DV Journal

It is a few days before Christmas and across the commonwealth. Pennsylvania families are busy looking for last-minute holiday gifts, planning family gatherings, and engaging in charitable efforts to help those in their communities during the holiday season.

However, this season is another stark reminder that every Pennsylvanian is facing the same staggering reality: The cost of Christmas is higher than it was last year and the ability to provide for a meaningful family celebration during this holiday season is increasingly out of reach.

Despite the federal government’s continued assurances that inflation’s impact on family budgets is waning, the numbers speak for themselves in terms of the continued negative impact increasing costs are having on family budgets across the country.

November’s recently released Consumer Price Index numbers show year-over-year inflation increased 2.7  percent with a .3 percent increase over the prior month. More regionally, the northeastern part of the United States saw year-over-year inflation increase an even higher 3.5 percent.

As it pertains to Christmas, PNC’s annual “Christmas Price Index” whimsically showed the cost of the 12 gifts of Christmas increased 5.4 percent over last year. Its review took a turn for the serious when PNC Asset Group’s Chief Investment Officer Amanda Agati said, “Believe it or not, we’re still seeing the cause and effect of the pandemic-inflation hangover, even nearly five years later…With years of steep price increases, we’d think inflation has nowhere to go, but we’d be wrong.”

Those numbers mean little for the Pennsylvania parents trying to put Christmas gifts under the tree or host a nice Christmas dinner for their family. The numbers they are looking at are more real; they are the dollars and cents of a bank account that is stretched too thin by rising energy, housing and food costs.

What they need is the financial pinch that continues to steal their Christmas to end and real relief to come to their budgets.

As we enter a new legislative session, that is something Pennsylvania’s House Republicans will be keeping at the forefront of our attention.

We are excited to continue our work to bring transformational change to Pennsylvania’s system of education and reduce government’s regulatory burdens.

In addition, our members will focus with urgency on ways that we can meaningfully put more money in the pockets of Pennsylvanians.

Last session, Republicans in both the House and the Senate stood unified in calling for a tax cut for Pennsylvania families. Now, it is incumbent upon us to continue an examination of our state finances to find ways to support and advance policies that return taxpayer investment directly back into the pockets of Pennsylvanians.

We also have much work we can do on the back end of cost savings.

While continued reduction of the Corporate Net Income Tax is smart policy, we need to examine the bipartisan-supported repeal of the sales tax prepayment that affects many small businesses, increases their business costs and ultimately costs consumers.

In addition, we must examine the energy cost driver impacting the bottom line of many Pennsylvania families.

We have been saying it for years, and it remains true today: Pennsylvania is an energy rich state. It is a failure of policymakers that we are not able to turn our home-grown energy assets into appreciably lower energy costs for Pennsylvanians.

Not only do we need to look at outside-the-box ways to help Pennsylvanians afford to heat and cool their homes and turn the lights on, but we also must also find tangible and short-term ways to increase both production of Pennsylvania-based energy resources and enhance our transmission capabilities to get our products to market.

Increasing production and transmission will not only lead to lower energy prices for Pennsylvanians, but will increase job opportunities and educational offerings, and grow communities to create an abundantly sustained Commonwealth.

By supporting policies that will directly put money back into the pockets of Pennsylvanians and lowering energy costs in both the short and long terms, Pennsylvania’s House Republicans are focused on stopping the financial pinch who stole Christmas in the past and making Christmas affordable again in the future.

Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick stopped by a small business in Drexel Hill on Thursday to push back on his opponent’s premise that private companies caused the inflation that has driven up prices about 20 percent since President Joe Biden took office.

And McCormick used former President Donald Trump’s recent stop at a Bucks County McDonald’s to help make his point.

Three-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D) has joined with the Biden administration to blame rising prices on “greedflation,” corporations somehow colluding to drive up prices rather than compete for market share. Economists have widely panned that premise, noting that if “greedy corporations” had the power drive up prices during the Biden presidency, they could have done the same during the Trump, Obama and Bush administrations. too. Why wait and miss all those millions in profits?

No, McCormick told supporters gathered at Drexel Hill Automotive, it’s “because of the weak leadership in Washington, Pennsylvania families and small businesses in our commonwealth are hurting, particularly over the last three and a half years. And we have Kamala Harris and Bob Casey’s extreme liberal policies to thank.

