Economy watch: The Truth About Inflation
“The most important thing to remember about inflation and politics right now,” notes the Washington Examiner’s Byron York, is that “inflation is going down, but prices are still going up.”
“Cereals and bakery products were up 4.2% in October, while soft drinks were up 3.3%. Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs were up less, at 0.4%, while fruits and vegetables were up 1.1%.”
That’s as “services of all sorts went up 5.5%. Shelter went up 6.7%. Transportation, 9.2%.”
“And this is the ‘good news’ inflation report.”
President Biden thought his “Bidenomics” push “would communicate to voters all the wonderful things he has done for them.”
No wonder they “don’t see it that way” and back Trump 59% to 37% on the economy.
From the right: Why Pro-Lifers Are Losing
“Fear of what the GOP might do is encouraging panicked voters who want at least some abortion options to feel they need to embed abortion rights in state constitutions, even if the language is extreme,” explains Heather Higgins at RealClearPolitics.
“The left’s argument against the GOP is based not on what candidates say but against what the GOP might do once they have the votes/power.”
“ ‘Pro-life’ in the public mind overwhelmingly now means opposition to all abortions, no exception,” so pro-lifers “will first need to engage in cultural education, not legislative initiatives.”
“The question for the GOP is what it will take for the pro-life community to switch to a strategy of long-term incremental victory.”
For starters, “the GOP needs an empathetic and credible narrative, not just a policy.”
Hillary Clinton: No More Ceasefires for Hamas
Hamas broke a 2012 ceasefire with Israel in 2014, 2021 and on Oct. 7, making clear it can’t “be allowed to once again retrench, re-arm, and launch new attacks,” argues ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at The Atlantic.
“A full cease-fire that leaves Hamas in power would be a mistake.”
The “humanitarian crisis in Gaza is heartbreaking,” but “every death means more blood on Hamas’s hands.” That’s why “I am convinced Hamas must go.”
A ceasefire that restores the pre-10/7 status quo would leave Gazans under “the domination of terrorists” and “Israelis vulnerable to continued attacks.”
Hamas’ 10/7 attack and its pattern of breaking cease-fires also prove something else: “Israel’s long policy of containment has failed — it needs a new strategy and new leadership.”
Conservative: Broad US Pro-Israel Consensus
Tuesday’s DC rally proves “there is a big and broad bipartisan consensus in support of Israel in this country,” cheers National Review’s Jim Geraghty.
“I just hope that President Biden and his administration realize how fringe the anti-Israel perspectives are.” Key was hearing “a couple of high-profile progressives just hit it out of the park in their remarks” — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and lefty actress Debra Messing.
“Folks on the right see a fight between Israel and Hamas and choose to root for Israel,” but “a significant chunk of the activist left views the conflict through the lens of big, powerful Israelis and poor, underdog Palestinians.”
So “it’s really refreshing to see prominent progressives reminding everyone” that “Hamas started this war, not Israel, that a ‘cease-fire’ was in place right up until the moment Hamas crashed through those border walls with bulldozers.”
Libertarian: A Labor Rule To Slam McDonalds
The National Labor Relations Board’s new and little-noticed “joint employer” rule “will upend the business models of entire American industries,” warns C. Jarrett Dieterle at Reason.
It would hold a parent corporation, like McDonalds, “liable for potential labor law violations at discrete franchise stores.”
It also enables unions “to collectively bargain directly with the parent corporation rather than having to organize at the individual franchisee level.”
Companies that contract with third-party vendors and gig-economy firms could be “deemed a joint employer.”
If this “latest in the progressive left’s effort to bludgeon the country into a one-size-fits-all economic vision” succeeds, “we could end up with a one-size-fits-all recession.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board