The Anger is Rising
Hello, I hope you’ve had a great summer.
Friday brought with it a disastrous jobs report. The economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, well below expectations of a gain of 85,000. That’s a difference of 108,000 jobs. June’s number was also revised down by 37,000, so you’re talking about 145,000 fewer jobs. Perhaps even more ominously, 260,000 more Americans stopped looking for work and left the labor market entirely, as the labor force participation rate dropped to a five-year low. About one-third of working-age-men are now out of the workforce. Inflation is eating up any wage gains.
It’s a bleak picture getting worse.
Also this past week, CNBC reported that 63% of Americans now report living paycheck-to-paycheck. That’s nearly two-thirds and higher than I’ve ever seen. 8 in 10 Americans rate the economy poorly.
Costs do seem to be rising everywhere one looks, from the grocery store to the gas pump to the utility bill to the popcorn at the movie theatre. I had a family member visit New York and comment, “Things are more expensive here than they were even last year!” I joke sometimes that the new American motto should be “extracting as much revenue from you as possible.” It’s a recipe for unchecked family stress.
Not surprisingly, this is showing up in our politics. Abdul El-Sayed won a narrowly contested Senate primary in Michigan last week, a sign of populist anger as he ran against a sensible and productive Congresswoman in Haley Stevens who was endorsed by every establishment Democrat under the sun including the outgoing Senator. Democratic Congressman Shri Thanedar also lost his primary in Michigan, a rarity for an incumbent. It’s an anti-incumbency wave.
I understand the anger. Our way of life is getting increasingly shitty and precarious. College grads are coming home to live in the basement instead of heading off to start their careers. The rents are too damn high and houses are unaffordable. Bills go up while your income stays the same. Americans increasingly feel like they can’t get a leg up as value disappears into the cloud.
I personally think we need Universal Basic Income. And a realignment of the American political system is a necessary step to get there. But change is in the air.
Can the anti-incumbent surge be a positive in some precincts? Last week, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in South Dakota, Julian Beaudoin, dropped out, leaving it as a one-on-one between Independent Brian Bengs and Republican incumbent Mike Rounds. Just a couple weeks before, David Roth, the Dem nominee in Idaho, dropped out to create a one-on-one opportunity for Independent Todd Achilles against 83-year-old Republican incumbent Jim Risch. And today is decision day for Democratic Senate nominee Alani Bankhead in Montana to drop out to clear the way for Independent Seth Bodnar to have a one-on-one vs. handpicked-by-the-incumbent Republican Kurt Alme.
South Dakota, Idaho, and Montana are no one’s ideas of battleground states. The Democratic parties in these states are weak and unpopular. Yet an Independent is polling neck-and-neck in all three because, well, people hate the incumbents. The farmers in all three states despise the tariffs. Todd, Brian and Seth are all military veterans with impressive profiles.
Said Todd Achilles, “Most Idahoans are among the working poor, and their costs keep going up the same as the rest of the country.”
Anger crosses party lines. I’ve donated to all 3 of these Senate candidates. Every bit helps and these states are very low-cost and sparsely populated relative to the usual battlegrounds.
Will we see an Independent Senator emerge in Idaho, South Dakota and/or Montana? In a season of anger and ‘throw the bums out,’ anything is possible. And an Independent Senator or two in a 50-50 or 51-49 Senate could transform politics as we know it. Sometimes, anger looks like military veterans stepping up to serve.
For my interview of Seth Bodnar, click here. For my interview of Brian Bengs, click here. For my interview of Todd Achilles, click here. I sit down with fellow “Nation’s Dumbest” alum Dr. Drew for the podcast this week. To check out Forward Party candidates including Todd Achilles, Brian Bengs and Seth Bodnar, click here. For 3 months off your mobile bill with Noble Mobile, click here or email matt@noblemobile.com and use my name to switch or explore. It will save you money and time. You can use the money elsewhere. To get a copy of “Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?”, click here and use the code “UBIUBI” for 25% off. Look up this summer; there are still a few weeks left. Also Spider-Man was good, the whole family enjoyed it.