“Their reckless spending in Washington pushed inflation through the roof. They unleashed trillions of dollars of wasteful federal spending that over stimulated the economy,” said McCormick, an Army veteran and business executive. “They pushed an anti-energy agenda that drove up energy costs. Electricity’s up 35 percent. Fuel’s up 50 percent. And it hurt energy jobs.”

McCormick also called Casey out for joining with progressive U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in a letter to McDonald’s CEO CEO Chris Kempczinski, accusing the low-cost, fast-food company of price gouging.

While working families are trying to make ends meet, McDonald’s and its corporate counterparts have continued to grow their profits,” Casey wrote.

“This letter demonstrates a lack of understanding of our franchise business model and contains contortions of facts and many inaccuracies,” the company said in response. “Take the components of the $5 Meal Deal with McChicken, for example, which would have cost 15 percent more in 2020 than they do today. That’s the opposite of price gouging.”

On Thursday, McCormick said he saw politics behind Casey’s complaints.

“This week Bob Casey decided to further twist the knife, basically telling a Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchise that he’s to blame for high prices. It was a vindictive move to score political points, attacking small businesses and employees. This was after President Trump’s visit.

“The very next day, Sen. Casey sent a letter to the CEO of McDonald’s attacking McDonald’s for high prices,” McCormick noted.

Raj Singh owns Drexel Hill Automotive and a family-owned insurance company.

“My business is struggling. Thanks to the sluggish economy, it’s been really tough,” Singh said. “We need some change.

“We tried Bob Casey since 2006 and nothing changed. Dave McCormick, he’s a successful business leader and will fight to lower prices so small businesses like my business can thrive.”

Meaghan Wagner, a lawyer and Upper Darby council member, was also on hand to make the case for McCormick.

“Bob Casey has not stepped foot here in over six years to support any small businesses in Delaware County or Upper Darby,” Wagner said. “He was here once, and that’s for a fundraiser. Where I can tell you David McCormick, just alone this month, has been here in the First District, supporting our small businesses.”

The Casey campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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Karl Marx famously said that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce.

Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing that aphorism to life by putting price controls at the center of her economic agenda. Despite centuries of evidence that such controls invariably lead to shortages, rationing and general economic dysfunction, Harris thinks her price control scheme will work.

It won’t.

To fight “greedflation,” Harris proposes a “first-ever federal ban” on “excessive” grocery prices, national rent controls affecting 20 million apartments, and additional government price caps on prescription drugs.

It’s a return to the 1970s when double-digit inflation was dogging the economy, and politicians turned to price controls.

In 1971 President Richard Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on prices and wages. The outcome was as predictable then as it is comical now. In their book “The Commanding Heights,” Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw noted that farmers drowned their chickens, and ranchers withheld their cattle from markets. Gas lines stretched for miles. By the end of his presidency, Nixon was threatening more price controls to fix the mess he created.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s 1970s price control agenda met with similar results: supply constraints, hoarding and economic distortions. Frustrated workers — more than a million of them — went on strike in the largest walkout in that nation’s history.

President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 “windfall profits tax” on oil led to more shortages and consumer outrage.

Nixon, Trudeau and Carter could have avoided a lot of headaches and heartbreak if they had boned up on Roman history.

The first recorded example of price controls comes from the fourth century, during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Facing rampant inflation, Diocletian thought he could decree lower prices by issuing an edict.

What followed was an economic meltdown. Merchants refused to sell their goods at a loss, shortages spread, and the black market flourished. The Roman economy crumbled, and Diocletian was forced to abdicate. His folly became a textbook example of economic mismanagement.

Harris is proposing to open up Diocletian’s economic playbook again. She may claim that government price caps will make life easier for struggling families. However, such controls never work as intended. They don’t tackle the root causes of high prices, and they certainly don’t increase supply. In fact, they do the opposite.

Take groceries. By imposing price caps, Harris would be telling farmers and producers that their goods are not worth what the market says they are. The result? Farmers stop producing, grocery stores limit stock, and consumers face empty shelves. Black markets often emerge to meet unfulfilled demand, with prices higher than before.

In the pharmaceutical industry, the consequences could be even more dire. Research and development are expensive and time-consuming. Companies invest billions, hoping that a handful of potential blockbusters will provide a return on investment, cover the development costs of the drug candidates that fail, and fund future innovation.

Price controls would crush that incentive. Drug companies, facing lower profits, would cut back on research. New treatments would be delayed — if they ever came about at all.

