Data indicates economic improvement: Democrats and Doomers hardest hit | Hour 3

All right, so I've already kind of covered the the irony, if you will, of the people who have been calling Donald Trump Hitler and saying MAGA voters are extremists who are threatening to destroy our democracy and how they are now very concerned that Trump's language on crime fighting, that this is fear-mongering, like without a hint of self-reflection, right? Like you guys... You guys have been saying some pretty terrible things for a decade now. You're talking about fear-mongering. But Trump spent a lot of time in his rally yesterday in Gastonia talking about crime and hitting Roy Cooper on his record on crime. However, you look at the polling and the thing that most people are concerned about is the economy. And this is mainly reflected... And you hear people writing in, you heard a text in the last hour, it's about the price of gas and groceries. Although I would note that the groceries category did not really emerge until after the great egg controversy died down. Remember that? Everybody was freaking out about the price of eggs and they were blaming Trump about the price of eggs, even though there was like external factors that created that. but the price of groceries, we had the big, the great taco debate of 2026, right? $ 20 for a burrito, I think, or yeah, it was a burrito. And we covered that a couple of months ago when that was this big online debate because some college kid said something like, I can't afford a $ 20 burrito. And people were like, especially like Gen Xers were like, why are you spending $ 20 on a burrito? It's not about the burrito. It's about the price of groceries, right? So after the egg prices came back down because, you know, the avian flu had passed and you had the collusion or whatever among the egg producers that they'd been litigated on. And so like, they're now the price of eggs. You don't hear anybody talking about the price of eggs because they came back down. But the economy is the big issue. And There is no doubt about it. Gas prices now somewhere over $ 4 a gallon in North Carolina. And in states that have much higher taxes on their gas, they're seeing way higher per gallon costs. And states, they have a lot to do with the price you pay at the pump as well. I believe North Carolina, our gas tax is somewhere around $ 0. 50 a gallon. And also. I just want to, you know, cards on the table here. My bias is to not trust people who have been trying to drive up the price of gas is to not trust them in their concern about the price of gas now. Okay. So if you have been advocating for policies that, that drive up the price of gas because you think higher gas prices mean people will convert over to preferable modes of transportation, in your opinion, then I don't believe you when you say, oh my gosh, the price of gas is too high, when that's what you have been advocating for for the last 25 years. Okay, because I remember you saying these things. I remember your policies, right? When you guys advance all of these green energy policies to drive up the price of fossil fuels, I don't trust you when you say you're concerned about the price of fossil fuels. Okay, so that's my full disclosure. Cards on the table. So when you have high gas prices, that obviously filters into the rest of the economy because if you bought something at a store or whatever, or even like delivered to your home, it came on a truck, right? And so there's an impact when you have higher gas prices and it goes throughout the economy, to be sure. So I have some economic data for you. And as always, whenever I present economic data, what you need to keep in mind when hearing this stuff is that All too often in media, they present a single data point and they say, this is good news or this is bad news, as if that is supposed to be indicative of the entire economy when it's just one data point. And there are a lot of reasons why that one data point is what it is. Okay, so keep that in mind as I go through this data. The Census Bureau, looking at 2025, okay, Census Bureau has just published the poverty rate. Okay? And the poverty rate in 2025 declined. The poverty rate went down. It is at 10.2%. So 90% of Americans are not in poverty. That's not to say... That that's acceptable. Pete wants 10% of the people to live in poverty. Like, that's not to say that. I'm pointing this one day to point out that the poverty rate is at 10%. That also doesn't mean that everybody's rich. That's not what I'm saying either. However, a decline in the poverty rate, a trend line that goes down, is a good thing, in my opinion. That is generally a positive thing when you have fewer people living in poverty. This is why I am a free market proponent. Because free enterprise allows the poverty rate to decline. It's the only economic system that actually does so. It may not be perfect, but it has lifted more people out of grinding abject poverty than any other economic system ever devised. Now, we can get, as the texter in the last hour said, you know, we can have a fresh start and just scrap all that and maybe, you know, turn everything over to some central planners and that sort of thing, and then we'll all be equal in our poverty. I mean, that is a fresh start, but I would oppose that. According to the Census Bureau data, real median household income increased last year. By about 2.6%. That's an increase. This is the median household income, so it's not an average. It's not the mean. Median means if you take, and it's a better gauge here because it means you take every single household and you line them up lowest to highest, and then you count to the midpoint. So median gives you a better idea of how many people are actually on the left side and the right side or on the lower income side and the higher income side. It gives you a better gauge. So a 2.6% increase in real median household income, that puts it at $ 2, 250 increase over 2024. This is the highest real median household income in history. It's at $ 87, 460. Right? That's the median household income. Pre-tax income for black Americans is up almost 5%. White Americans up almost 3%. So keep that in mind when we are lamenting the terrible economy that real median household income has actually increased. Wages also have increased. because they lag behind inflation. So the wages have actually increased as well. All right, for over a year now, you've heard me talking about Create-A-Video, great local company in Mint Hill that has helped more than 2 million families preserve their memories by turning old photos, VHS tapes, film reels, and slides into lasting keepsakes. Now, Create-A-Video is helping families and groups create brand new memories while they're traveling. 