Its more naive to think that it would have worked. Harris had no answer because there was no answer.
If Biden could have done something about it without pushing us into a recession, he surely would have.
So Biden and then Harris were stuck trying to basically paper over inflation and point to the robustness of the economy inflation aside. And that does sound like talking down, but its mostly just the best option for messaging.
Predictably it didnt work because well - inflation was a big deal to alot of people.
They failed to communicate with the people. Especially Biden, who should have been doing it all the way through.
I sound like a broken record, but I really believe lack of effective communication is the biggest problem Democrats have. Especially when they're in power. And it's rarely the "media's" fault. It's Democrats' lack of creativity and boldness. Or merely doing Politics 101.
Dear American people - we get it, prices are high. You all saved too much money (and frankly we probably printed too much) and now you are trying to spend it all at once.
But there is literally nothing we can do about it except on the very margins of a few products (and you will then spend the money you saved on those products raising the price of some other product), without you losing your job.
They cant do a Trump and say - trust us, we'll fix this - because well - why havent they? They are in charge.
The idea that messaging could have solved the problem despite the facts on the ground seems like just another way of talking down to people honestly.
If only Biden had brought more attention to how much is administration sucked at dealing with inflation, we would have won!
The message that they should have tried was acknowledge inflation when it started (instead of outright denying it) and blamed it on Trump. It is right out of Trump's playbook and it works.
The primary reason prices went up by 8-9% per annum for two years was a supply shortage. And price gouging. A lot of money was printed in '08-'09 and no large increase in inflation followed. Communicating that the rise would ease up once COVID was slain, and at least jawboning against price gouging, would have gone a long way.
This is true. However, it would go absolutely nowhere with low information voters who are mad that prices have gone up. This explanation is way over the head of the average swing voter.
I think those voters, or at least some of them, would respond to "folksy" version of that explanation. But the communicator has to have the skill to do that. It certainly would be, and would have been, worth a try.
08-09 was a completely different kind of recession and we also printed alot less money.
In 2020-21 people saved a ton of money. Some from money handed out by the government. Some by natural savings from shutting down chunks of the economy.
Inflation went up when people tried to spend it all at once and came back down when it was spent.
Its more naive to think that it would have worked. Harris had no answer because there was no answer.
If Biden could have done something about it without pushing us into a recession, he surely would have.
So Biden and then Harris were stuck trying to basically paper over inflation and point to the robustness of the economy inflation aside. And that does sound like talking down, but its mostly just the best option for messaging.
Predictably it didnt work because well - inflation was a big deal to alot of people.
They failed to communicate with the people. Especially Biden, who should have been doing it all the way through.
I sound like a broken record, but I really believe lack of effective communication is the biggest problem Democrats have. Especially when they're in power. And it's rarely the "media's" fault. It's Democrats' lack of creativity and boldness. Or merely doing Politics 101.
Dear American people - we get it, prices are high. You all saved too much money (and frankly we probably printed too much) and now you are trying to spend it all at once.
But there is literally nothing we can do about it except on the very margins of a few products (and you will then spend the money you saved on those products raising the price of some other product), without you losing your job.
They cant do a Trump and say - trust us, we'll fix this - because well - why havent they? They are in charge.
The idea that messaging could have solved the problem despite the facts on the ground seems like just another way of talking down to people honestly.
If only Biden had brought more attention to how much is administration sucked at dealing with inflation, we would have won!
The message that they should have tried was acknowledge inflation when it started (instead of outright denying it) and blamed it on Trump. It is right out of Trump's playbook and it works.
That would have been good too. Politics 101.
The primary reason prices went up by 8-9% per annum for two years was a supply shortage. And price gouging. A lot of money was printed in '08-'09 and no large increase in inflation followed. Communicating that the rise would ease up once COVID was slain, and at least jawboning against price gouging, would have gone a long way.
This is true. However, it would go absolutely nowhere with low information voters who are mad that prices have gone up. This explanation is way over the head of the average swing voter.
I think those voters, or at least some of them, would respond to "folksy" version of that explanation. But the communicator has to have the skill to do that. It certainly would be, and would have been, worth a try.
08-09 was a completely different kind of recession and we also printed alot less money.
In 2020-21 people saved a ton of money. Some from money handed out by the government. Some by natural savings from shutting down chunks of the economy.
Inflation went up when people tried to spend it all at once and came back down when it was spent.