This is not speculation. It’s already happening, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which levies price controls on prescription drugs dispensed under Medicare. According to the Life Sciences Investment Tracker created by Incubate, a coalition of venture capital firms, drug companies have discontinued three dozen research programs and more than 20 drugs since the IRA became law.

From ancient Rome to the 1970s and now 2024, the truth is clear: price controls don’t work. They create shortages, stifle innovation and leave consumers worse off. Harris’s plan will end in farce — like all the other failed price control schemes before it.

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For another point of view, see: Counterpoint: Harris’ Price Controls Won’t Tame Inflation

As the warmth of summer finally begins to ease, an already feverish election season will continue heating up. So, let’s do a temperature check on the sliver of folks still deciding about their voting based on finances. Which candidate has articulated an economic agenda that will be most helpful to you?

The answer is that Kamala Harris has an economic agenda that would help the broadest section of the population in ways that are most helpful.

Let’s take a look at the top proposals from each candidate.

First, if you haven’t noticed, Donald Trump frequently goes into great detail about his personal grievances and topics of division. However, details on solutions to issues affecting most Americans, more often than not, come up short.

One of the more specific economic proposals is that Trump wants to double down on tariffs for imports — 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from all countries and upward of 60 percent on imports from China. We need to realize that while there are targeted reasons to deploy tariffs in certain circumstances, the benefit is hard to see as a long-term strategy.  Not only will this increase the cost of goods coming from other countries for American consumers already struggling with the effects of pandemic inflation and “greedflation,” but it will also hurt American businesses that sell their goods overseas. These factors seriously mute the intended potential positive effect of turning American consumers toward domestically produced goods.

Trump also wants to extend the tax cuts enacted during his first term. While these did bring down taxes for most Americans, the benefits are seriously imbalanced toward those already wealthy.

Trump also continues ranting against undocumented immigrants, offering crackdowns and deportations. I bring this up because, in addition to the human effect, this will devastate our economy.

Other proposals from Trump include not taxing tips or Social Security income, implementing regulatory reform, and more drilling for oil and natural gas, which he thinks will bring down inflation.

Vice President Kamala Harris has her economic agenda. These are not overly detailed, but compared to Trump’s brief rants, they do seem more so.

Harris has come out pledging to crack down on price gouging, even offering a ban on such activity. Past efforts on this haven’t always come to fruition, but highlighting the problem and making an attempt are worthy.

Harris wants to ease the cost of housing with a range of proposals, mostly tax credits to help first-time home buyers, incentivizing the building of starter homes and affordable housing, and developing unused public land to build more housing.

Harris also proposes increasing the child and earned income tax credit. Additionally, her more nuanced approach to the challenges of immigration works toward easing the pressure on the border. Still, it provides sensible pathways to citizenship that would minimize the effect on the economy.

On healthcare, Harris wants to open up more Medicare price negotiation eligibility, lower the cap on insulin, cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs at $2,000, and extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.

Harris has an economic agenda more closely aligned with workers and organized labor. It’s essential that everyone benefits from fair wages, workplace protections, good benefits and a strong labor movement.

The candidates largely agree on a few items, like not taxing tips. However, Trump’s top-heavy, sound-bite approach to economic issues does not stack up to the more comprehensive Harris approach.

Harris provides a warm embrace to working-class citizens while the effect of Trump’s proposals leaves most people out in the cold.  Trump will claim he is out for you, but he is only out for himself. Those closest to him testify to this.  Don’t buy his lies; embrace the people who have your back: Vote Democratic.

For another point of view, see: Point: An Economic Agenda for the People

Right problem, wrong solution. It’s one of the most familiar stories in politics.

Thanks to inflation, every American is paying higher prices for groceries and housing than before the pandemic. But politicians’ proposed solutions would make those problems even worse.

The right solution is to attack inflation’s root cause, a money supply that ran amok during COVID. When the amount of money grows faster than the amount of real goods and services, you get inflation. Conversely, inflation stays low when money and goods grow in sync.

In September 2024, we’re most of the way back to that point, but keeping inflation low for the long haul means reducing deficit spending, which neither party will do.

Instead of fiscal and monetary restraint, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris pledged to enact a grocery store price gouging ban “to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries.”

A problem with this is that the industry average for grocery store profits is 1.6 percent. This leaves little room for price gouging. For context, the stock market averages an 8 percent return.

