Relatedly, the idea that the economy is horrible and that it’s all Biden’s fault has taken firm hold on social media. That Washington Post piece I linked to above about the McDonald’s TikTok story cited a consultant who tracks these things as observing that chatter on the site around #economycollapsing went berserk over the past month and generated tens of millions of views. This is what passes for “news” these days to most people. It makes me long for the days when there were three channels and Americans got their news from one elitist pipe-puffing man—and believed what he said.
And with respect to neoliberalism … well, as I noted, presidents get blamed for a lot of stuff. But I remember a time in this country when, if a restaurant chain raised its prices dramatically, people wouldn’t get mad at the president. They’d get mad at the chain. I suppose a lot of people still do, but everything is so politicized these days, especially by right-wing news outlets set on rejiggering facts to make a Democratic president look inept, far more people will buy the political explanation than the real economic one. And they’ll do that because our brains have been trained for so long to think that the market is great and wondrous, and the government is corrupt and incapable of doing good.
Of course, some of this is the Democrats’ fault. Did the Senate hold hearings on price-gouging in the egg industry? If it did, it must have done so in one of those famous Capitol secret hideaway offices. And if it didn’t, why not? Subpoena the heads of the four major egg producers and make them answer questions under oath. Eggs are pretty important to Americans! Googling around, the only action I see any reporting on was a letter to the producers written by Elizabeth Warren and Katie Porter back in February. Good for them. But why no hearings? Oh, Democrats…