashes”

  1. The events of Jan. 6 do warrant an investigation. The riot was an assault on our democracy and Trump did behave abominably.

    Unfortunately, we’re not getting anything remotely resembling an impartial investigation. We’re getting a partisan, made-for-TV show trial. Liz Cheney laid out a powerful indictment, but the event is orchestrated by the same people who brought us 2 1/2 years of “Russian collusion” and have yet to admit they got anything wrong. The Javers of the political/media class are consumed with one and only one thing: bringing Trump to “justice.” It is evident to all that the fix is in, so it’s no surprise that only die-hard Trump haters are paying attention.

    Meanwhile, as Kerry says, we are reminded of the extraordinary incompetence of the ruling class every time we buy gasoline and groceries.

    1. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      Gasoline and grocery prices mostly reflect the dynamics of the marketplace where the influence of the incompetence of the ruling class has little influence. That same class of incompetents would be equally criticized for tweets suggesting solutions to inflation. How long did the Benghazi investigation last?

      1. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        “Gasoline and grocery prices mostly reflect the dynamics of the marketplace where the influence of the incompetence of the ruling class has little influence.”

        Government has a big influence on inflation and to suggest otherwise is merely an exercise in ignoring Economics.

        https://www.vox.com/23036340/biden-american-rescue-plan-inflation

        https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/how-the-biden-administration-misread-the-inflation-threat.html

      2. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Fiscal and monetary policy both play a big role. The massive stimulus injected into the economy is a major driver of inflation, and the Fed’s huge quantitative easing gave inflation another big push.

        It is not as simple as writing it off as “the dynamics of the marketplace”. Nor does “the incompetence of the ruling class” get a free ride. That has played a major role in getting us into the mess we are in today. The country can thank Joe Manchin for keeping the debacle from being even worse.

        1. Except the inflation problem is global, so you can’t blame a one-time COVID relief payment in the US for inflation in the UK and South Korea.

          It’s really just the result of a global economy shutting down and having to start back up a year later. But that doesn’t win elections.

          1. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Better stick to riveting Rosie, it ain’t that simple. It is also much more than a “one-time COVID relief payment in the US”. There were multiple rounds of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

            Not to be picky, but I never claimed it was as trivial as a “one-time COVID relief payment”, because it was not.

            Undoubtedly the shutdown and restart contributed materially, but we can look to ourselves for the fiscal and monetary actions that were the big push that boosted inflation out of control.

            The war we started in the Ukraine has played a big part in disrupting supplies, increasing energy prices in Europe, and food prices around the world.

          2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            Good point. In May, the annual rate of inflation was 8.1 percent in the eurozone. But Kerry and others ignore those facts.

            As for stimulus packages during the pandemic, some of that was done under Donald Trump (another ignored fact) and the quantitative easing began in 2008. Many of those complaining about high gas prices now benefited from the low mortgage rates made possible by quantitative easing and other Fed policies. Those low mortgage rates will save them much over the years than they will pay for the high gas prices now. But people will not make the connection.

          3. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Tu quoque

            I’m rather certain you’re a bot at this point.

          4. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Massive stimulus is massive stimulus. The gratuitous cherry on the top of the sundae was Biden’s in 2021. It was the top of a huge pile of money, but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

            There have been several rounds of quantitative easing, starting as you indicated in 2008. All wound down. The current round started in 2019 and resulted in $120 Billion a month that was huge monetary stimulus on top of the fiscal stimulus voted by Congress and signed by the president du jour.

            I’m sure people will be relieved to know that they just need to offset their prior mortgage payments against their current gas prices and everything will be hunky dory. That makes it all better. What an elitist piece of crap.

          5. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            I think it’s safe to say he’s a bot at this point. That entire comment was an exercise in “Whataboutism”.

          6. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            You mean you don’t think “Dick Sizemore” is a real name?

          7. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Oh, I know that’s a real person’s name who worked in VA Government. However, the comments that being produced by that account now don’t reflect anything but talking points.

          8. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Sorry, I was making a scurrilous joke about genitalia, shoulda noted it:)

          9. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Hahha gotcha not as good as Dirk Diggler.

