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It's being done on purpose.

'Tone-Deaf Lefties Miss the Point of Rising Consumer Spending'

<https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/tone-deaf-lefties-miss-point-rising-consumer-spending/>

'This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire

By Patrice Onwuka
Real Clear Wire'

'Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year broke records—despite inflation. This doesn’t mean many Americans aren’t still struggling with high prices on everyday goods and Christmas gifts.

Liberal policymakers couldn’t help themselves: Ways and Means Committee Democrats, in a now-deleted post on X, cynically responded to the record-holiday shopping news report with, “And here we were thinking
y’all couldn’t afford eggs!” Once again, they expose how out of touch they are with Americans’ hardship.


This holiday shopping season is off to a strong start, but that should
not be confused with bountiful household balance sheets. Indeed, many
consumers aren’t letting high prices hold them back from celebrating
this year’s holiday season. Spending hit records on Thanksgiving Day
($6.1 billion), Black Friday ($10.8 billion), and Cyber Monday ($13.3
billion), according to data from Adobe Analytics. Perhaps because prices
are high. The National Retail Federation projects that consumers will
shell out $25 per person more on average this year compared to last year
on gifts, food, and decorations.

One weekend or one month of consumerism won’t erase how financially
stretched households feel. Even more, not everyone is spending. Many working-class and low-income Americans will alter and even skip holiday gift-giving due to high prices. A U.S. News & World Report survey found
nearly 70% of Americans are worried about paying for gifts this year,
with roughly 20% being “very” worried.

Holiday spending survey data from the Conference Board show that while households earning above $75,000 plan to spend more, consumers earning
less than $75K will cut back on gifts and non-gift items this year.


Lost purchasing power from years of high prices has left the majority of households feeling squeezed. Two-thirds of Americans (65%) feel they are
living paycheck to paycheck, up from just over half (52.5%) last year. Unaffordability is not just a poor-person problem; one out of five
affluent households is living paycheck to paycheck as well. A $100
unexpected expense could financially sink 18% of all adults because
that’s the most they have in savings.

While the inflation rate (or the consumer price index) isn’t as high as
2022, prices remain 20% higher than when President Biden took office.

As shoppers swipe plastic to pay for presents, they will incur sharply
higher balances. Despite recent interest cuts by the Federal Reserve,
the average retail credit card interest rates have risen sharply from
24% in 2021 to over 30% in 2024.

Voters were fed up with the sting of this economy when they gave
conservatives a clean sweep. President-elect Donald Trump won
working-class and middle-class households because he saw them and made
boosting their incomes the cornerstone of his platform. Leftist elites
spent the better part of nearly four years refusing to acknowledge high
prices were a problem, then shifted to talking down to the uneducated
masses about how great the economy was.

After weeks of post-mortems, the message from the invisible class of
voters should be loud and clear. So when Democrats on the tax-writing congressional committee put out a tone-deaf tweet like this, they
demonstrate obstinance, not ignorance.

There is a chance for redemption. Lawmakers on the left side of the
aisle must join with conservatives to get serious about helping
struggling Americans. They can start by extending expiring provisions of President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Corporate and
individual tax cuts delivered tremendous benefits for workers, families,
and businesses. Corporate investment rose, as did gross domestic
product. U.S. companies added 4.7 million new jobs, and real median
household incomes grew by more than $5,000. Real wages rose by 4.9% in
the two years after the law was signed—the fastest growth in 20
years—while income taxes fell for people at virtually every income
level. The TCJA also triggered a bonanza of worker bonuses and new
benefits.


If the tax cuts are allowed to expire, Americans will be stiffed with a
massive tax increase just after the holidays next year.

The Left can gain some goodwill from hardworking Americans for passing
tax relief, even if it means delivering Trump an early win. Or they can continue to condescend and turn a blind eye to the real hardship holding
back too many American households

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