This is a perfect example of the right problem, wrong solution dynamic. Price controls have failed everywhere they have been tried because they aim at symptoms of inflation and not its root cause.

Since COVID-19, grocery prices have risen at about the same rate as overall inflation. Inflation is the culprit here, not a sinister CEO cabal. Over the last year, grocery prices have gone up slower than inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While overall inflation was 2.9 percent over the last year, food prices rose 2.2 percent.

Housing prices also have a right problem, wrong solution story. Unlike groceries, housing prices are going up faster than inflation. But even here, price controls and price gouging laws will not make housing more affordable. The best way to make housing more affordable is to build more housing.

Instead, President Biden floated a plan to cap rent increases at 5 percent annually. Harris endorsed the plan soon after becoming the nominee. Rent controls create shortages. They reduce housing construction. They reduce the maintenance of existing housing. This has been the experience everywhere, from San Francisco to Minneapolis.

There just isn’t much the federal government can do here. Zoning laws and permits are mostly set at the state and local levels. Modernizing local codes and taking on NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) activists in city council meetings is a city-by-city project for which presidential candidates can’t take credit.

Harris’ rent control proposals are about virtue signaling, not substance. On an issue with little federal role, Harris is letting voters know she still hears their problems and wants to do something about it. That is a good message, but Harris supporters should not be defending price controls on the merits.

There are a few things the federal government can do. It can speed up federally required environmental reviews, which can average 4.5 years to complete before construction may begin. Removing tariffs on building supplies like steel and lumber can save thousands of dollars on homebuilding costs.

Instead of those helpful things, the administration is up to something else highly unhelpful.

The Justice Department has sued RealPage, which uses AI technology to comb through comparable real estate listings in various markets and suggest rents to landlords. This price-fixing lawsuit will do nothing to increase the housing supply.

It could actually keep rents higher for longer. RealPage’s algorithm brings price signals to markets faster than going through listings manually. If housing supplies do increase and rents go down, it will take longer to show up in market prices without algorithmic help, and landlords will collect higher rents for longer than if RealPage were allowed to operate.

Republicans are no better. Donald Trump’s proposed 20 percent across-the-board trade tariff would cause at least as much damage as Harris’ price controls. New tariffs would pile onto existing steel and lumber tariffs.

Both parties have identified the right problem — rising prices — but have proposed the wrong solutions. Our best hope is that these Harris and Trump policy promises are empty campaign rhetoric.

What makes a strong family? And why should politicians care?

Dave McCormick, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, took part in a panel discussion about strengthening Pennsylvania families in Langhorne Tuesday.

Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and state Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Richboro) joined McCormick, along with Priscilla Reim, a Republican committeewoman and business owner from Southampton. Temple University student and chair of the Temple Republicans Billy Walker also participated.

“People are having children less and less,” said McCormick. “It’s harder and harder to have families. And part of the reason it’s harder is because economically it’s becoming more and more difficult with the inflation that’s happened under President Biden, Kamala Harris, and Bob Casey.”

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D) is McCormick’s opponent.

“Casey’s voted for all those drivers of inflation,” McCormick added. “It costs a lot more to have kids, 22 percent from when President Biden took office.”

“It’s harder to get jobs,” said McCormick. “It’s harder to have a household that can afford kids.”

McCormick, who is the father of six girls from ages 17 to 23 in a blended family, would sponsor legislation to provide families with a $15,000 tax credit for fertility services like in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Reim struggled with infertility. She and her husband spent about $100,000 over five years before they were able to have their daughter, now 11.

McCormick noted a benefit he put in place to fund IVF for employees when he was CEO at Bridgewater “changed people’s lives.”

“Going through IVF is really emotional,” said Reim. She described various infertility treatments and complications that she endured. While some treatments were covered by her insurance, IVF was not.

“Over the next three years we went through four IVF treatments,” she said. For their fourth treatment, the couple used the money they’d saved for their wedding. “It was the last straw.”

“A lot of couples couldn’t afford one cycle, let alone four,” she said. “It’s a nightmare.”

Marcell’s stepmother also used IVF to complete their family. She remembers the difficulties her stepmother endured. “For us it meant a lot that we could complete our family that way,” Marcell said. “Thankfully, it worked…It’s a great miracle to actually have a child that way and to have your dream of a family and completing a family.”