          10. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Oh, I know that’s a real person’s name who worked in VA Government. However, the comments that being produced by that account now don’t reflect anything but talking points.

          11. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            “Rosie Lefty665 • an hour ago
            Except the inflation problem is global, so you can’t blame a one-time COVID relief payment in the US for inflation in the UK and South Korea.

            It’s really just the result of a global economy shutting down and having to start back up a year later. But that doesn’t win elections.”

            That is an oversimplification, yes there is global inflation. However, The American Rescue Plan has made it far worse it.

          12. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Shhhh. Not in keeping with Republican talking points. FWIW, the Aussies, NZs and South East Asia aren’t missing out on the inflation fun. You should check housing prices there.

          13. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Oh oh, look over there, don’t look here at what we’ve done.

          14. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            So, you agree then, COVID in the US was all Trump’s fault.

            “We’re all Bozos on this bus,” means we’re all Bozos and we’re on the same bus.

          15. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Hahahah silly Nancy, Trump didn’t do much but he did get us vaccines at warp speed. I’ll give him that. It looks increasingly like Fauci during the Obama administration funded the gain of function research that got loose in Wuhan. I’d say fault is thoroughly bi-partisan.

            And to think that I laughed at Firesign Theater at the time, never dreaming that they foresaw America in 2022 so clearly, or that you or I would survive long enough to live it.

            Name that disease seems to be coming around too. Keep your fingers crossed and take another hit.

          16. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            Pay attention to core inflation which eliminates the volatile food end energy sectors. According to the Fed’s data, core inflation is much higher in the US than in the OECD. When energy and food shift downward US inflation will remain stubbornly high.

            https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2022/march/why-is-us-inflation-higher-than-in-other-countries/

    2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Republicans refused to establish an independent, bipartisan investigative body. So they need to stop complaining about a partisan undertaking. It was not that long ago that Liz Cheney was a darling of conservatives. Now, that she has committed the ultimate sin of calling out Trump, she is no longer considered a Republican.

      At yesterday’s hearing, every witness was a Republican. If you and others believe the fix is in, let the Trump supporters put forth evidence to refute what the select committee is presenting. Where is Rudy?

      1. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Perhaps it has escaped your attention, but the Dems have a majority in the House of Representatives. They get to establish investigative bodies, and form a majority of them. In this case, for the first time in history, the Speaker denied the minority their choice of members and named her own toadies.

        With no opposition members on the committee there is no opportunity to put on refuting evidence. That is a characteristic of Witch Hunts and Inquisitions, but not honest inquiries.

        The Dems used to believe in governance, doing the right thing the right way, but alas, they have abandoned the concept. If only the Repubs had a better vision.

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Duped and excusing. Duped nonetheless.

      criminally

  2. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Duped and proud, eh?

  3. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
    f/k/a_tmtfairfax

    Trump is a piece of crap and will go down in history as corrupt. But then there is Hunter Biden, who got a pass from the media and now from DOJ. Garland should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hunter. The House will investigate next year after it flips.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I think Hunter Biden might well be a sleaze who benefited unethically from his relationship to his father when he was VP.

      But we’d equate Hunter Biden to Trump, geeze

      Yes, no doubt the house will “investigate” and it will end up the same way as Bengasi and Durham. It’s a nothing burger for the conspiracy nuts.

    2. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      DOJ should indict George Soros, too. Leave none off the list. Add the dozens of lawyers who filed phony law suits challenging the 2020 election. Ouch!! Did I slip into a moral equivalency?

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Then you don’t need a special prosecutor. Oooh’ oooh, maybe Trey Gowdy?

  4. Matt Adams Avatar
    Matt Adams

    When the legislative proposals coming out of the Jan. 6th committee goal is to abolish the EC, I think you know exactly what the Jan. 6th committee is about.

    https://www.axios.com/2022/06/05/january-6-committee-electoral-college-reforms

    Which doesn’t adhere to the Purpose as defined by the committee’s founding.