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Check out GroupTravelVideos.com. That's GroupTravelVideos.com. Or call 704-846-7870, extension 206. And when you do that, ask for Katie. But Pete, can I just email? Well, yes, you can. You can email Katie. katie at grouptravelvideos.com. Group Travel Videos, from old memories to new adventures, preserving life's moments for a lifetime. Alrighty, so Donald Trump at the rally yesterday in Gastonia, he did touch on the Democrats' messaging of affordability and the price of stuff, right? And here's what he had to say about Basically, it's the economy and these economic indicators and the impacts it might have on the midterm elections. The Democrats gave you a four-year catastrophe, including the highest inflation in history. Yeah, the highest. You know, they came up with these words about pricing and affordability. Remember affordability? The first day I got in, it was January 20th. The next day I had a news conference, January 21st. And It was Biden's thing. And they said, what are you going to do about affordability? It was a word I'd never heard politically speaking. It was a word they made up. They passed it on to the fake. Wow, that's a lot of fake news. Look at that. That's a lot. That's a lot of fake news. But they passed it on to the fake news. And I got hit with this affordability word for it. A year and a half. And they're the ones that caused the affordability problem. Remember that? It was on January 21st. Eggs have gone up five times, sir. I said, I just got here. I've been here one day. We took care of the egg crisis. We take care of everything. We also took care of the fact that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. It's one of the biggest applause lines, by the way, of the event. That right there. USA! USA! USA! USA! Thank you very much. So, no, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. And, you know, I'm the last one to say, because we had gasoline down to $ 1. 85 in Iowa. It was $ 1. 85 a gallon. I was there the day before I had to do this. I had to make this journey over there. Remember, we hit them with the B-2 bombers. We took out the nuclear capacity, but then we had to go back at them again. And I said, you know, I told my guys, Scott Bess and Howard, all of my people, Todd, everybody. I said, we've got to make a. Little journey down to the Middle East because we can't let this crazy nation have a nuclear weapon. And we stopped them. And it's going to end soon. But because they can't go on, they can't go on. Their nation's... destroyed. But I have to say, you have a little higher, you have a higher gain. It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that it's. A little more. It's even if it was, frankly, even if it was a lot more. But that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship in reverse. And don't forget, they never want to talk the fake news about Venezuela. We took out Venezuela in 48 minutes. And And now we have all our big oil companies going there, and we're working along with the government of Venezuela very well. The relationship is extraordinary. We're taking out millions and millions of barrels of oil, and I can't get the press to talk about it, because they don't want to talk about it because they've never seen anything like it before. When they say, to the victor belong the spoils, that's one of the greatest cases anyone's ever seen in history. We paid back the cost of our war many times over, and you watch what's going to happen to Iran. It's going to be a really good conclusion. And it's going to happen. I say it's going to be a little bit after the election, but maybe not. Maybe it's before the election. But when you look at it, it is where we have the straight open. We have all this thing, and they've been decimated. Their Navy's gone. Their Air Force is gone. Think of it. Their Navy, 159 ships. Every one of them is at the bottom of the sea. Every one of them. So we put on a blockade, the likes of which not one ship in all the months that it's been, not one ship going to Iran has gotten through that blockade, not one. So I just want to thank our military, say God bless our military because they're. The greatest, the greatest in the world. And that'll end soon. And you watch what happens to your oil, to your gasoline. It's going to come down very quickly. I had it down to the lowest level in years. I had a choice. I could have sat back and enjoyed it or I could have done what's the right thing for I see these young children in the audience. But if they had a nuclear weapon, it would be a very bad thing, a very dangerous thing. And they would have used it absolutely without question. I've gotten to know them. They would have used it. So we did the right thing. All right. So. Donald Trump says, I had a choice. And I feel like I did the right thing. And I think he's exactly right when he says that I could have sat back and not done anything and just kick the can down the road, basically, and let, you know, the next administration handle it. Just hope they don't get a nuke or something. Just hope they don't do in the Strait of Hormuz what they have been doing. He could have done that. Absolutely. But he didn't feel like that was the right thing to do for the future of Americans. And so recognizing the political risk, he took it. He did it. Now, you could disagree with the choice that he made, but he believes he did it for the right reasons. And if you want to punish Republicans for that, you go right ahead. Just recognize what the tradeoff there