This is a transcript of my radio monologue today in Charleston, South Carolina after the Nikki Haley event. You’ll want to hear this.
If I sound a little different, it's because I'm actually in a hotel. I brought all my radio equipment over, and I am broadcasting live from the Charleston Place Hotel in downtown Charleston. My daughter and I were here for Nikki Haley's event, saw it about an hour and a half ago now, and ran back down to the hotel to get started on radio. Be patient with me if you're on the phones. It's going to be a little while before I can actually get my call screening software up and running. I had some issues with the hotel wifi in the room, but they're working on it.
I want to talk about an issue that ties into all of these Republican presidential candidates running. I hope all of the Republican candidates take note of this important story. It has everything to Nikki Haley who just announced her presidential campaign here in Charleston just a little while ago. She spoke with passion about the American dream and her journey to launching a presidential campaign.
The story is from Bloomberg News and is highlighted in The Show Notes. You need to see this. Let me just read you the beginning of this. The headline, just so you understand, is, "New Cars are Only for the Rich Now, as Automakers Rake in Profits."
"With pandemic era chip shortages fading, manufacturers are keeping inventories low and prices high. The shift to EVs, electric vehicles, will make things worse. A shiny new car in the driveway has been an emblem of middle class prosperity for generations. But for the typical American family, it's now a distant Dream. The average monthly payment for a new car has soared to a record $777, nearly double from late 2019, according to Kelly Blue Book owner, Cox Automotive. That's almost a sixth of the median after-tax income for US households. Even used models have climbed to $544 a month on average. Keep in mind, yesterday's inflation report. Used cars are down about 11%. But that's still $544 a month on average.
"The sticker shock extends well beyond the United States where inflation is a thorny political issue for President Biden, as the 2024 election looms. In Europe, prices are flirting with records. Used car prices soared in Japan last year and in China. A rapid push to electric vehicles means consumers will have to pay more in some cities. At the root of the problem is automaker's new mantra, 'keep inventory lean and price tags fat.' Three years after the pandemic triggered a global shortage of semiconductor chips and crippled car manufacturing, Ford, General Motors, and their overseas rivals are notching big profits. And because electric vehicles cost about 25% more than the average car, the shift to plug-ins is about to make the affordability crisis even worse. Add soaring interest rates to the mix, and new cars are fast becoming the domain of the rich."
Ladies and gentlemen, here is your Campaign 2024 issue. The Democrats have priced the middle class out of the American Dream. This should not be a partisan issue, but it is a partisan issue. Because the Democrats have so embraced climate extremists in this country, they think it is a good thing that the middle class must rely on public transportation or 10-year-old vehicles in order to get just to work, let alone carpool the kids. They think it is a good thing. They think it will force people into cities where they can more control our lives. They think it's better for the environment. They are ruining the American Dream for the middle class, not the poor. The poor have always largely been priced out of the automobile market, including the recently used automobile market. But for the middle class, they could at least get a recently used, a pre-owned vehicle, they call them.
And for a lot of the middle class, particularly the upper middle class, they could get new vehicles. They can't do that anymore. You can't do that anymore. You are struggling to make ends meet because of inflation. Yes, it's the automakers who are doing it. Notice how Joe Biden blasts the big oil companies, but he doesn't blast the big auto manufacturers. Why is that? Unionization, perhaps? He doesn't go after them. The reason he doesn't go after them is because Joe Biden thinks it's a good thing.
He said in the State of the Union, we'll only need oil and gas for about 10 more years. He said that. Joe Biden said that. That was one of his lines. He tried to defend it. It was rather indefensible, frankly. Joe Biden is pricing people out of the middle class, American Dream.
Listen. This was what he said.
The congressional reaction from the Republicans was appropriate for what he said despite the fact he tried to correct himself. But he said this consistently, for about 10 years, you all, we can't, there's not enough lithium. There was a report out the other day, there's not enough lithium.
And right now, by the way, Politifact is coming after me for reporting a news article from a news site because the left doesn't like it. According to Jalopnik, and some outside energy consulting group, right now, driving a hundred miles, in an electric car typically costs you more than a fossil fuel burning vehicle. Why? Because the internal combustion engine with gas prices the way they've been, is actually cheaper than the energy prices powering up a battery in a car.
Joe Biden is pricing the middle class out of the American Dream. The Democrats' environmentalist policies are pricing the middle class out of the American Dream. The middle class cannot buy new cars. When Herbert Hoover was President of the United States, what did he want? A car in every garage? A chicken in every pot? That was the vision of the American Dream, a land of plenty.
It's not a land of plenty under the Democrats. It's a land of plenty of grievances for the Democrats. That's what they want to complain about. And they don't want you to have a car. They don't want the middle class to have a car. They do not want you to have the mobility of the American Dream to pack up and move unless you're willing to move to a city with a subway system or a bus system. And that gives you an inflexibility with which you cannot grab hold of the American Dream.
This is a message that the Republicans need to embrace. The Democrats are willfully pricing the middle class out of the American Dream. The Democrats have embraced policies that drive up the cost of car ownership. They drive up the cost of home ownership. They drive up the cost of rent. They drive up the cost of education. Democrats' policies make it more expensive for the middle class to grow in income, to prosper. They make it more difficult for the poor to become the middle class. They make it very difficult, except for everyone who's already rich in this country.
That's the American Dream for the Democrats. You stay poor and move to a city and take a bus to a miserable job, as opposed to buying land and moving to the country. You can't, because your battery-powered car can't make it to the city. You can't, because you can't afford the battery-powered car.
The quality of life that you have now has deteriorated in the last several years. And they blame Covid, they blamed Covid. I saw an article yesterday, they blame Covid for the decline in education, literacy rates, and math competency. It wasn't a virus that caused a decline in math skills. It was the public policies put forward by Democrats that did that. Your children's lives are worse because of the Democrats' policies. Your lives are worse because of the Democrats' policies.
Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Hell, no, you're not. Your car is more expensive. Your mortgage is more expensive. Your eggs are more expensive. Your groceries are more expensive. Your gas is more expensive. Your insurance is more expensive. Your bank fees are more expensive. Everything is more expensive than it was four years ago.
And the Democrats are okay with that. Because it's forcing you to consume less. And in consuming less, you're saving the planet. It's all part of their design. It's all part of their ambition to rein you and your good times over. They got to be over to save the planet. You've consumed too much. It's time to rein you in. That's where the Democrats are headed with this.
And I've got to tell you, I firmly, genuinely, completely, believe that this is a message for Republican candidates. This is a message for the Republicans. Say, "Enough. Enough. We're tired of you implementing policies that raise prices on the middle class. We're tired of you implementing policies that price the middle class out of the American Dream. We believe in the American Dream. We live the American Dream. Our families came here as immigrants or descended from slaves, or they were poor and needy and they prospered with the American Dream. Because in America, people who worked hard could get ahead."
And in Democratic America, in Joe Biden's America, you work to get ahead, they cancel you. They shut you down. They drive up your taxes. They tell you you're bad. We've got to be able to fight this. And I think we can win it. I think there's a winnable message for Republicans about the American Dream.
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