This is going to stymie MAGA to come up with a response since the "What About Biden" knee-jerk response won't work here [Your OP comments are clearly intended to troll the board. The issue isn't your topic. It's the way you presented it to this forum. That doesn't align with the letter and spirit of our posting policies. Feel free to tee up the topic again for discussion without trolling for a reaction. Tell us your view on the political ramifications. Don't attempt to speak for other posters. They can speak for themselves. Continue with the same approach and earn time off -- Staff]

Yet retail sales went off the charts this Christmas.

And to think Biden did it without shutting down 1/4 of the world's energy supply.

Mid-terms are going to be a blood bath.

SA68AG said:

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Mid-terms are going to be a blood bath.

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There really isn't many tossup seats, just in general…gerrymandering has eliminated a lot of toss ups.

91_Aggie said:

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This is going to stymie MAGA to come up with a response since the "What About Biden" knee-jerk response won't work here

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Isn't everyone MAGA? Doesn't everyone want to make America great again? Or do those with TDS not feel that way?

And yet of these same "consumers" are still using Door Dash 4-6 times a week.

They have subscriptions to multiple streaming services, and at least half a dozen other things.

They have $500 a month car payments for the next 108 months.

They rent an apartment far larger than they need.

They buy the latest iPhone every single year.

A day can't go by where they're ordering something off Amazon, usually not because they need it.

Maybe if people quit wasting money things would look a little better for them instead of always being broke and living paycheck to paycheck.

Muy said:

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Yet retail sales went off the charts this Christmas.

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It dropped in March.

Insurance across all types and property taxes have skyrocketed. That ain't helping because those are fixed costs. You can't spend down on those unless you are able to sell and downgrade.

We are moving out of Texas partially because of this. Not the sole reason, but we can't afford to live where we are forever because property taxes and insurance just keep going up with no end in sight. The only end in sight for where we are is a catastrophic water shortage which is worse than the other issue.

(Note: I'm retired; if I was still working I might not be moving out of state but being a retiree in Texas makes the math hard to justify from a bottom line perspective when your largest fixed costs are ever increasing housing by a mile).

Muy said:

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Yet retail sales went off the charts this Christmas.

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The Christmas that happened four months ago?

PPI was unexpectedly low today. The same social media feeds which catastrophize moderately higher gas prices and the consumer sentiment metrics don't mention this. Funny how that works. Vibes don't actually match reality, but does it even matter?

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/14/wholesale-prices-rose-0point5percent-in-march-much-less-than-expected-despite-war-impact.html