is, right? As Thomas Sowell always says, there are no solutions. There are only tradeoffs. So, You punish the Republicans, which, by the way, let me I'll play this clip to right before we go to news here, too, because he talked a little bit about the Republicans, too. You have to get out and vote. And that's why I say you got to pretend I'm on the ballot. Just go. If I was on the ballot, I wouldn't have to. Be here tonight. We'd get everybody out. But some of you like me better than you like the party. The party's good. They've got great people in the party. They're sane people. They're people of common sense. It's a good party. All right. You don't have, that's why I say, never fall in love with politicians. They're going to break your heart. I don't. I don't fall in love with these politicians. And I recognize I'm not going to agree with everything that every politician does, even the ones I vote for. So, I don't know. It's like people, I think, have demanding standards that they themselves probably wouldn't be able to achieve. Come walk with me, people. Come, let's walk. To end Alzheimer's. It's the Walk to End Alzheimer's. I got a team of people here, fans of the show. If you want to come hang out, go for a stroll around Charlotte, October 24th. It's a Saturday. We're raising money for the Walk to End Alzheimer's. I walk this every year. I walk in memory of my grandfather who died with Alzheimer's. And this year I'm also walking for Holly Anderson. She passed away in July at the age of 50. Her husband, Mac, was her caregiver. And he had just finished being the caregiver for his father, James McPhee Anderson, who also had Alzheimer's. So I'm walking for them, too. So if you have somebody, if you've been touched by Alzheimer's or other dementia, come walk with us. We are raising money for the Alzheimer's Association, which works to provide care and support to affected families, to advance research by funding critical studies. and to advocate for the rights and needs of people facing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. If you would like to walk or you just want to make a donation, go to ALZ.org and type in Pete's Pack. That's my pack. All right, we're going to be walking as packs are known to do. Pete's Pack. ALZ.org. There's also a link in the podcast description as well. And thank you. If you can make a donation, we're trying to raise $ 5, 000. And we just crossed the $ 3, 000 mark the other day. I think yesterday or day before is when I last looked at it. And so if you could make a donation, if you want to walk with us, even better. And I appreciate all of your support. All right. So U.S. household income hit a record in 2025. This from Axios.com, which points out, though, that the lowest earners barely shared in the gains, though. On paper, Americans look richer than ever. Democrats and doomers hardest hit. But I added that last part. But broader measures of financial security show millions still getting squeezed by medical costs, uneven income gains, and a thinning public safety net. Okay, so I would point out the medical costs are what they are because of government intervention in that sector. Whenever the government gets involved in a sector of the economy, it distorts the market signals and it crowds out you know, private competitors. It creates monopolies, cartels, and the like. It restrains supply. Oftentimes it increases demand. And then you're diverting money away from other things and sending it into this sector. It's, what we have is a Frankenstein model. People who think that we have like a private healthcare model are just delusional. It is not. The other sectors of the economy with heavy government presence also, surprise, surprise, are the sectors that have the most unaffordability. Education, higher ed, and even K-12, which is reflected in property taxes, for example. Okay? Heavy government involvement. What else? Housing through government regulation, right? You can't build housing unless you get GovCo's approval. And then they, again, throw on the property taxes. So the areas where government gets more involved are the areas that are more expensive. By the numbers, Axios reports, real median household income rose, I went over these numbers earlier, to the highest level, inflation adjusted level, since the census began keeping these records going back to 1967. The After-tax household income went up 3%, 3.1%. It's now at 76 grand. That's the median household income after taxes, 76,000. The official poverty rate fell for a third straight year. So there were about 34.5 million people at that poverty level. Child poverty fell to a record low. 13.4%. Poverty among Hispanics dropped to another record low of 13.9%. If you look at the top 20% of households, top 20% captured 52% of all household income. The bottom fifth, right? So if you're comparing the biggest gaps, right? The top 20% versus the lowest 20%. Top 20% had 52% of the income, and the bottom fifth earned just 3%. Hispanic poverty fell to its lowest level since census began tracking it in 1973. Median household among Hispanics, their income 73 grand. Asian American households, they had the highest at 126,000. White households at 92,000. Black households at 60,000. Black American household income rose almost 5%. White household income rose 3%. And Asian American households showed no significant change. So there are differences, yes. However, all of these incomes are going up, which is what I said would happen after you see the inflation that we saw. The incomes rise, but it's lagging. You have to wait for the market to adjust after the government goes on its reckless spending binges. I go over that data to show that the numbers seem to be moving in a good direction, in the right direction. Again, as I said at the beginning of the hour, looking at individual data points doesn't give you a full picture of the economy. People who are trying to frame things as like, oh, this data point is– this is good news or this is bad news, whatever. You got to look at all sorts of data points, which is also one of the reasons why collectivism doesn't work. It's because nobody can control all of these