If you ever watch Fox News’ show The Five, you know that one of the two regular Democrats they have to “balance” the show out is Harold Ford Jr. He’s a former Congressman from Tennessee, now retired and like Jason Chavitz, working for Fox News. And what Harold says about the upcoming election is interesting.
Now, I’m not a fan of Ford, but of the two Democrats that they have on that panel, the other being whack job, Jessica Tarlov, who’s about as liberal as those students protesting on college campuses, he is a real moderate. And he has some interesting things that he says will determine who will win the White House this November. He even goes so far as to say when all of these things will occur.
The first thing you need to look at in a presidential election year, according to Ford, are gasoline prices. And you need to look at them just before Memorial Day. That’s when the summer driving season kicks off. If gas prices are high, it’s not a good sign for the incumbent president. How high? That’s up for interpretation, but it makes sense.
The second thing you need to look for is the cost of food around the fourth of July. That’s because most Americans hold parties and cookouts then. If the cost of hamburger, hotdogs, chicken, and steaks are up then again, it’s not the sign the incumbent president wants to see. Americans will not be happy.
The final thing that we all need to watch for according to Ford, is in August, and the back-to-school prices. If clothing, student needs such as backpacks, pens, paper, notebooks and the like are up, it’s a terrible sign. And if all three are up, then you might as well start packing up your belongings if you’re the incumbent.
Now, I get that those three times are when Americans are paying attention to the economy probably more than others. But what this is really telling me is that Ford believes in the age-old adage that voters vote their pocketbooks, and that, as James Carville once said, it IS the economy, stupid! If that’s the case, then Biden should just plan on moving to Rehoboth Beach now and running the country from there. There’s no need for debate, there’s no need for campaigning.
The economy is locked into whatever it’s going to do for the next six months, regardless what Biden does at this point. But I can point to a couple of things that he’s intimating he’s considering doing that isn’t going to bode well for him.
The first mistake he’s making is raising the Capital Gains Tax to 44.6% for “qualified individuals” and corporations. That means if you live in California, New Jersey, Oregon, Minnesota, or New York, and you have capital gains (usually through the sale of stocks or mutual funds), then your effective tax will be over 50% because those of those states’ high capital gains tax. That federal margin, by the way, is the highest in history. And, most likely it will make Nancy Pelosi’s head explode with all the trading she does!
The second mistake he’s making is to say today that he’s going to let the Trump tax cuts expire at the end of 2025. That means that he will be breaking his promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $200,000 a year, as letting these cuts expire will certainly do that. Of course, should he be elected, he’ll be a lame duck at that point, and doesn’t care what anybody thinks. It harkens back to 1984 when Ronald Reagan said that Walter Mondale (the Democrat nominee) has promised to raise your taxes ahead of the election. That election was the last landslide we’ve had in this country, as Mondale could only carry Minnesota. He couldn’t even carry Massachusetts, which at the time was the most liberal state in the country.
We’ll have to see if Harold Ford Jr. was right about his prediction. He claims it’s pretty much a fool proof way to determine who’s going to win a presidential election…and we’re just weeks away from the first prediction date.
Carry on world…you’re dismissed!
The Lone Cactus 
Interesting! And Ford is the most sensible liberal on the View for sure!
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