I know you’re used to only one Lexicon entry a week, but this week is extra special. Queen Kamala the Appointed came out with a policy position!
And it’s just as vapid and nonsensical as you can imagine.
Recently, the current Vice President, Democrat Presidential hopeful, and word salad aficionado came up with a new concept: opportunity economy. Apparently, Queen Kamala the Appointed doesn’t think people can live the American Dream anymore, at least not without her help. After all, she came from a middle class family.
Did you know she came from a middle class family? I sure didn’t! If only she would say something about it…
Anyway, such a special occasion as this requires a special response!
opportunity economy
What the Left thinks it means – an economy that allows the middle class to get stronger and make the economy and the country better
What it really means – a buzzword made up by people who have no idea what free market capitalism is
For the sake of transparency and because Leftists tend to be slow on the uptake, I am a fan of free market capitalism. While most of you are saying “no fucking duh,” those of you who didn’t know that (I’m looking at you Leftists) might be confused. You have been indoctrinated…I mean taught that free market capitalism is responsible for global warming, environmental disasters, exploited workers, and yet another Nickelback album, but that’s not the case. Well, except for that Nickelback one. That’s totes on free market capitalism.
Where you were lead astray was not being given the other side of the argument, which I will try to present to you now as simply as I can. Free market capitalism has its faults including pollution, but it also tends to raise the standard of living for those who practice it. Those workers you claim are being exploited so the super-duper-mega-evil corporations can make money? They’re willing participants. They have as much stake in the company succeeding as the CEOs because without money coming in the door, those doors slam shut pretty damn fast.
For all of its faults, free market capitalism is still pretty fucking awesome. If you have a good enough idea (or, in the case of Hollywood, a good enough revamp of a good idea) and you can find people to back it (see previous reference to Hollywood), you can make serious bank once you build a market for whatever it is you’re selling. Of course, even if a movie bombs worse than Hiroshima, that doesn’t stop Hollywood from cranking out more stinkers.
As an aside, for those upset over the Hiroshima reference, too soon?
Anyway, the point is free market capitalism is based on opportunities. So, why does Queen Kamala the Appointed think it doesn’t?
Because she’s that fucking dumb.
With the vague and, frankly, uninspiring rollout of “opportunity economy” comes a new Leftist squawking point focusing on the middle class. Why else would Queen Kamala keep harping on the fact she was raise middle class? (You know, when she mentions it, which is rarer than the way Count Dracula likes his steaks.) It’s because the concept has power over us as Americans. If only some ruggedly handsome, yet witty and brilliant blogger would mention that…
To Queen Kamala and her Leftist followers, the middle class has gotten the shaft, and we all know that shaft is a bad mutha…
Seriously, though, the Left labors under the notion the middle class just needs to be successful for things to get better. At the same time, they want to raise taxes and create more bureaucratic red tape that cause prices to raise, hurting the middle and lower classes more so…yay, I guess? All they need is for someone to fight for them and give them a chance to succeed, dammit!
News Flash for ya, kids: the middle class already has that chance. America is the land of opportunity for anyone who wants to try to make it big, or at least make it close enough to big that they can see it from their house. The concept of an opportunity economy rejects that notion under the guise of being patriotic. How many times have we heard politicians leg-hump the middle class as being the backbone of our country? Too many times.
And that’s the way it’s always going to be from the political class: all talk, no action.
The opportunity economy concept also raises a lot of questions. How does Queen Kamala the Appointed plan to create it? Well, she was raised middle class! Don’t you get it?????
Actually, I don’t. Being middle class doesn’t equate to a thought-out policy position any more than playing Minecraft makes you a structural engineer. There’s a lot more that goes into it than what Queen Kamala wants us to believe, and a vague word salad ain’t in that recipe.
Given the Left’s propensity to rely on government to provide everything good and just in the world, I get the feeling it’s going to be enforced at the business end of a big regulatory stick. If some government bureaucrat with an ego and a budget that far exceeds his or her intellectual capacity to understand basic economics decides you’re not doing enough to create opportunity, you’re gonna get in trouble in a way that gives the Mafia nightmares.