McCormick offered a series of policy proposals to support families with young children.

“One of the key issues is allowing families to access faith-based community care,” McCormick said. He would also bolster school choice through federal tax credits for contributions to scholarship funds. And creating a tax-free savings account families can use to pay for up to $10,000 per year in childcare costs is another idea McCormick supports.   He would also double the federal child tax credit, which will be $2,000 per child in tax year 2025.

McCormick also said he would like to ban children under 16 from using social media, an idea polls show has growing support among concerned parents.

Marcell, a former school board member, has two children, 14 and 9. Recently, her daughter talked with a stranger over social media and wanted to go and meet them, said Marcell. Luckily, she told her mom.

“We talked about the reality,” she said. Social media platforms are there to get reactions and they become addictive, she said.  “I think there are a lot of issues to look at.”

“My daughter talked about fear of missing out,” said Marcell.  “All you want to do is get back on your phone… And unfortunately, it can create an unhealthy body image.”

At the state level they’re considering legislation, the Kids Online Safety Act.

“This is a huge issue all of us need to address,” she said.

Schorn said, “In Bucks County there are predators on various internet social media sites.” Law enforcement is looking out for them but “we need to continue to fund law enforcement, to make sure the men and women who are highly trained can receive those tips and follow through.”

A single image on Snapchat led to the arrest of a child predator.

“We do know it’s a rich environment for predators,” said McCormick.

Other criminals use social media to prey upon kids for fraud, Schorn said.

Walker believes social media has increased depression and suicide among kids and teens.

“When kids use social media at such a young age it becomes addictive like a drug,” he said, citing the U.S. Surgeon General. “It is addictive as cigarettes and triggers chemicals in the brain like drugs, like cocaine.” And 59 percent of teenagers are cyberbullied.

Social media can lead to anxiety, depression, anorexia and even self-harm. Suicide is a leading cause of teenage death, he added.

“I commend Dave [McCormick] for his willingness to take on the social media tech giants to fight social media,” said Walker.

When a reporter asked McCormick about his stance on abortion, he responded that in Pennsylvania, it’s settled law that’s “not going to change.” He believes there should be exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, and incest.

McCormick said more Pennsylvanians are worried about inflation.

“And that they can’t afford to have kids anymore because of the high cost of living. They struggle to have kids because of the high cost of fertility treatments. Those are pocketbook issues for many Pennsylvanians. I want to be proactive in trying to address those…I think if I can get people to listen, my message will resonate.”

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You can’t watch TV without seeing a commercial from Sen. Bob Casey Jr. blaming inflation on corporations with “Greedflation” and “Shrinkflation” as the catchwords.

However, a new report is debunking Democrats Casey and President Joe Biden, who also uses the terms. According to the report from Americans for Prosperity, Casey has “cherrypicked” the data and does not account for corporate expenses before calculating profits.

The report, “The Bidenflation Blame Game: How Big-Spending Politicians Scapegoat Business,” by Kurt Couchman, AFP senior fellow in fiscal policy, andAFP Economic Policy Analyst Ilana Blumsack, lays the blame for inflation squarely on government spending rather than lawmakers’ businesses for higher prices or downsizing products.

Couchman told DVJournal “Congress and the White House need to get the spending and the debt under control. That is the urgent requirement for getting inflation and interest rates back under control. We need Congress to get serious about fixing the budgeting.”

Congress spent a lot and borrowed a lot during the pandemic and immediately afterward.

“And, of course, there had been rising deficits before that, but the pandemic spending splurge, all borrowed money, really drove up the debt,” said Couchman. “The Federal Reserve had to buy a lot of that debt. And then, it was the American Rescue Plan Act, $1.9 trillion of new borrowed spending, when the Democrats took control of everything that was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back. That’s when we saw inflation immediately in March 2021, when they passed that thing, and then they kept building on it. They kept spending more and more money that we didn’t have. So that added to the inflationary fire.”

“The Biden administration approved $6 trillion in new debt,” he said.  In addition to the American Rescue Plan, there were the Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips Act.

“And it only cooled off when Republicans gained enough seats to win control of the House of Representatives,” Couchman added.

As for Casey and Biden’s contention that the blame for inflation lies with greedy corporations, Couchman said that is not true.

His report shows corporate profits have remained relatively stable.

