As Prices Soar, We Need Action—Not Spin

As Prices Soar, We Need Action—Not Spin

As Prices Soar, We Need Action—Not Spin

It’s ever more critical that Democrats enact policies that visibly support working people.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

As the midterm elections loom, Americans feel worse about the economy than they have in a decade. Inflation is at a 40-year peak. Gas prices are soaring. And the situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rages on.

Republican leaders have fallen over one another blaming all of this on President Biden. For its part, the administration seems to treat these economic woes as a branding problem. Biden and his staff are blaming higher gas prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin, dubbing the rise the #PutinPriceHike. And they’ve started pitching voters on the idea that the economy is stronger than they think.

Indeed, there are plenty of indicators to show that is true—wages are rising, GDP is growing, unemployment is down and savings are up. But when it comes to political outcomes, perception is often reality. Working families are suffering the brunt of inflation. Those in lower-income households are struggling the most not just to fill their gas tanks, but to budget for groceries and pay rent. Roughly one in five Americans now name increased cost of living or gas prices as their top concern.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

Hold the powerful to account by supporting The Nation

The chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration reaches new lows each week.

Trump’s catastrophic “Liberation Day” has wreaked havoc on the world economy and set up yet another constitutional crisis at home. Plainclothes officers continue to abduct university students off the streets. So-called “enemy aliens” are flown abroad to a mega prison against the orders of the courts. And Signalgate promises to be the first of many incompetence scandals that expose the brutal violence at the core of the American empire.

At a time when elite universities, powerful law firms, and influential media outlets are capitulating to Trump’s intimidation, The Nation is more determined than ever before to hold the powerful to account.

In just the last month, we’ve published reporting on how Trump outsources his mass deportation agenda to other countries, exposed the administration’s appeal to obscure laws to carry out its repressive agenda, and amplified the voices of brave student activists targeted by universities.

We also continue to tell the stories of those who fight back against Trump and Musk, whether on the streets in growing protest movements, in town halls across the country, or in critical state elections—like Wisconsin’s recent state Supreme Court race—that provide a model for resisting Trumpism and prove that Musk can’t buy our democracy.

This is the journalism that matters in 2025. But we can’t do this without you. As a reader-supported publication, we rely on the support of generous donors. Please, help make our essential independent journalism possible with a donation today.

In solidarity,

The Editors

The Nation

Ad Policy
x