The media are straining themselves trying to convince the public that President Biden is doing a great job, and all those worries about the economy and inflation are just nitpicking by Republican grumps – you know, the way that the historic invasion of illegal aliens isn’t because Biden opened the border but because Republicans complained that the border was open.

But it turns out that when people are having to work two or three jobs to afford food, gas and rent, they’re a lot harder to bamboozle. A new Gallup poll found widespread pessimism going into 2023, with a majority of Americans expecting more economic gloom this year. 

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/poll-americans-expect-more-economic-misery-in-2023/

Eighty percent believe taxes will increase along with the federal debt (you don’t have to be the Amazing Kreskin to make that prediction), while two-thirds expect prices to keep rising and the stock market to keep falling. Naturally, the only group that expects most things to get better is Democrats. Must be nice to live in a cast iron bubble.

I guess they aren’t reporting on CNN or MSNBC that auto sales are at their lowest level since 2011…

https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/01/05/bidens-economy-auto-sales-down-8-percent-lowest-levels-since-2011-n683677

Or that pending home sales have dropped to the second-lowest level in 20 years…

https://nypost.com/2022/12/28/pending-home-sales-plummet-to-second-lowest-history-of-key-index/

Or that many companies are planning large scale layoffs, from Goldman Sachs to Amazon (eliminating 18,000 workers to cut costs)…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amazon-layoffs-climb-to-18000-employees-as-tech-giant-moves-to-cut-costs/ar-AA15Zu9q

Or that the St. Louis Fed says more than half the states are showing signs of slowing economic activity, usually a sign of a coming recession…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/new-fed-research-flags-rising-risk-of-us-recession/ar-AA15PdUa

An assessment with which former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan agrees…

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/ex-fed-chair-alan-greenspan-sees-us-recession-most-likely-outcome

The problem for the rest of us is that we not only have to live in the misery that Biden and the Democrats have created, but also deal with the frustration of having seen it coming from a mile away, as predictable as the Macy’s Parade route. Many of us lived through the stagflation of the 70s, and the boom of the ‘80s. We know what causes these problems, we know what has to be done to fix them, and we had them under control for decades.

Then came the rise of the leftist politicians and academics, with their theories that economic reality doesn’t apply anymore and deficit spending and debt have no negative consequences. They did the exact opposite of what needed to be done to keep the economy strong, and the results have been as predictable as $5 gas after Biden destroyed US energy independence or mass illegal immigration after he opened the border.

If you want to know how to get America back on track, the Heartland Institute explains at this link how we got here and how it’s been dealt with before (although it was never this bad before, so unfortunately, it’s going to be painful whether we deal with it or go with the Democrats’ plan of wishing it away.) Their term for our current self-inflicted mess: “The most predictable economic crisis in US history.”

https://redstate.com/heartlandinstitute/2023/01/04/the-most-predictable-economic-crisis-in-u-s-history-n683014

Related: On the bright side, payroll processor ADP reports that an unexpectedly high 235,000 private sector jobs were created in December. But that’s not an official government number, which will be out later this week.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2023/01/05/private-payrolls-december/

Also, gas prices might not rise as much as expected because oil prices are dropping due to fears about the strength of the global economy. I assume somebody will try to paint that as a Biden accomplishment.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/brent-wti-crude-oil-prices-global-economy-51672831533