Change of Direction
At the beginning of the year I thought a good portion of the dialogue would be regarding the election and the state of the economy. What will the Fed do? That sort of thing. However, two full months into it I am starting to see the dialogue is changing, it’s moving away from the Fed, The economy and more towards the debacle at the border.
Trying to separate the politics away from business and business away from politics has always been a challenge. In my mind, those two themes run parallel. One impacts the other and they have been so entwined that at times it’s hard to write a business column without interspersing some political component.
I have not done a good job at separating the two and I probably won’t be able to going forward. They are linked and there is no getting around it.
Looking at this election cycle I think that the Biden handlers may have messed up royally. Here’s why:
If you look at the numbers and look at activity in this country without looking at who’s in charge, you will see a fairly strong economy that is moving past one of the worst inflationary cycles in recent memory. Unemployment is low, wages are rising (albeit at a slower pace than six months ago, but still), and housing prices are starting to moderate and come back to reality in places. Mortgage rates may be higher than they have been in over 15 years, they still don’t match the 15%+ we experienced in the Mid 80’s. People can see that rates are coming down and they may be able to buy a home at a high rate now but know they can refinance in a year or two and be much more comfortable. It’s not a lot, but it is something.
The Biden administration has been taking the credit for this and the record stock market rally. They are trying to own this good fortune. Knowing that the way to win an election is through the wallet, they have opened up the Federal Government’s wallet to “buy” votes.
How else can you explain the billions of dollars that have been allocated to companies who are proposing building factories or research facilities in places where the Democrats have lost their stranglehold on Congressional seats.
I will give you an example; The first subsidy for a new manufacturing plant making semiconductors went to Global Foundries. They are going to build this plant outside of Albany NY, a district that flipped in the 2022 Mid-Term elections. Obviously Democratic leadership was shocked that New York of all places would shift seats. That can’t happen on Biden’s watch, lets throw a billion and half at them and see who they vote for next time.
They can’t keep control with policies but they can maintain it with money. Sounds Orwellian.
With all that being said, you would think that the Biden Administration would be pushing that narrative up our collective butts but they slowed their role when the populace didn’t buy it. They caused it. They have had a hard time fixing it and they are relying on one independent branch of the government to fix it. Instead of admitting it, cutting back on this spending and being more conscious of the damage it has brought, the administration decided to change the discourse.
Had they played the economic part of their strategy a little better, they may not have looked like the total fools that they are.
For the most part, Americans do not feel like they are in a better place than they were when the Biden Administration took over. Whatever gains they might have made in the general course of their lives was eaten up by inflation, inflation the Biden Administration caused. I guess people have a much longer memory than I thought.
So, after screwing up that particular talking point, they have decided to focus on the border situation.
Another brilliant move by the puppet masters in Washington. If you think that the administration has kicked the pooch on the economy, do a little dive into their handling of one of the biggest disasters in US history.
Hate him or love him, President Trump did not allow our borders to become a free for all. I may not agree totally with his policies regarding the border, but I will say it really wasn’t an issue during his four years. Yes, there were reports of mishandling families and detention of certain people but I think that had the policy of a border wall been fully realized, you would not be dealing with a third of what those border states are dealing with now.
President Joe Biden has completely and utterly screwed this up. There is no defense possible. The first sign of the administration’s stupidity is assigning Vice President Harris to be the Border Czar. Honestly, if that isn’t the most moronic appointment in the last 30 years, I don’t know what is. Maybe some of the failure should be laid at her feet because she, by all measures, has been completely absent in the performance of her duties. She has gone to the border twice since being appointed and said things like, “Things are beginning to look like they were at the beginning. We will begin to get back to that beginning”. The woman is an idiot.
Ignoring it for three years has not helped President Biden’s cause. Now, he is trying to say important things but they are pretty much as stupid as VP Harris’s comments. He went down to the least popular border crossing in the US and crowed about things slowing down, yet, 600 miles away, a minimum of 2,000 people are crossing each day. President Trump wasn’t afraid to show the World what Joe has brought on us.
There is an economic component to this and most of you may hate to hear it but we do need these immigrants. The nation is getting older and more and more of our young people believe that they way to riches is by doing a happy dance on Tik Tok holding a bag of Cheetos. The work ethic that built this country is slowly disappearing and the need for people who are willing to work hard still exists.
The unseen jobs that the young people of this country refuse to do has to be done by someone and with a proper immigration policy, those jobs can be filled. Millions of Mexican Americans are making a very good life here and they are a value to the communities they live in. For America to continue to prosper and grow, having a labor force that actually will perform labor is imperative.
A strong, fair border policy is needed and if we are going to be completely honest here, I don’t think either candidate has any idea what that entails. In addition to that problem you have two houses of Congress that are so divided I am not sure any equitable solution will ever be reached.
Strangely enough, I think the Biden administration is correct on focusing on the border situation because I do think it has far lasting implications, I just think they are the wrong people to handle it.