It's the economy, stupid (STILL!)

When I moved into my apartment eight years ago I was paying $1,035 a month (utilities not included). Now it's $1,895 a month. That's an 83% increase. In the same time the price of groceries and everything else has gone up by approximately 50%.

The biggest hits to rent were since the start of Covid, about three years ago. I was hit with two 25%+ increases over two years. Meanwhile my income was going up about 2% a year, which was actually considered GOOD at the time. I'm eating through the last of my financial reserves at a furious pace.

I asked around. Most people have seen rent increases in the 50% range over the past three to four years. The number of people losing their homes is through the roof.

So if the rate of inflation is slowing, that doesn't do a goddamned thing to bring down those unsustainably high prices. NPR economists keep happily announcing that the new higher prices are the "new normal", the baseline; the most we can hope for is for the rate of inflation to be maintained at a "healthy" 2%.

So basically the rich took a HUGE bite out of everyone else, pushing a lot of us to homelessness and putting the rest of us in mortal fear of the same fate. And they won't be giving it back. And that's why Joe Biden is going to lose big.

Why

I suspect that part of the reason for the continued existence of Israel and Palestine is as a testing ground for the weapons and techniques that the elite will use on ALL of us in the future.

The political crop

If it weren't for his slavering support of Israel, RFKjr might have had a chance. West simply showed poor judgement too many times to be trusted. Stein seems the best of the alternatives *by far* on her positions and temperament, but I suspect that she's not likely to appeal to more traditional and Republican voters as RFKjr does. The DNC did everything they could to destroy her reputation after the 2016 election,  and since devoted Party loyalists (of both parties) tend to swallow what they're told by their political leaders without question, it's going to be hard for Stein to pierce that veil of ignorance.

But just a reminder: Politics is NOT the answer. In the end, the American political system is owned lock, stock, and barrel, by the oligarchy. They'll happily kill if they have to to protect their power (see Epstein, Jeffrey for just one of many examples), but they shouldn't need to. They'll simply use their media - which they also own outright - to pull a Jeremy Corbyn on anyone they oppose. In other words the media will put out slander and lies against any candidate or movement that challenges the absolute power of the elite, 24/7, rendering them politically dead. And of course they also control the voting and vote-COUNTING apparatus, although their control is slightly less iron-clad than their control of the media.

Lastly, don't forget that they can (and will) influence, censor, or even turn off the internet in the USA at will, either in specific areas or nationwide. The censoring, of course, is done by Big Tech at the command of the oligarchs.