Ahead of crucial US midterm polls, rumour mills working overtime

San Francisco, Nov 5

Conspiracy theories abound here on the final weekend before Big Tuesday's midterms.

With Donald Trump hinting that he will announce a run for President again on November 14 against the backdrop of a pending Department of Justice investigation and whether his seeking elected office will give him immunity, the waters remain muddied.

Threats to Democracy and a prolonged economic slump, of course, remain vital issues. D minus 3 sees the battlelines drawn more stringently for the coming Tuesday midterms. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are pitching in equally in this war with their firepower against a rising Trumpmania crisscrossing America. This only throws into stark relief President Joe Biden's breadth of misery, making the competitive race even tougher.

CNN reported that Justice Department officials have discussed whether a Trump candidacy would create the need for a special counsel to oversee two sprawling federal investigations related to the former President. The Justice Department is also staffing up its investigations with experienced prosecutors, so it is ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the potential unprecedented move of indicting a former President.

Trump and his associates also face legal exposure in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State and expects to wrap her probe by the end of the year.

Embattled incumbent Biden, trying to stave off a red wave, just finished speaking in Joliet, Illinois, emphasising the importance of Medicare and Social Security and taking aim at congressional Republicans, reported NBC News. Biden highlighted his administration's passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and said congressional Republicans want to repeal it as well as do away with federal health insurance programs, including Medicare and Social Security.

Grocery, rent and gas prices have spiked like never before. Biden said in his speech that federal debt had been cut in half, which is completely misleading; the current position is a humungous $31.22 trillion. Claims from both sides are only queering the pitch for voters who are facing acute hardships.

Noah Rothman, MSNBC Opinion Columnist argues that yet now, as interest rates continue to rise, the administration shows little willingness to curtail its profligacy.

Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in August, which, the law's name notwithstanding, is expected to increase inflationary pressure on the economy in the short term, according to a University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School analysis. That's because the legislation front-loaded $485 billion in spending programmes and tax breaks while counting on healthcare savings and additional tax revenues from a beefed-up IRS to reduce the deficit over 10 years. Most of the promised savings aren't expected to be measurable until 2027. These gestures convey the necessity of deficit reduction without delivering it in a timely way.

A besieged economy remains the most important touchpoint for the common folk; the old battle of the main street vs Wall Street has resurfaced in a big way. For context, "Main Street vs Wall Street" is used to describe the contrast between general consumers, investors, or small local businesses with large investment corporations. Main Street represents the small and local ones, including small businesses, general individual investors, and small independent investment firms. The spin this time is the age-old economic disparity, money-making vultures on Wall Street making money hand over fist again, with the Dow recovering recently even as the squeeze continues for common people.

--IANS