The Economy Continues To Thrive Despite GOP Sabotage
President Biden inherited a moribund economy from Trump that lost over 10 million jobs and was only creating a paltry 60,000 new jobs per month. What appears to be lost in all the furor over the latest phony GOP “outrage” is that President Biden has reversed this trend and is currently presiding over a very strong economy. We can’t let the voters overlook this tremendous accomplishment.
That’s why the right wing media and some elected Republicans are actively discouraging their followers from getting vaccinated. Many in the GOP are hoping that the corona virus will push the economy back into a recession in 2022. The last thing the GOP wants is a Biden boom.
The pro-covid and anti-vaxxer propaganda campaign from Fox News and the right wing media has proven to be deadly effective. According to a recent NBC poll, 91 percent of Biden voters have been vaccinated but only 50 percent of Trump voters. We might as well call it the Republican Variant.
Most elected Republicans have made a handful of perfunctory statements in favor of vaccination but have largely stood silent in the face of the massive right wing media campaign aimed at discouraging vaccination. Jeff Fortenberry and Don Bacon even echoed the anti-vaxxer talking point that getting vaccinated is nothing more than a personal choice. Meanwhile, Pete Ricketts has done everything he can to actively sabotage efforts to end the pandemic.
Despite this unprecedented campaign of sabotage, the economy continues to thrive. The following tweets are from the Biden Administration on our economic progress:
“The number of Americans filing initial unemployment insurance claims fell to the lowest level since the pandemic began. Average weekly claims have fallen by more than half to below 378,000. It reflects the important progress we’re making in our economic recovery.
The Biden plan is working. Jobs are up, unemployment is down, and in the last 6 months the economy has:
- Created 4M+ jobs
- Made up the GDP losses of the last 18 months and surpassed the pre-pandemic GDP peak
- Grown the fastest in nearly 40 years during the first half of a year
Thanks to President Biden’s child care tax credit, hunger has declined by 24%.
Record jobs report. Core CPI down from June, to 0.3%. Unemployment filings at a post-pandemic new low. Bipartisan bill passed the Senate with 69 votes. Budget framework passed the Senate in tact. Biggest 24 hours for vaccinations in six weeks.
Here’s where we stand:
Jobs are up and monthly price increases are coming down
- Economic growth is up — to the fastest in 40 years
- Unemployment is coming down…”
This strong job and GDP growth has resulted in a record drop in the poverty rate. According to Census Bureau data, the poverty rate fell to 9.1% — the lowest rate since 2009. The Biden Administration’s stimulus checks lifted approximately 12 million Americans out of poverty and enhanced unemployment benefits lifted another 5 million Americans out of poverty.
For the first time since 2015–16, the U.S. has experienced robust wage growth. Currently, the average wage now stands at $30.73 per hour, which is up 8% from $28.51 in February 2020.
According to the Axios news website, the “U.S. economic response has surpassed all expectations. The U.S. economy has grown from its pre-pandemic level, in stark contrast to Europe and most of the rest of the world.”
Don Bacon, Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith voted against the American Rescue Plan which turned around the economy. They opposed $1,400 relief checks, ramped up vaccination production and distribution, the biggest middle class tax cut in history, a reduction of 50% in child poverty, and assistance to local governments. (They did support a deficit funded $2 trillion tax cut for the rich in 2017. Priorities.) If they had gotten their way, we would still be mired in a recession.
Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse have also attempted to prevent this strong economic recovery. Now that their obstruction has failed to derail the Biden economic recovery, they are planning to escalate their sabotage campaign. Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans are now scheming to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless President Biden agrees to so-called “structural reforms” to spending. That’s D.C. Republican speak for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Raising the debt ceiling shouldn’t be controversial and used to be fairly routine. As a matter of fact, the debt ceiling was raised several times with bi-partisan support during the Trump Administration. In 2019, Mitch McConnell stated: “Well, we raised the debt ceiling because America can’t default. I mean — that would be a disaster.”
Raising the debt ceiling doesn’t give the government the authority to borrow more money. Instead, it’s borrowing the money for spending that’s already been appropriated. It’s the equivalent of getting your credit card bill in the mail.
Refusal to raise the debt ceiling is the equivalent of stiffing America’s creditors. Economists contend that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause a financial crisis that would be more harmful to the economy than the 2008–09 recession and would wipe out the widely anticipated economic boom. Moreover, a decision by the GOP to stiff our creditors would result in a government shutdown.
This ongoing GOP sabotage of President Biden and our country clearly proves that the GOP isn’t fit to govern in these difficult times. Does anybody think the GOP could organize a two car funeral? Are you f*cking kidding me?
We need to make GOP extremism the centerpiece of the 2022 campaign. There will be a lot of fired up Democrats and vaccinated people at the polls next year. They know that the Republican Party is completely unfit to govern. “Don’t agonize; organize. No whining; just winning.” Nancy Pelosi.