“Sen. Casey from Pennsylvania had claimed corporate profits were driving inflation over the last couple of years,” said Couchman. Casey’s November 2023 inflation report “just didn’t pass the smell test,” he said. “I looked at his methodology, and he used some funny timing. He looked at the second quarter of 2020, which was when the economy was pretty much locked down. And then compared it to two years after when we had basically recovered. And it turned out that he used a measure that wasn’t actually corporate profits because it excluded a bunch of really significant expenses, and profits are revenues minus costs.”

When you factor that in, “you see that corporate profits have only grown along with the broader economy,” said Couchman.

Casey did not respond to a request for comment.

Nate Sizemore, a spokesman for Casey’s Republican opponent, Dave McCormick, said, “Bob Casey is grasping at straws to distract voters from the truth. He rubber-stamped trillions in wasteful federal spending, fueling the war on energy, and creating the sky-high inflation crushing Pennsylvania families. Come November 5, voters across the commonwealth will hold Casey accountable for his disastrous economic record.”

AFP Regional Director Ashley Klingensmith said, “Real leaders own up to their failures when they’re wrong. What we’re seeing from members of Congress—including my senator, Bob Casey—is an immature and deceptive excuse to cover up a lousy voting record. Sen. Casey and many other lawmakers have voted in lockstep with President Biden but aren’t willing to own the consequences, apologize, or change course. But we at AFP-PA will ensure that Pennsylvanians know his voting record and encourage them to call his office and tell him to stop voting for an agenda that’s actively hurting the Keystone State.”

Couchman said there are major ramifications since the country’s debt is now nearly 100 percent of the gross domestic production (GDP).

“It’s estimated by the International Monetary Fund and others that somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of GDP is when debt drag starts to happen,” he said. “We’re at about 100 percent of GDP.” This could slow economic growth because “the government debt is crowding out the private sector.”  And people are starting to worry about whether the federal government can pay its “timely interest in principle on the debt,” causing uncertainty.

The housing market is already affected by higher interest rates on mortgages, credit cards, and car loans.

All this came from “too much spending, which came from bad decisions by Congress and the president,” he said.

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Inflation bites during this era of Bidenomics. And poor families are the ones being bitten.

A recent study showed that for those households that used the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) increased pandemic benefits, 43 percent skipped meals last month, and 55 percent ate less because they couldn’t afford food. According to a report from Propel Inc., that was more than double last year’s rate.

Also, more households had utilities shut off or could not pay their rent.

Those households receiving SNAP are at or below the federal poverty line of $30,000 annually for a family of four.

According to the U.S. Census, real median post-tax household income in 2022 was 8.8 percent lower than in 2021.

The Census reports the poorest areas of the Delaware Valley include the city of Chester, Darby Borough and Darby Township, Sharon Hill, and Colwyn in Delaware County; parts of West Chester and Coatesville in Chester County; and Norristown and Pottstown in Montgomery County.

Liz Hagedorn, director of Nutritional Development Services, which is affiliated with the Archdioceses of Philadelphia, agreed inflation drives the need for more people to ask for help. Her organization sponsors 50 food cupboards in the five-county area.

Nicolino Ellis welcomes clients to the Jenkintown Food Cupboard.

“We are seeing the cost of not only food but also utilities and other items that families need just to get by have all gone up tremendously,” said Hagedorn. “And very few of those items have come back down in price. And we are seeing an increase at the food cupboards and people in the street, as well, coming in for more food.”

Nicolino Ellis, director of the Jenkintown Food Cupboard at the United Methodist Church, said he sees more people signing up for food.

As of Sept. 1, 2022, the church had 275 new families as clients. It has 382 new families this year, “over a third increase,” he noted.

And in August 2022, it had 870 visits (some families made multiple visits). This year, there were 1,165 visits to the food cupboard.

“That’s a massive increase,” he said. Inflation is partly to blame based on the increase of elderly people on fixed incomes who are coming in for food, he explained. They also have more Ukrainian refugees: 50 of 65 families who recently signed up are Ukrainian refugees “who had never been here before,” said Ellis, who greets clients as they drive in and seems to know everyone’s name.

“Last month, there were 76 new families,” said Ellis. “That’s a really high number.” In 2022, about 20 families a month signed up, he said.

Last Thursday, a steady stream of people drove up to get their food allocation. The food cupboard also offers personal care items and baby care needs like shampoo and diapers.

Jenkintown Food Cupboard volunteer Bess Kaufman fills a cart for a client.

