Tag: inflation

American voters don’t need Russian trolls to tell them how bad things are

As US voters head to the polls for the much-anticipated Midterms, talk of Russian trolls monkeying with US democracy is back in the news. But does the country really need Russia’s help in “stoking anger” among the electorate?

If the hyper-liberal New York Times can be taken at face value just two days before an epic election, Russia’s underground army of trolls is, once again, attempting to seed the minds of malleable US voters to the Kremlin’s advantage. If those charges sounded outlandish in 2016, when the Democrats accused Russian ‘influencers’ of denying Hillary Clinton the presidency, they seem doubly so today.

The Times reported that the goal of the reactivated Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg is to “stoke anger among conservative voters and to undermine trust in the American electoral system.” Judging by the looks of things, the Russians are a bit late to the party. It would be hard to name another period in US politics when the level of anger and distrust has been so extreme, and that is something the Russian trolls, despite their supposed superhuman abilities, can’t take credit for.

Take inflation, for example, the single most pressing issue among US voters. It doesn’t require any sort of Russian mind-bending operation to inform Americans that the economic situation is deteriorating before their eyes, and has been ever since Biden entered office. They only need to look at their food and utility bills each month, and the price at the gas pump, to feel fury for what the Biden administration has done to the economy in a shockingly short period of time. Any effort to blame these negative sentiments on “the Russians” is just another way of the Democrats saying that soaring prices is “disinformation” and unworthy of your attention.

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CNN Blasted for Claiming Americans Got ‘$100-A-Month Raise’ Over Slightly Lower Gas Prices

CNN faced intense backlash online Friday after publishing a report that suggested Americans should view a slight dip in gas prices as a “$100-a-month raise” or a “$100-a-month tax cut.”

The national average price of gasoline was $2.38 per gallon when President Joe Biden assumed office, according to the Energy Information Administration, and increased to $3.53 per gallon by the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Daily Wire reported. Prices surpassed $5.00 per gallon in early June before subsiding to $3.92 per gallon as of Friday, according to AAA.

CNN Business senior writer Chris Isidore lauded the decline in gas prices without mentioning that costs remain highly elevated from the level seen less than two years ago.

“Next time you stop at a gas station, think of it as a $100-a-month tax cut. Or a maybe $100-a-month raise,” Isidore wrote. “The steady drop in gas prices over the last few months has turned into an unexpected form of economic stimulus, coming at a time when the Federal Reserve is trying to cool the economy and battle rising prices with higher interest rates.”

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‘They Don’t Know How They Sound’: Critics Roast Energy Secretary For Telling Poor People To Buy Solar Panels

Critics absolutely roasted Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm after she suggested that lower to middle class Americans could fight the rising cost of living by investing thousands in solar panels and other green energy initiatives.

Granholm made an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” to explain how the recently-passed Inflation Reduction Act — which has since been touted as a tax, energy, and health care bill — would impact everyday Americans who are struggling with record-high inflation, food, gasoline, and energy costs.

“If you are low income, you can get your home entirely weatherized through the expansion from the bipartisan infrastructure laws, a significant expansion — you don’t have to pay for anything,” she said, adding, “”If you want heat pumps, insulation, new windows, that is covered,” she said. “If you are moderate income, today you can get 30% off the price of solar panels. Those solar panels can be financed, so you don’t have to have the big outlay at the front … If you don’t qualify for the weatherization program, you will be able to, starting next year, get rebates on the appliances and equipment that will help you reduce your monthly energy bill by up to 30%. That is all about reducing costs for people.”

But as critics quickly pointed out, people who were struggling to feed their kids or wondering how they’d afford the gas to get to work were not just waiting on a 30%-off sale to make the jump to solar — they were just doing what they could to get by.

“GOP just needs to run ad after ad of Granholm telling the poors to buy solar panels and electric cars to save money,” Erick Ericksen tweeted.

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