It's always a vibe. But the Democratic Party really hasn't had a good vibe in the last few years, so we lost. :(

I think the vibe is "no point being the best president for labour if things cost far more".

The thing that I still haven't grasped—and this isn't snark, I truly haven't wrapped my head around it—is why people think "things cost more" (1) is the direct result of government rather than a coordinated effort from retailers raising prices, and (2) why the GOP is the party to fix this when they're the ones historically opposed to both business regulation and minimum wage increases.

> (1) is the direct result of government rather than a coordinated effort from retailers raising prices

Why would they think this? Has price fixing been shown to a) exist and b) be the dominant effect over some obvious and enormous effects?

People don’t “think” things cost more, things actually cost more.

I don’t think they care why it happened, they care about it being fixed.

Right, I'm not disputing that. What I'm questioning is whether people understand why that happened, or how to actually fix it. Because they should care how, and it won't get fixed unless we have actual solutions.

Because the places that these people get their "news" have been harping almost nonstop that high prices are Biden's fault. Fox News and its brethren exist solely to make its audience mad about things, and then explain why those things are the current Democratic leadership's fault.

Or when you break a railroad strike.

Yeah, I'll definitely grant that both parties are in the pockets of billionaires, although one seems to more than the other. There's a reason so many of them flock to one side.

The only explanation I can think of for the constituency is that people like a confident but far-fetched proposal more than an undramatic but feasible one. Slowly chipping away economic inequality and strengthening labor protections and introducing social benefits actually works, it just doesn't sound as impressive as "I will quickly and singlehandedly fix the cost of living (source: trust me)."