What You Didn’t Hear On ‘Economy Night’ At The RNC

Former President Donald Trump and his newly selected running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, got all the attention Monday on the opening night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. But the official theme for the evening was the economy ― something that Republicans hope to keep making a focus of the campaign.

The prime-time hours included a video and some speeches highlighting the real-life effects of high consumer prices. Among the speakers was Sara Workman , who identified herself as a single mother in Arizona working two jobs to support her family. “I know that Americans can relate when I say that every time I fill up my gas tank, go to the grocery store and try to pay the bills, I think, ‘Who doesn’t miss the Trump days?’” she said.

You can see why she and others feel this way. For the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency, prices rose at rates not seen in decades, with year-over-year inflation eventually peaking near 10% in the middle of 2022. If you didn’t notice it at the supermarket, then you might have seen it at the pump, when gas prices nationally hit nearly $5 a gallon.

Since then, inflation has actually come back down . Most analysts believe the driving forces behind the price spikes were global factors like supply chain issues during the pandemic ― issues that, under Biden, the U.S. handled better than most peer countries. Unemployment reached historic lows last year, and now it looks like wages (measuring from before the pandemic) have risen even faster than prices.

Surveys bear this out: Most Americans think their personal financial situation is good . Even so, their economic outlook remains glum . It could be that high borrowing costs have downstream effects on housing, or that higher