Before you go off and think I’m running off the rails on a crazy train, let me also point out Queen Kamala’s other big-brain idea: punishing price gouging. Although her initial offering was met with the appropriate confusion and criticism, she has since come out with a more specific policy paper on the subject…which is just as confusing and worthy of criticism. Her big-brain idea: a federal law banning price gouging. Brilliant!
One tiny problem, though. How is she defining price gouging? I’m sure she’ll get around to it before her next sit-down interview, which is scheduled for sometime in October…of 2038.
Although the idea sounds good, the lack of specifics make it a non-starter for me. If we can’t even agree on the definition, what’s the point of making a law banning it? But, don’t worry, folks! This is an opportunity economy we’re talking about here! Don’t think about the fact there are more red flags than a Chinese military parade! Become unburdened by what has been and look at the significance of the passage of time! FEEL THE JOY, DAMMIT!
The funniest aspect of the opportunity economy is when you consider Queen Kamala says she worked at McDonald’s. Whether she did or not is immaterial to the point, but her attempt to relate to people actually shows how little she understands about the economy and how her “experience” undercuts the idea of an opportunity economy.
For all the shit you can say about Mickey D’s, there is one thing that is rock solid, take it to the bank truth. The ice cream machine is always broken. But another thing is McDonald’s loves being an employment opportunity for anyone willing to ask “Do you want fries with that?” For many young people, this is their first job, and it tends to open up opportunities beyond the Golden Arches. Promotions from within are common, and McDonald’s even offers leadership programs for those looking to get into leadership positions.
In other words, McDonald’s is the ultimate opportunity economy.
Funny how someone who allegedly “did the fries” missed that. Then again, this is Queen Kamala the Appointed we’re dealing with here, so let’s cut her a little slack.
Where I can’t cut her some slack is in thinking the current mostly-free market economy doesn’t provide the opportunities she thinks we need. What we have right now works pretty well, especially considering 80% of the millionaires today are first generation. But I’m sure if the remaining 20% would be coerced…I mean forced…I mean persuaded to give up more, it would totally create more millionaires among the middle class…who will then have to pay even more taxes thanks to the kind of regressive taxation ideas Queen Kamala think are needed.
So, Madame Vice President, we already have an opportunity economy and don’t need what you’re peddling. However, I do want to present you with an opportunity should the November election not go your way.
Become the Ice Cream Machine Czar. You can’t fuck that up any worse than you did the border.
Tag: price gouging
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
Another week, another bunch of economic bullshit coming from the Puddin’ Head Joe Administration, and from the man himself. Seems Bidenomics isn’t working out the way Leftists thought, so they decided to take decisive action and…gaslight the fuck out of us!
Adding insult to injury came a tweet from Puddin’ Head Joe’s account suggesting any company not lowering prices to match lower inflation rates was guilty of price gouging. Although this squawking point hasn’t gotten spread around yet (with help from social media influencers who know less about economics than Puddin’ Head Joe), I figure I’d try to cut it off at the pass so you know just how full of shit these folks are.
price gouging
What the Left thinks it means – when greedy corporations charge more for goods and services than the market allows
What it really means – when Leftists don’t like you making more money than they think you deserve
Before we delve into the unintelligent muck of Leftist thinking on price gouging, let’s set a baseline. There are a lot of definitions and examples, but this one from EconomicsHelp.org makes the most sense to me:
Price gouging is a situation where business take advantage of an external crisis to charge excessive prices for basic necessities – selling the goods significantly above their usual price.
Granted, there are a lot of subjective terms at work here, but you get the idea. It’s not a controversial position to say price gouging is bad, mkay?, but the way the term gets applied is getting more ridiculous than the social media posts of those trying to tell us Bidenomics is working. But at the very least, Puddin’ Head Joe admitted Bidenomics is a crisis, albeit unwittingly…which is pretty much how he does anything these days.