Volunteers act as personal shoppers and fulfill the clients’ lists. They know their likes and dislikes. The food cupboard has 175 volunteers with 70 alternating weeks.

Ellis pointed out that giving fish to someone who does not like fish would be wasteful.

“We’re trying to eliminate some of the stigma of being food insecure,” he said. They also have a fund to help smaller food pantries in the area supply fresh food, not just “shelf staples.”

The food cupboard offers fresh fruits and vegetables, milk and almond milk,  eggs, various kinds of meat, and staples like rice and pasta. It has storage rooms in the building it rents from the church with shelving and refrigerators. It is raising money for a warehouse, he said. However, it will keep the present site for clients to pick up their supplies.

About a third of the food cupboard’s money comes from federal funds through the state and county, with the remainder from donations. Many religious institutions and schools collect food for it. Food is collected through Philabundance and the Share Food Program, and fresh produce is purchased from a distributor.

“Last year, we gave away almost a half million pounds of food,” he said.

Hagedorn thinks more people will feel the pinch in October when they must begin repaying their student loans.

“I think a lot of young people and older people are going to feel that squeeze in their budget, as well,” said Hagedorn.

“They’re saying the inflation rate has gone down,” she said. “That it’s more manageable. But I don’t see it. I mean, I know from my own personal experience when you go food shopping, have you seen the price of anything go down? No. I’m thinking, where are these people (who say that) shopping?”

More people are reaching out for help, she said.

“You know what Jesus said, ‘Everyone is your neighbor.’ So that’s what we do,” said Hagedorn.

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For an alternate point of view see “Point: This Labor Day Don’t Let Pols Take Credit for the Economy”

“In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, tens of millions struggle to put food on the table, find affordable housing, affordable healthcare, affordable prescription drugs, affordable childcare and affordable educational opportunities.”

That was Bernie Sanders, in New Hampshire last week, summing up some of the injustices at the source of many Americans’ discontent.

It’s Labor Day 2023. The election cycle will be moving into high gear, and 2024 could determine how much we can fix these problems or whether we move backward toward increasing inequality of income, wealth and access to education.

Let’s start with some good news: Over the past year, inflation has fallen from 9.1 percent to just 3.2 percent. Many economists, including Nobel Prize winners and others prominent in the profession, would say that the job is about done. The Fed’s goal is still 2 percent and will likely get there. But it doesn’t really have an argument that 3 percent is a problem.

In any case, the economists and others who said that inflation would become semi-permanent or accelerate turned out to be wrong. Those of us who saw no self-reinforcing mechanism — as with the wage-price spiral of the 1970s, where wages push up prices, which then lead to higher nominal wages, and so on — were correct. The spike in inflation was overwhelmingly caused by disruptions associated with the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. And for these and other reasons, it turned out that inflation could recede without creating mass unemployment or a recession.

This is good news because the Fed, by raising interest rates, has actually caused most of the recessions we have experienced since World War II.

Instead, we have full employment. This is a big deal, not only for the millions of people who would otherwise be unemployed and their children. The historical record shows that when the economy approaches full employment, real (inflation-adjusted) wages increase. They increase more for lower-wage workers than for the higher paid, so inequality — by workers’ income, gender and race — is reduced. The bargaining power of labor, including unions, increases. This is all happening now and can accelerate with smart economic policies.

When the pandemic recession hit, we had the strongest stimulus ever, running deficits of 14.9 percent of GDP in 2020 and 12.4 percent of GDP in 2021. That is how we got back to full employment with record speed. Some 13.4 million jobs have been created since President Biden took office.

But the problems raised by Bernie Sanders — who strongly supports the successful economic policies implemented — remain. And there is a deep partisan divide over how to deal with them.

On the Democratic side, there is an emphasis on full employment and real wage growth. This includes meeting the climate crisis with major investments. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act have boosted manufacturing construction, which has doubled since the end of 2021.

The Biden administration has also been supportive of workers’ collective bargaining rights. On August 25, the National Labor Relations Board issued a historic decision that will make it more difficult for employers to violate labor law, as they routinely have done, to deny union recognition and collective bargaining. On Tuesday, the administration announced the first 10 medicines subject to price negotiations with Medicare — a landmark development for lowering drug costs.