different data points and all of the inputs. Let me go over to the text line and hear what people– have to say about all of this, shall we? Danny says, let's not be naive in thinking that poverty isn't in many ways a product of behavior. Clearly, there are many factors, but behavior is a large part of it. That's true. And if people behave in such a way that leads to poverty, they likely are not intentional about caring for their health either, and hence an increased cost by lack of compliance. The data points, as you say, are just data points, not the complete story the mainstream media would have you believe. Yeah, there are many, many data points. However, there's the success formula, as the Brookings Institute identified decades ago. You know, you want to stay out of poverty or get out of poverty. These three things that you do will increase wildly the chance that you will get out of poverty or not go into poverty, and that is to have a job, any job, just have a job. Number two, it would be to, um, somebody who's outside the window for you. I can't tell what's going on out there, Nick. Um, so number one, have a job. Number two, um, uh, graduate high school. And number three, uh, do not have any children, um, before you graduate high school. Like the, like you do these three things and chances are you're not going to be poor. Okay. Um, Kevin, the fake Republican says, uh, you guys are spending a fortune telling North Carolina voters Roy Cooper was soft on crime. Um, I'm not spending any money to do that. I'm doing that as a public service and it's the truth. Roy Cooper is a rubber stamp for the radical left's positions, their agenda on public safety. Um, So I spend no money to do that. Affordability is the issue. You guys are campaigning in the last decade. Actually, no. The crime issue was very potent against Democrats in the 2022 cycle. And so at the state legislative level, yeah, I understand why you wouldn't want us to focus on this issue where Democrats are particularly weak, Kevin, so I get it. But Yes, I know you want everybody to focus on the affordability thing because woke one was crazy and you guys got pummeled because you went all in on this stupidity. So I understand why everybody on the left wants to focus on the affordability stuff. I get it. I get it. Maybe update the attack ads and calling him a liberal socialist a hundred times won't make it true. I have never called Roy Cooper a liberal socialist. That's just silly. That's silly. I say he's a rubber stamp. He pretends to be a moderate, but then he caves to all of the most progressive demands of the radical left. But please keep wasting your time and money, WBT campaign kickbacks. No. I do think it's interesting, the automatic assumption of motive. You know, like surely you wouldn't be saying these things unless you were paid. Every accusation is a confession, Kevin. I've been watching Roy Cooper for 20 years. So that's why I tell you these things. Cause I've been following this stuff and the guy pretends to be one thing when in, when in actuality is something else. Uh, this race is over unless you guys cheat again. Uh, believe you are now a threat to the democracy, Kevin, uh, suggesting that elections are, are rigged somehow and people are cheating to win election. Um, That undermines the democracy. That's what you guys assured us for the last six years. Watching this strategy fall apart is entertaining. I don't know what the strategy is. I thought I was clear when talking about Watley and Trump focusing on crime, and I think that they were trying to get at what Cooper has portrayed himself to be as a strong suit, which is, you know, I was attorney general. I was tough on crime. I... I tried all these violent criminals, even though AGs don't do that. I suspect that was their strategy is to keep hammering away on the crime issue. But Cooper is also weak because he signed on, and I've covered this too. You may not have heard that episode or those shows where I talk about all the things that Roy Cooper did to make things unaffordable in North Carolina. The very things he's now claiming to champion are the things that he opposed and vice versa. But, uh, yes, you are, you're totally a good faith texter. Um, John says Cooper's not running to be a leader. He's running to be a follower. Um, um, I guess that's very long. I can, I'm not going to read that. Um, bebop and rock thrill says, um, didn't he vote the voter right or veto the voter ID law? Uh, he did. Yes. He vetoed voter ID still campaigns against it. Um, Jennifer says, what exactly do they think gas prices will be if the lead, if the left gets control at the midterms and then in 2028, we'll be lucky if we can drive gas powered automobiles at all. Yeah. I mean, this is the thing I said this earlier, like the very people who have been demanding that we get all fossil fuels and to raise taxes and on fossil fuels and to raise gas taxes and to, you know, ban your gas ovens and your gas powered lawn equipment. These are the very people who are now like citing gas prices as a reason why they should be in charge. Like guys, you want the gas prices to be higher. So I, I don't believe you. You aren't like, you're not arguing from a good faith position here. Another Kevin, when Trump hit the Iran nuke sites, a Republican's, Even some Democrats agreed with it. Trump's close advisor said the IRGC would not be removed by just bombing stuff and that retaliations and destabilization of the region would happen. He chose to ignore the experts. You don't know if he ignored the experts. He may have taken that into account and then just decided that it's worth it. I understand why he did the full invasion. It wasn't a full invasion. We didn't put ground troops in there. I just wish he kept an eagle eye on the nuke sites and then did the full invasion after the midterms so we could retain the House and Senate. Yeah, so you wanted him to act politically. on a political calendar, even if it jeopardized the success of the mission, I disagree with that. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete calendar show.com again. Thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.