One of the Left’s favorite targets for accusations of price gouging is Big Oil. During the height of lockdowns, Leftists said oil companies making record profits was proof of price gouging. Of course, there’s a tiny problem with this: namely, the lack of any fucking proof in their statements of proof. A much larger problem, though, is the lack of any knowledge of how economics works.
There’s this little thing the kids like to call supply and demand which is constantly in play regardless of circumstances. In times of scarcity of either side of this equation, prices are going to go up, which means the more people buy, the more money companies make. So, even though the aforementioned oil companies made record profits, it’s more due to the law of supply and demand than it is breaking price gouging laws. Then again, if Leftists knew one-tenth of a fuck about economics, they wouldn’t be Leftists. Or they’d be really rich Leftists.
Unfortunately, most people know less about economics than Leftists do, so they buy into the “Big Corporations Bad!” mindset more easily than getting a crackhead to accept free crack. (By the way, how ya doin’, Hunter?) The Left may not know much about how to make an economy work, but they know how to play on the emotions of the public to get them to grab the torches and pitchforks whenever the Left says gas prices are too high. Of course, if state and federal governments would drop the gas tax, prices would be more affordable, but we can’t have nice things.
Put another way, Puddin’ Head Joe is counting on the public to be dumber than he is and blame high prices on the faceless corporate overlords. And there’s a good chance he’ll be right.
Or will he? Public opinion of Bidenomics sank faster than my interest in listening to “Last Christmas” by Wham this year. Or any year, for that matter. Voters have soured on how Puddin’ Head Joe has handled the economy, which is already getting Leftists scared at the possibility of President Trump 2.0 and offering up conflicting advice from continuing to run on Bidenomics to trying to rebrand it to make people aware of what it’s actually done. And a part of that strategy seems to be to blame others for the shit they caused.
Now, in the interest of fairness, the government can’t control inflation, which is the real bugaboo right now with the economy. However, it can affect it through various means, such as legislation, regulations, and, of course, fucking things up and blaming others for it. Of course, the smart thing for the government to do at a time of inflation is, well, not to do the shit that’s causing inflation to go up. But, this is the federal government we’re talking about here, so the smart thing isn’t on their agenda.
And speaking of agendas, claiming businesses are engaging in price gouging is part of the Leftist agenda. Leftists believe there is a finite amount of money (while they spend it like there isn’t), and that translates to power. If Leftists can’t cuck you into giving away your money to the government (see Bill Gates), they will use any force they can to control the money going into a company (see Elon Musk and the Social Media Platform Formerly Known as Twitter). And here’s the twist: no matter how much money you give to the government or to Leftists, it’s never enough. You’ve just made yourself into an eternal sucker that the Left will always go to for money. It’s like being the parent of an entitled college student, but with less laundry.
This is where the accusations of price gouging come into play. By accusing businesses of being too greedy, it not only shifts the blame away from those who are actually responsible for it, but it puts pressure on the businesses to respond. And when someone with the governmental force of Puddin’ Head Joe tells you to lower prices, you’re expected to listen. Damn overhead costs and being able to recoup some of the costs of doing business! You either follow along with the plan or you get called out for being a greedy meanie-head!
This is why some people aren’t made for the private sector. Or the public sector for that matter.
Leftists are notoriously bad at economics, so it’s no wonder they resort to emotional manipulation tactics to get people to get angry at companies for trying to make a living in a shitty economy. Although there are cases when companies do jack up prices beyond what they realistically could, not every company is doing it. It’s like calling someone a racist; it’s a serious enough charge with implications on multiple levels, so it shouldn’t be thrown around like beads during Mardi Gras. If Puddin’ Head Joe has any evidence, I’m willing to look it over and determine if it’s actual price gouging or a lame-ass excuse for fucking up the economy.
Something tells me it’s going to be the latter.