18 Comments

This is the heart of it. Tressie McMillan Cottom said something yesterday that really landed for me. People use the words inflation, taxes and immigration to describe what you are actually naming “because those are the words they are given” to describe the low wages, the childcare burden, the transportation costs of getting to work etc. People are not paid enough to bear the actual cost of working. Wow did this hit when I think of people I know who voted for Trump. You are giving the words that working class people need to have alternatives to blame. Thank you.

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I wrote about this at the start of the year in my Bloomberg column, calling it "the people's inflation," because inflation became a way for people to succinctly describe their struggle. I'll repost here, but here's the link. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-01-02/the-people-s-inflation-is-still-a-big-problem

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"Americans didn’t vote for solutions to their problems, but someone to blame for them." Judging by the conversations I've had with family members who voted for Trump, this is spot-on. The true culprits of the problems most Americans are experiencing are complex and difficult to solve- the chipping away of regulations, private equity, socialism for corporations and the super-wealthy, etc., Much easier to blame immigrants!

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Thank you. These are big problems and they can make any one person feel really small. A scapegoat is many things but it's also a comfort, which I try to remember.

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I learn so

Much from

You. Thank you

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Thank you!

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Excellent!

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Love that!

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Thank you so much for this. During the pandemic, epidemiologists became some of my favorite people. Their skills and expertise allowed them, and therefore me, to see the bigger picture, make sense of things, and focus on what was actually important. I am so grateful to have found you because I now need that same help with economics. I have not been affected by inflation in the ways many Americans have, but also know that both my morality and my practicality stand in the way of calling them stupid or telling them they are confused about their own reality. Thank you for being a lighthouse as we find our way forward.

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Those are very kind words, thank you so much for them.

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I needed this, thank you.

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That's what I'm here for.

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Yes, yes, yes! Thank you. And can’t wait to be in the solution with you!

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It's a journey and we're on it together!

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So well said. Thank you.

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Thank you so much.

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Spot on.

I know what I'm going to do.

I'm going to work to get more people to follow you.

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Well I would love that!

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