BIDEN’S ECONOMY IS TOO GOOD FOR THE GOP TO USE AGAINST HIM
Nearly all the indicators released in recent weeks tell the same story: evaporating inflation alongside still-humming economic activity.
- Why it matters: It’s a turnaround from earlier in the inflation fight, when the strong economic data may have spooked financial markets and policymakers. Now it’s a sign that inflation can be beaten without a painful downturn, Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown write in Axios Macro.
“Any way you look at it, the American economy looks upbeat,” Lael Brainard, the top White House economic adviser, said during a briefing with reporters yesterday.
- “We looked historically: We’ve never had a year where inflation has declined this fast while the economy has grown above trend, and unemployment has remained stable at a low rate.”
What’s new: Some of the last major data points before Fed officials’ meeting next week were released yesterday.
- The core inflation measure that excludes energy and food prices — which is considered to be a better gauge of underlying inflation — was 2.9%, compared to 3.2% the previous month.
- Even more impressive: The core index is running at a 1.5% annualized rate over the last three months — below the Fed’s 2% target.
The intrigue: It’s a very different dynamic than just a year ago. Recall in early 2023 when a run of strong data showed booming consumer spending and eye-popping job gains — paired with hotter inflation data.
- At the time, it raised concerns the Fed might have to slam the brakes on the economy even harder.
Now officials face the opposite scenario — inflation looks to be cooling much faster than many expected.
- That has allowed them to open the door to rate cuts later this year — though exactly when that will happen is still hazy.
The bottom line: “[W]e are no longer allowed to say ‘we are landing softly’ when we have been sitting on the runway for many months,” tweeted Arindrajit Dube, an economist at UMass Amherst.
- “The great inflation of 2021/22 is over and that’s it.” (Politico)
BIDEN HAS BEEN BUSY GIVING AMERICANS WHAT THEY WANT AND NEED
Here’s what he has done to help Americans have better lives:
Economy/Employment
- Over the past two years, inflation reduced by two-thirds while unemployment kept low and economy grew by 3%
- Avoided recession
- Two of the strongest years of job growth in history
- Nearly 11 million jobs created since 2021
- Created more manufacturing jobs in 2022 than in any single year in nearly 30 years
- 3.5% unemployment rate — the lowest in 50 years
- 750,000 new manufacturing jobs
- Near record low unemployment rate for Hispanics
- Near record low unemployment rate for African-Americans
- Record low unemployment rate for people with disabilities
- Awarded the most ever federal contracting dollars to small businesses and disadvantaged small businesses
- Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act have spurred companies to spend nearly $300 billion on investments in manufacturing
- As a result of the CHIPS and Science Act, which provides incentives for domestic manufacture of technology, in just one year, U.S. companies have announced $166 billion in investments in semiconductors and electronics. This will provide American jobs, decrease reliance on foreign manufacturing of critical technologies, and position the US to lead future scientific innovations.
- Creating “workplace hubs” to provide training, re-training, technical education, and apprenticeships in emerging technology and manufacturing
- Increased funding to the IRS to enable audits of high-income taxpayers, resulting in the recovery of over $160 million in back taxes owed by millionaires and billionaires
Cost Of Living
- Executive Orders and releases of strategic oil reserves resulted in gas prices more than $1.60 lower than their summer 2022 peak
- $15 minimum wage for Federal workers and contractors
- Over 100 actions to lower household energy costs by $100 per year
- Over 16 million households receiving lower cost or free high-speed internet through the Affordable Connectivity Program
- Commitments from 20 leading internet providers to increase speeds and cut prices
- Inflation reduced by two thirds from its 2022 high
HealthCare & Costs
- Millions of Americans are saving $800 per year on health insurance coverage
- Four out of five people can buy health insurance on healthcare.gov for $10/month or less
- Health insurance coverage rates increased by 50% since January 2021
- More people with health insurance – 92% insured is the highest in history
- Lowered Medicare recipients’ health care expenses, including by capping out of pocket expenses on prescription drugs at $2,000 per year, capping insulin costs at $35/month, and providing free vaccines
- Lowered the cost of hearing aids by making them available over the counter
- $37 billion in funding for senior and disability services, including community based services
- Improvements to veterans’ health care, particularly for veterans exposed to harmful chemicals
- Advanced research on cancer and other diseases through the ARPA-H initiative
- “Cancer Moonshot” with the goal of cutting the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years
- Hosted White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health; with a goal to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases
Students& Student Loan Debt
- More than 40 million borrowers able to benefit from student debt relief
- Canceled over $22 billion in student loan debt so far
- Increased the maximum value of Pell Grants by $900
Climate/Environmental Protections
- Rejoined the Paris Agreement to combat climate change
- Over 100 Executive Orders and legislation to develop clean energy, protect America’s lands and waterways, reduce pollution, and stimulate the development of clean energy businesses
- Reducing costs of electric vehicles (EVs) for families, initiating first national EV charging network, and historic investments into EV batteries and materials
- Assistance to American offshore wind industry, and convened the nation’s first federal-state offshore wind partnership
- New policies and regulations to reduce super pollutants like HFCs and methane gas, and to reduce other emissions fueling climate change
- $350 million to 14 states for the reduction of methane gas
- More than $1 billion for cleanup of Superfund sites, over $250 million to clean up brownfield sites, and $725 million for abandoned mine lands
- Restored protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments; and designated Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument for conservation of lands and waters and to protect tribal cultural resources and support outdoor recreation
- $1 billion to clean up and restore the Great Lakes
- $729 million to Virginia for railway projects
Reproductive Freedom
- Executive Orders to protect reproductive rights, including access to emergency care, protecting the right to travel, and strengthening patient privacy
COVID Relief
- 79% of American adults vaccinated against COVID-19, at no cost
- Mailed over 740 million free COVID-19 tests
- Funding to schools for safe re-openings
Infrastructure
- Infrastructure investments in all 50 states, D.C., territories, and tribal nations
- Through the Infrastructure and Stimulus bill, over $1.9 trillion to improve, repair, and build water delivery systems, public transportation, high-speed internet, bridges, roads, railways; and to promote American industries, create jobs, and lower inflation
Crime
- Reduced crime rates: violent crimes down 8% in 2023; in over 175 cities, murder rates down nearly 13%
- Signed legislation to hire more police and invest in community policing
- Signed legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act
- Signed an Executive Order to improve public safety and criminal justice for Native Americans, and to address the problem of missing and murdered indigenous people
- Executive Orders making sexual harassment in the military a crime and implementing procedures to strengthen the military’s response to reports of sexual assault
Gun Violence
- Signed the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years, including enhanced background checks and other measures to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous persons
Marijuana Reform
- Thousands of pardons for people convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law and on federal lands and D.C.
