FOX Business correspondent Charles Gasparino laid it out plainly on Sunday Night in America: Americans aren’t feeling any “wealth effect” from rising markets while the cost of living keeps climbing for everyday families. His blunt assessment is a reminder that Wall Street rallies mean very little if Main Street can’t pay for groceries or heat their homes.
The situation is made worse by Washington’s latest mess — the Bureau of Labor Statistics was forced to cancel the release of October’s CPI report because a government shutdown crippled data collection, leaving policymakers flying blind. That kind of bureaucratic failure should alarm every taxpayer: when the government can’t even count the numbers, how can it pretend to fix the problem?
Meanwhile, the inflation picture that we do have shows the pain hasn’t disappeared; recent reports showed consumer prices reaccelerating with inflation remaining well above where hardworking Americans want it to be. Families are still paying more for essentials, and that stubborn price pressure proves conventional Washington fixes have failed to deliver relief.
Gasparino’s point about the missing “wealth effect” hits the conservative sweet spot: elite-driven market gains don’t translate into lower grocery bills or cheaper rents for the millions living paycheck to paycheck. This is the predictable result of years of reckless fiscal expansion, unnecessary tariffs, and policies that put ideological goals ahead of American prosperity.
The remedy is obvious to anyone who actually cares about families and jobs — stop the spending spree, repeal counterproductive trade barriers, and unleash American energy and production so prices can fall and supply can meet demand. Republicans must stop playing defense and start offering real, concrete plans that return power and purchasing ability to the people who built this country.
If conservatives don’t force a change in Washington’s direction, ordinary Americans will continue to bear the brunt of political experiments from on high. It’s time to stand with those who work for a living, not the bureaucrats and bubble-dwellers who count stock indexes as a substitute for stewardship.