Republicans hope to capitalize on the anger generated by the injustices they have by far taken the lead role in creating. We lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs in the 2000s; the real (inflation-adjusted) median wage has barely grown from 1979-2019 (pre-pandemic); patent monopolies have been strengthened so that they cost Americans more than $400 billion annually just for prescription drugs (note at least five Moderna billionaires were created from COVID); unions now represent 6 percent of the private-sector workforce, as compared to a peak 35 percent in the 1950s; Republicans have repeatedly opposed minimum wage increases.

No Republican candidate raised their hand at the Milwaukee debate when asked to do so if they believed that human behavior is causing climate change. Republicans have also been trying to cut non-military spending as much as possible without regard to harm caused. And they have consistently opposed efforts to expand healthcare coverage for Americans.

Hence the partisan divide. This election could change the country and the world for decades to come.

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Looking back at 2022, the most significant stories the Delaware Valley Journal covered involved the midterm election.

The primary campaign for governor and lieutenant governor on the Republican side brought out many candidates. In contrast, on the Democratic side, only Josh Shapiro ran for governor while a few Democrats contested for the lieutenant governor’s nomination. Many Republicans supported Shapiro, who ran as a moderate.

The race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) drew several candidates in both parties. Democrats fielded Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke during the campaign, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, Philadelphia state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Philadelphia physician Kevin Baumlin, and western Pennsylvania Congressman Conor Lamb.

Among area Senate candidates, conservative author and commentator Kathy Barnette, Montgomery County businessman Jeff Bartos, Philadelphia lawyer George Bochetto, and Montgomery County lawyer Sean Gale all took part in a debate sponsored by the DVJournal that was broadcast on Pennsylvania Cable Network.

Celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick duked it out, spending massive amounts on television ads. With former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, Oz prevailed by a slim margin, only to lose in the general election to Fetterman. Fetterman’s poor showing in a late October debate failed to move the needle since many voters had already cast their ballots via mail-in voting before seeing it.

The DVJournal also sponsored an online debate for Republican lieutenant governor candidates.

The wide field of men and one woman running for the Republican nomination for governor also debated several times. State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) came out on top in the primary despite a last-minute play by party leaders to back former Congressman Lou Barletta. Locally, Delaware County businessman Dave White made a strong showing and Chester County attorney Bill McSwain enjoyed the deep-pocket financial support of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs.

Shapiro, who spent millions on television commercials to paint Mastriano as an extremist, went on to handily win the governor’s race. Many believe redistricting in the Delaware Valley collar counties gave the Democrats a new advantage. Democrats defeated several incumbent Republicans, notably Todd Stephens in Montgomery County, Chris Quinn in Delaware County, and Todd Polinchock in Bucks County.

Other 2022 stories in the region included the saga of private utility companies buying up municipal sewer and water authorities. The DVJ has highlighted Pennsylvanians’ likely higher energy bills with Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), despite opposition from the state legislature.  And the state’s crucial Marcellus Shale natural gas industry remains under assault from the Biden administration’s embrace of the Green New Deal.

This year, many other DVJournal articles focused on parents who are at war with “woke” school boards and school administrators who impose critical race theory (CRT) and gender-fluid ideology on their students and critical race theory (CRT) and gender-fluid ideology on their students as well as stocking school libraries with obscene books.

The Delaware Valley Journal also brought readers the saga of the state House versus progressive Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner that culminated in the House voting to impeach Krasner for mishandling of his official duties, which they allege is a significant factor in the skyrocketing crime rate in the city. An impeachment trial for Krasner is set in the Senate for Jan. 18.

While crime has been a big issue for DVJournal’s 2022 reporting, inflation was also a hot topic with skyrocketing prices for gas, food, and other goods biting into Delaware Valley residents’ budgets.

Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision weighed on the election, causing a rise in Democratic voter registration and driving some women, particularly women in the Delaware Valley suburbs, to the polls. Conversely, the increase in arrests of pro-life activists by the Biden Department of Justice has stirred up passion on the other side of the abortion issue.

And the local reaction to the war in Ukraine is also a concern, with many Ukrainian immigrants living in the area. DVJournal also brought our readers letters from a Ukrainian mother about what it was like to live in that war-torn country.

Amid all the other news vying for attention, the DVJournal has kept its eye on the sad case of the death of Fanta Bility, the 8-year-old girl hit by a bullet fired by police officers. Three Sharon Hill officers pleaded guilty in that case, and a federal lawsuit brought by Bility’s family is pending.

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