In last week’s paper, we read yet again a column blaming Virginia Democrats for the high cost of living. Doesn’t everyone know that price of gasoline and diesel is so high because of our war with Iran? Doesn’t everyone know that this war also has raised the price on many other things, including the fertilizer needed to grow our food? Doesn’t everyone know that the cost of health insurance has increased dramatically following changes made by the federal government? Particularly notable here are increases to the Affordable Care Act marketplace – meaning many of the people most dependent on federally backed insurance became unable to afford any health insurance. Doesn’t everyone know that the tariffs on imported goods resulted in higher prices? Even with the February Supreme Court decision ruling that the federal tariffs were illegal, and demanding the government pay the money back (an estimated $175 billion in refunds), that money is not going back to us. It is going back to the companies that initially paid those tariffs – and they are not (at least generally) going back to individual consumers who paid the higher prices. And now an entire new batch of tariffs are coming!
Looking at the current Iran war, costs so far to the average household have been estimated to be about $1100. And these costs are not ending. Not often noticed is that with our federal government spending more and more, our national debt is increasing tremendously. For the first time since the end of World War II, our national debt has surpassed the size of the entire U.S. economy! This is real money that we (and our children and their children) will have to repay. The power of the Virginia legislature to influence the economy is tiny compared to the federal government. Blaming anyone at the state level for today’s high cost of living is simply ridiculous.
Of course, individuals can agree or disagree about the value of the federal government spending all this money. Readers surely have their own views – and this local newspaper is not the place to discuss national policies.
But it is simply not true that it is the Democrats in Virginia causing economic hardships. Current state policies do not raise taxes, and they do encourage business investment. Commentators trying to insult our politicians by name calling, suggesting that we are passing policies resembling practices in California, are misleading. Virginia is not among the most progressive states – our policies are quite moderate.
Policies passed by the current legislature and governor were viewed quite favorably by most Virginians, as measured in a recent poll by Virginia Commonwealth University. Yet, the handling of the government by the governor was approved by 44% of respondents and disapproved by 46% of respondents.
A good part of this disapproval came from men in western Virginia – that means many of us! There is no obvious reason for this disconnect – apparently many people like what she is accomplishing more than they like her. Perhaps it is just a response to the novelty of Virginia having a woman governor, or of being negative toward any individual Democrat. In any case, it is important to know that the folks around the state support the work of the governor and legislature, even if the governor’s personal ratings aren’t soaring.
