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Today I will post of the ballot measures. Similar to 2024, there were a lot. What is notable to me is that many states that ended up electing Democrat politicians also ended up voting for many initiatives that I'd consider Republican priorities, including lower taxes and voter ID. This includes four states that limited transgender athletes, transgender bathroom access, and more, those four states being Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Washington.
One of my friends in Arizona quickly said that this might be the death of transgenderism as a politically relevant issue. He thought it was likely that the issue would be dropped as an election loser, as something that the people obviously did not want since they voted against it by majority in even what you might consider quite "Blue" states. I said what could be summarized as "I doubt it", maybe along with "you'd be surprised". I think I have been vindicated in saying this, as the Colorado governor is outright saying that he's going to fight these measures that have been passed to the best of his ability, and there are already schemes to nullify those ballot measures. Anecdotally, I see transgender rights commenters saying that the Arizona propositions are illegal even if the people did vote for them.
Most of these culture war issues are not things that can be resolved by simple votes. They can only be resolved through decades-long grueling lawfare. Blues don't take 'no' for an answer, as their responses to Heller and Bruen and now this ballot measure show.
This is why I'm finding it impossible to panic in the wake of the election.
"Voters demonstrated they have a strong preference for X policy" followed very shortly by "Dem politicians declare they will try to do the opposite of X policy."
Congenital inability to learn the lesson or take the actual temperature of the electorate. I was calling this out back before Trump won election the FIRST time. "If you ignore the shouted complaints of the voters to zero in on issues that impact 1-2% of the population, it doesn't matter how popular you THINK you are."
The Dems don't have the outright power to shove everything down people's throats now (except in Cali)... and for the near future SCOTUS is unfavorable to them so going the lawfare route is risky. I do expect them to try to re-open the immigration floodgates.
I don't see how they stay 'mask on' for the next two years.
Somehow I don’t imagine the cost of milk will get cheaper this time around and the cost of living will continue to go up. The political class in D.C. is so unbelievably out of touch with ordinary people it’s hard to imagine. Why don’t you focus on housing affordability, the energy crunch and climate initiatives, general cost of living, taking out a mortgage to go to college, the healthcare system bankrupting people, new cars costing between $40-$70k, giving preferential treatment to illegal immigrants; among other things; rather than fucking with some other country on the other side of the planet to further the foreign policy objectives of some secular, messianic morons who don’t even believe the way we do?
You can get a brand new toyota or honda SUV for under that, to say nothing of a sedan.
US MSRP for a new Toyota Camry (which was the best-selling car in America as late as 2020) is in the 29-36k range depending on trim level.
The reason why new "cars" cost a lot more than they used to is that Americans have normalised buying a light-duty truck as their "car". @Tretiak thinking that "cars" cost 50% more than a Camry and that this is why normie-Americans are feeling the economic pain is evidence for any or all of the standard vibecession theories:
And for my snarky theory, which is that America is a country where personal physical safety is bought in a zero-sum auction. Elites seem to think this is normal, but it generates permanent economic anxiety among the middle class of a type that doesn't exist in countries with less crime, safer roads etc. "A car large enough to feel safe letting your kids in given that a moron could crash into you any time" is defined relative to the other cars on the road, so the morons being able to buy pickups with 7-year subprime auto leases directly raises your cost of living.
Even if one (or more than one) of these theories is true and the American economy is actually fine (official statistics say it is, and it is definitely doing better than other countries with similar or lower levels of normie economic anger), saying so is of course a voter-hostile position of the type that tanked the Dems in 2024 and the Reps last week.
You can buy a new pickup truck from an American dealership for under $40k, they're more expensive than sedans but not by that much. The base models just don't sell very well(there are luxury vehicle versions of all the main pickup truck models and they sell like hotcakes). Rising expectations are most of the affordability crisis.
Obviously, politicians can't say that out loud. But it is true. Groceries are higher, but not by as much as American's expectations of what they should be eating. My parents grew up eating pasta, hotdogs, and other cheap dishes multiple nights a week. My grandparents got most of their calories from rice growing up(no, this was not during the depression). Now Americans think eating chicken thighs is poverty. Base model(no bells and whistles) vehicles sell so poorly that dealers don't even bother to stock them(although they will special order- manufacturers make them). House sizes are gigantic even compared to the relatively recent past and most of the extra space is essentially wasted.
I could believe K-shaped economies are exacerbated by "just put literally everything on credit".
People who were leveraged to the hilt in 2020 are now in a wildly better position than everyone else simply because the debt has in large part inflated away- so really, why not budget like the government does? Indeed, if you don't (or don't have the credit because you're out of work, or in school), you're just getting wrecked by everyone else who does.
It's just like student loans: a loan with an interest rate under inflation means the effective interest you pay is negative, so if you don't do that, you're just leaving money on the table- just make sure your credit's good enough and don't lose your job (and even if you do, unemployment will still cover you for quite a while provided you were making the appropriate amount of money before), and you can take advantage of all that free money too.
And, if you do keep it for 15 years (or longer- both because it's a luxury vehicle, and now that manufacturers have figured out how to rust-proof that's realistic), it'll still sell for what a new base model at that time will cost.
Well, that and the 'this used to be a cheap staple, now it's just as expensive as avocado toast' thing. For instance, you want lunch meat for your sandwich? You can buy corned beef for 4 bucks per standard unit, or higher quality salami for 5 bucks per standard unit.
Used to be 1.50 and 4- so sure, you might not necessarily like it, but at least it'd be 40% the cost of the tastier alternative. So at that point, if you can afford the cheaper product, you can afford the upgraded version; if you can't afford that, you can't afford anything.
Probably because of logistic advancements, the cheap staples are different now. Anything canned is expensive, meat especially. My go to sandwich meat is this stuff. I have to slice it all the way through myself (the spiral cut only goes partway), but it's actually actually slightly cheaper than the unholy ham obelisk, and "with natural juices" is a higher grade than "water added". Same goes for vegetables. Frozen is cheaper than canned, especially in bulk sizes.
Yeah- it's honestly really strange to notice that sure, I could buy a can of decent soup for 3 bucks... or I could buy hot dogs and buns instead, which are 4 bucks a meal assuming you eat two at a time (and commit to eating them for 3 days).
But then, that's just the general case of "if you couldn't afford the more expensive goods, you can't afford the ones that used to be cheap either". Yes, the quality is technically better, but I'm really not sure what I gain by noticing that given that everything's relatively tasteless to me anyway. (Which is part of the reason I bought the cheaper stuff in the first place.)
Then again, 'penny-wise, pound-foolish' means I don't really pay much attention to it because it will never be worth my while to do so. Food doesn't actually take up that much of the budget and, had I a family to cook for, the cost amortized over multiple diners is still better than an industrial kitchen, with the exception of fried chicken, sushi, or Chinese food.
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