The Grand Illusion
According to scientists, human beings are genetically programmed to home in on the worst possible news in the present, but to primarily recall the best aspects of our past, barring of course massive trauma or PTSD-causing events.
The reasons for this are obvious, if one thinks about it. In most of human history, failing to pick up on even the smallest hints of danger could be injurious, if not fatal. Likewise, remembering everything negative in the past would likely drive one to self-destruction over time.
Unfortunately, at present, those primordial traits have some distinctly negative implications, particularly when dealing with the media and elections. Right now, a huge number of Americans are recalling, quite favorably, the Trump years, and comparing them to the present, which they regard less favorably.
But the figures show that since 2019 until now, while prices are up 19%, wages are up 21%. If one looks at the yearly figures, the greatest increase in prices started in the years when Trump was President, yet Biden is blamed for the inflation?
Currently, according to Gallup polls, 85% of Americans feel that they’re doing well financially, but only 17% of Americans believe the economy as a whole is doing well. Rationally, that makes no sense.
So why do Americans believe the economy is doing so poorly? Might it be because the media algorithms are directing the media to emphasize the negative to get better ratings, by appealing to our genetic predilections?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage of employees was $26.00 when Trump took office in January 2017, and $29.90 when he left office. Currently, that figure is $35.00. While that increase hasn’t yet covered the price spike of 2022-23, inflation is moderating, and wages are continuing to increase.
What’s also forgotten is that, from April to September 2023, corporate profits drove 53% of inflation. Historically, for the 40 years prior to the pandemic, profits drove just 11% of inflation. While prices for consumers have risen by 3.4% over the past year, material/input costs for producers have risen by just 1%. Corporate profits as a share of national income have skyrocketed by almost 30% since the start of the pandemic.
Yet, somehow, these figures get buried, and instead of reporting a more accurate and balanced view, the media emphasizes the negative to boost ratings, and the Republicans emphasize the negatives to gain votes, while ignoring the sizable impact of corporate greed and capitalizing on all too human nostalgia.
LEM,
I only wish the media would be as direct, concise, and information rich as you just demonstrated with your brief write-up on this subject. Surely, large media rooms have researchers who could do just a smidgeon of background work? With all the sources of media, one would think we would be drowning in new and useful information, but the redundancy in nonsense is exhausting.
The media is more interested in ratings than in information. What I cited about profits has been available for over a year.
The media also doesn’t like to cite anything that could trigger a lawsuit, and manufacturing trade associations are primed to react to anything unfavorable with legal action or the threat of legal action.
The press and media are geared for Republican needs, because Republican bad-faith arguments are built in. The Republicans need the economy to be doing poorly because it’s an election year and they are out of power and so say the economy is terrible. The press then reports it as Democrats and Republicans arguing over the economy, rather than reporting on how the economy is doing.
Another key component is the drastic increase in perceived prices. We all expect to see a slight increase as the years progress, but the cost of groceries, fast food, and other common items has seen a drastic difference. So, even though wages are adjusting, the perception of what something “should” cost removes the satisfaction of higher wages and replaces it with the feeling that they are just barely catching up.
Additionally, despite the average wage increasing, the poorer portions of the population are lagging behind in these increases resulting in many dissatisfied Americans. Throw in the complete lack of accuracy of campaign adds that directly blame a powerless Vice President for all their problems and you get a large portion of the population that typically would have voted Democrat now voting Orange.
The Grand Illusion trilogy is very insightful.