    “SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    Consistent with the functions described in section 4, the purposes of the Select Committee are the following:

    (1) To investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex (hereafter referred to as the “domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol”) and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power, including facts and causes relating to the preparedness and response of the United States Capitol Police and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies in the National Capital Region and other instrumentalities of government, as well as the influencing factors that fomented such an attack on American representative democracy while engaged in a constitutional process.

    (2) To examine and evaluate evidence developed by relevant Federal, State, and local governmental agencies regarding the facts and circumstances surrounding the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol and targeted violence and domestic terrorism relevant to such terrorist attack.

    (3) To build upon the investigations of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts by reviewing the investigations, findings, conclusions, and recommendations of other executive branch, congressional, or independent bipartisan or nonpartisan commission investigations into the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, including investigations into influencing factors related to such attack.”

    Trump is sleaze lets leave him in the past.

  5. Please Dems…keep doing what you’re doing……

  6. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    What Kerry is talking about resonates with many people I know. I have zero confidence in the Congress or the GA to right what is wrong. I am pushing my chips in with the working class hero. They just might be the best hope.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt6Wsfn0cTs

  7. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    I am sure Rep. Luria appreciates Kerry’s advice… /s

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Karen would make an excellent Representative. She knows everything. Just ask her… or, wait a day and she flushes automatically.

  8. Moderate Avatar
    Moderate

    My reaction is that Luria is focusing on her assigned job on the investigation – which I’m sure has taken most of her time. Thus we’d expect her to tweet about that instead of gas prices. If she didn’t address the investigation she’d be criticized.

    Do we always have to initially frame every action of everyone as wrong? Can’t blame anyone for not wanting to serve these days. There’s no way to please all of us all of the time and criticism is far harsher and prevalent than praise is given or is kind. Would we all be happier if we weren’t always primarily looking to make someone look bad?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      She’s doing an excellent job of swimming in her lane. We don’t need 435 different excuses for the economy, but having a detailed explanation of Jan6 is important. I’m sure the history wonks here could point to where Dolly Madison did a detailed write up of evacuating the WH. A wasted effort? No.

    2. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
      YellowstoneBound1948

      There once was a man called Howard Baker . . . . What I wouldn’t give to have him, and 99 others just like him, in the Senate today.

  9. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    re; the economy

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f02c8ec15b859af6692063b8bac0b2eabd60abb3bda3d279f2f2d48abf961d8.jpg

    Not really something the “ruling class” caused and some might claim with some justification that stimulus spending to bring the economy back would predictably cause inflation.

    Inflation comes from too much demand for what goods are available.

    As bad as gasoline, groceries and other are , there is little slackening of demand for any of it except from those who reside at the lower income levels.

    The problem is worldwide, not just the US but I agree, the Dems and Biden will get the blame and the Jan6 committee will surely tell us that Trump did try to stage a coup, and had a whole bunch of help and bottom line – both candidates and voters still believe the election was stolen.

    Between Trump and the Pandemic with help from climate, guns and the culture wars, the USA is fractured and chances for it to heal and unite are slim to none.

    1. Inflation is coming from the 36% increase in the paper ‘money’ in circulation thanks to Bidenomics.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        are you talking about stimulus money or something else? Is worldwide inflation
        caused by Biden?

        1. I’m talking about the money the USG printed to support Biden’s spending…. the bills in the US circulation has increased tremendously. And I live here in the USofA…. i don’t care about empty shelves in Zambia.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            are you talking about the stimulus money the US Congress approved under both Trump and Biden or something different?

          2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Oh… it is something “different” alright….

          3. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            How about all the paper money the U.S. printed to cover the deficits created under Trump, including the deficits resulting from the tax cuts for the well-off?

          4. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            It’s okay. We can print more jobs… and employees.

          5. Randy Huffman Avatar
            Randy Huffman

            You are somewhat correct, except tax cuts benefited everyone! But when you got a Republican politician who pushes back on deficit spending or printing of money, they mare chastised as extreme and out of touch. They are out there in the Republican party, but there are virtually no more in Democratic party, other than perhaps Joe Manchin (maybe Sinema…?), and look at how he has been treated!

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        are you talking about stimulus money or something else? Is worldwide inflation
        caused by Biden?

