Economy

Are You Better Off Than You Were Three Years Ago?

To be perfectly candid with you folks, no matter what side you are on on the political spectrum scale; for those who say: “Trump can’t win,” think again.

His argument for taking back the White House isn’t complicated. He can borrow the brilliant line from Ronald Reagan, circa 1980. Reagan looked straight into the camera and asked the American people: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” During the Jimmy Carter presidency, the answer was clearly a resounding no as inflation and high taxes made people poorer.

We’re seeing that cycle repeated under Biden. The chart below shows the hammering that workers have taken thanks to the surge of inflation. For 25 straight months, real take-home pay has trailed behind inflation.

But what is really fascinating about this chart is the skyrocketing real wage GAINS under Trump.

Trump was the pro-blue-collar worker President. Biden is the anti-blue-collar President. A lot can change in 18 months, but every day that Biden is president the Trump years look so much better.

I joked last week that it wouldn’t be long before Biden warned Americans that kittens would die if the House Republican debt containment plan were to become law.

chart

Well, the Democrats haven’t accused the Republicans of that – yet – but a recent bulletin from the White House is full of hysteria and bogus doom-and-gloom scenarios.

Here’s the bill we’re referring to: The Potential Economic Impacts of Various Debt Ceiling Scenarios

Here are a few of the more shameful scare tactics that much of the media have widely amplified:

  • 30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits
  • 200,000 students lose head start
  • 1.7 million women lose nutrition support
  • 30,000 fewer miles of rail lines inspected for safety
  • A delay in cancer and Alzheimer’s research
  • Work requirements would mean millions of people lose Medicaid coverage
  • 108,000 fewer teachers for low-income students
  • Take away nutrition services like Meals on Wheels for more than one million seniors

I recently decided to read through the House Republican Debt Plan document that passed the House. I searched up and down and sideways and far and wide and never saw a single reference to Meals on Wheels, veteran benefit cuts, cancer research, cuts in rail safety programs, or veterans benefits. The White House LITERALLY made this all up.

The plan simply requires that overall appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024 shall be no higher than the Fiscal Year 2022. The Biden Administration says this is a 22% cut, but that is only because the Dems were planning on INCREASING spending by 22%.

It’s a perfect reminder of the budget shell game that is played in Washington. A “cut” is not a decrease in spending but a reduction in spending from what Congress WANTED to spend.

In other words, a “cut” is a decrease in the increase.

No wonder we have a $31 trillion debt.

Original post by Ziad K Abdelnour

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