Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put out their June jobs report, showing that the US gained more than 200,000 jobs last month. On Monday, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ posted record high closing numbers. And tomorrow, when the Consumer Price Index inflation data for June posts, it will hopefully show that inflation continues to cool.
And yet, the data shows across the board that consumer confidence and expectations are down—in other words, despite strong macroeconomic signs (a great stock market, job growth, and weakening inflation), the average American doesn’t feel very good about the state of the US economy right now.
It has a lot of people scratching their heads, but frankly, I’m not surprised—because while our economy may be growing overall, those gains aren’t being distributed equally across our population.
If we look at the data just for North Carolina, when we look at what counties are seeing job growth, we see some familiar faces at the top of the list: Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Buncombe, Durham, Forsyth. Our major metro areas are still absolutely booming, but when it comes to the rest of the state? People are getting left behind.
And if you’re a single mother of three in Tyrrell County, and the price of milk is still higher than it’s been in your lifetime, and you’re working the same retail job you’ve been working for ten years for about the same wage, well, it doesn’t really matter what the stock market is doing. You’re just here trying to figure out exactly how long you can delay paying Duke Energy so that you don’t overdraft your bank account but also don’t get your power shut off.
Extreme inequality breaks our entire economic system. Because on the macro level, yes, the economy is booming. But when those gains just go to the people who already have plenty and they don’t invest those resources into all of our communities, then for a whole hell of a lot of people, it sure looks like things are bad without much sign that they’re going to get any better.
When we just shout about how good the economy appears to be in spite of that, it doesn’t wake those people up to some truth they’re missing. It just makes us look out of touch. And that’s why we lose.
Because when the weatherman tells you that it’s sunny every day, and you can look out your window and plainly see that it’s raining, first you get mad, and then you stop listening altogether.
And as I’ve said before, when people tune out, that’s when things get dangerous. That’s when people become willing to start listening to anyone who at least sounds like they’re acknowledging the obvious problem—even if the “solution” they’re peddling is fascism or communism or the end of American democracy as we know it.
As Democrats, yes, we have to tout our successes. But we also need to get out into the places that haven’t seen the benefits of our great stock market or our strong jobs reports—many of which honestly never really recovered from the 2008 financial crisis—and acknowledge the struggles those folks are facing, make them feel seen, and present a positive vision for doing something about it.
That’s what I’m trying to do with this campaign, and that’s the example I’m hoping to set for Democrats all across our state this year. Because when the microeconomic reality is daily hardship, then a strong macroeconomic situation doesn’t really matter, and we will lose those voters if we can’t meet them where they are.
And this election is too important for us to lose.
I hope you’re with me in that effort. I hope I can count on your support.