  10. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    I will be thrilled if Trump does not run again, he is a disaster, and the DOJ appears to be doing its job, too vigorously if anything, to investigate 1/6. I do not like the partisan witch hunt the Dems are conducting in Congress. Trump derangement syndrome is in the driver’s seat.

    Schiff and Raskin have both admitted doctoring emails they presented as “evidence” and the subject of a video clip shown during the prime time extravaganza immediately complained the video was edited to misrepresent what he actually said.

    Congressional Committees are set up bipartisan to ensure we get both sides of issues. That adversarial process makes both our system of justice and governing work. Pelosi rejected Repub selected members and instead installed all committee members herself. The resulting committee has no legitimacy.

    This is political theater from Dems who are increasingly terrified that things have gone so awry on their watch that they are going to be tarred and feathered and run out of D.C. on a rail in November. Look over here, TRUMP, TRUMP, pay no attention to all the things that are going to hell in a hand basket.

    If this does not work for them, and it likely will not, WAR, PUTIN, TRUMP, PUTIN, WAR after Labor Day is their only remaining option. Better decide where you stand on that, the propaganda has started, and that could kill us all.

    1. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
      YellowstoneBound1948

      There are quite a few Republicans that wish President Trump would take senior status, paving the way for DeSantis who might, repeat, might, carry 48 states. Nixon and Reagan carried 49. It can be done, even now.

  11. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    God bless Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Without those two votes Biden and the rest of the Democratic clown show in Congress would have poured $4+T more dollars of gasoline on the inflationary dumpster fire.

    You Dems want to get independents to vote Democratic? Nominate one of those two in 2024.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I agree on that. no Question. what a bunch of idiots.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      Reminds me of Senator Edmund Ross during the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. There was a reason Kennedy selected Ross for Profiles in Courage.

      1. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
        YellowstoneBound1948

        What a great book that was. Sen. Oscar Underwood of Alabama saved the Democrats from the Klan but sacrificed his career. (It has been 60 years, I hope that is correct.)

  12. The reason inflation is igniting around the world is that central banks — the European, the Japanese, and just about every other — have been following the lead of the U.S. Fed in pursuing massively expansionist monetary policy. Most of the world is heading for a financial reckoning.

    As any honest conservative will admit, the Fed has been pursuing monetary stimulus for many years, and then ramped up during Trump’s COVID years to ameliorate the massive dislocations of shutdowns and layoffs. Trouble is, as COVID subsided, monetary stimulus did not. While conservative economists warned of inflation, progressive economists were saying we could run endless deficits and monetize them without harm to the economy. As any honest progressive would admit, Biden encouraged the Fed to double down on monetary stimulus when he should have been advising caution.

    1. Matt Adams Avatar
      Matt Adams

      See my link below from MSNBC, it appears that Fed Influence across the admin has been their folly.

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Yeah, obviously the other world banks cannot think for themselves and rather than take advantage of our clearly idiotic behavior they simply emulate us.

    3. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Yeah, modern monetary theory that many of the woke bought into posited that governments could print as much money as they wanted and it would never cause inflation. !NOT!

      That was how we got the push for the huge $5Trillion BBB on top of $1.2T Infrastructure, on top of $1.9T covid rescue, on top of on top of on top of. Oh, and holding infrastructure hostage to BBB that was cute too.

      So now they’re trying to distract attention from what they’ve done. Remember, TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP. I wish the Repubs were clearly better, but I’ll take a different flavor of bad to break the vicious cycle we’re in. Pilots call it auguring in.

  13. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Personally, I blame Cryptocurrency. Sort of a gold rush mentality except you don’t need to spend months to get to the Yukon only to die on a mountain in sight of a town at the base.

    There’s only one solution — Nixon Wage & Price Freeze. Worked like ExLax the first time.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Zat why they called him “Slippery Dick”?

    2. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
      YellowstoneBound1948

      Big Sam left Seattle in the year of ’92. With George Pratt his partner and Brother Billy too. They crossed the Yukon River, to the Valley far below . . . . Is that what you are talking about?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        I do believe it is so… joined the long line of miners climbing the peak out back of the “name escapes me” town.

        In the back of the bar sat the Dangerous Dan MacGrew… mixing now.

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