- Initiated review of the drug scheduling of marijuana, with a view to reducing the classification of marijuana from Schedule 1 to a more appropriate Schedule
Voting Rights
- Signed the Electoral Count Act, to protect election integrity
Diversity/Equality
- Appointed a record number of women and people of color to serve in the Biden Administration
- Appointed the first African-American woman to the Supreme Court – Ketanji Jackson
- Most diverse judicial appointments in history, including 66% women and 65% people of color
- Record number of federal contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses + measures to increase access to credit for small businesses fuel dramatic increases in small, black-owned business and in black family wealth
- Proposed new regulations to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities by the medical profession and in the providing of medical treatments
- Proposed new regulations to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities by child welfare agencies and in child welfare decisions (e.g., foster care services, child placements, etc.)
- Signed bipartisan legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage
- Executive Order to protect LGBTQ+ Americans in the military from discrimination in housing, health care, education, and employment
- Invested historic funding for Tribal governments and Native communities
Criminal Justice & Civil Rights
- Executive Orders for reforms to criminal justice system, to improve prison conditions, provide assistance to parolees and recently-released, and to improve police practices, including banning chokeholds, reducing no-knock entries, creating a national police accountability database, and reducing the transfer of military equipment to police departments
Foreign Policy
- Support to Ukraine against Russian aggression, including weapons and humanitarian aid
- Strengthened NATO, G7, and other alliances
- Completed the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. The withdrawal process was not without mistakes, but a perfect withdrawal would have extended U.S. involvement in a mission that no longer had purpose. “I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not going to extend a forever exit,” said President Biden.
- Significant action to curb Chinese threats to U.S. national security and economic interests, including increased restrictions on China’s access to U.S. advanced technology and hosting the first trilateral summit with South Korea, Japan and the United States, while also working to improve communications between the U.S. and China.
- December 2023, announced sale of over $300 million of military equipment to Taiwan in support of Taiwan’s national defense needs, the 12th military sale to Taiwan since Pres. Biden took office.
- Successful counter-terrorism missions against ISIS and Al Qaeda
Sources: Whitehouse.gov; DailyKos.com
NEXT TIME YOU HEAR SOMEONE SAY BIDEN HASN’T DONE ANYTHING, COPY THIS CONTENT AND EMAIL IT TO THEM!!
The MAGAs in the House want to impeach Biden but they haven’t done it because their so called investigation came up with NOTHING.
No wonder Trump has ordered his MAGAs in the House to kill the toughest, most bipartisan immigration bill in decades. This is the bill the GOP was begging for before Trump forced them to kill it in the House. Do they really care about the border? Here’s your answer. They don’t. The mess at the border something they need to help Trump. Trump has nothing left to run on if Biden has the legislation he needs to shut down the border, which he has said he wants to do.
But there’s some more bad news coming for Trump- Mexico is actively working to deter and expel immigrants at the US border so that it can get its manufactured goods into the US. Mexico is clearing border camps and sending migrants back to Venezuela and other countries. Border crossings are dropping because of Mexico’s intervention. Migrant crossings have dropped 50% since December. https://apnews.com/article/mexico-immigration-enforcement-crossings-drop-b67022cf0853dca95a8e0799bb99b68a
If the problem at the border is not a crisis, Trump will have nothing left to run on. The next election is existential for Trump. He will either become president or spend the rest of his life in prison. This guy is desperate to have something he can try to use to scare Americans with so they will vote for him, a strongman dictator, as their leader.
Trump is not the only Republican with nothing to run on. As Jennifer Rubin put it:
Republicans overwhelmingly were against Biden’s popular infrastructure bill and in favor of shutting down the government, defaulting on the debt and conducting bogus impeachment hearings that the voters do not want while opposing a tough border control bill. Democrats can hardly believe their good fortune heading into November.