Normally I don’t take things “Ripped from the Headlines” as Dick Wolfe likes to say but today I will.
The NYPost has a two page spread titled “The Cost of Bidenomics” which makes a pretty compelling case against President Biden and his “Inflation Fighting Policies”.
By now, those that know me know that I always say, “If it’s in the Post, it must be true”. Yes, that drips with sarcasm and you should all know by now that I do not believe 76% of what’s written in the Post or the NYTimes. They both have a distinct narrative and I can’t say I agree with either of them. However, this article is actually pretty accurate and it exposes a lot of what most of us already believe, the statistics and information coming out of the White House and it’s various functionaries is a load of crap.
When the Federal Reserve Chairman openly says that the level of inflation is transitory, not one person believed him. When the President proposed another trillion dollar spending bill and called it the Inflation Reduction Act, no one believed him either.
Inflation is real, it has hurt the poor and lower middle class more than any economic group. Yes, wages are rising. Yes, unemployment is near record low levels. Yes, the Federal Government is going to embark on another spending spree so no matter how much your wages go up. No matter how easy it is to get a new job. We will still be behind as far as our cost of living and how we deal with it.
This is on the Biden White House. Not the Trump White House or the Obama White House. President Biden and his band of merry pranksters have basically spent the US into a death spiral and no matter how many times you try and raise taxes on the rich, the Federal Government will never be able to undue what they have done. It is too late.
There were other periods where that death spiral was main narrative. Recently, I think at the beginning of the Reagan administration we were trending toward debt oblivian but something funny happened on the way there, Ronald Reagan reduced taxes and the economy eventually soared. It did so well that President Bush and President Clinton knew not to mess with it and we ended up having several years where there was no deficit and we actually reduced our debt by over 400 billion dollars.
Democrats tend to want to raise taxes on the rich and give more to the poor. I get it. It’s in their DNA but the problem is, that scenario actually does not work long term. It stymies productivity and it stymies investment. This Democratic administration is going a step better. They are going to raise taxes on the rich. They are going to continue to increase benefits for the poor and huddled masses at our borders. And, and they are going to spend their way out of inflation (huh?). Yup, the things that cause inflation will be increased along with paying for all of the social services that anyone could ever want if they came to this country to start a new life.
While my Monday/Tuesday column should be more about business, it’s the summer and I may meld the columns together today because the political ramifications of this administration decision making has had a net negative economic ramification as well.
As I have repeatedly said, the country needed help during the pandemic. We did that and it worked out pretty well for most people. That should have been it. Instead of taking on more and more debt, they should have left it alone. Jamming an infrastructure bill across the finish line may eventually work out ok but I really am not sure where those trillions are going since the roads in New York are worse than they have ever been and while a new Hudson tunnel may be a Godsend for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit, the cost has tripled in the last four years. (Bitch about Andrew Cuomo all you want, he did three major transportation projects that I can recall. All under budget and all on time).
Spending trillions of dollars on infrastructure is not a bad idea since we have been woefully negligent as far as that is concerned and I guess it was about time but it’s just that more and more spending on construction creates more and more union jobs and Democrats love spending on union jobs. It buys votes.
So does letting 2.3 million illegal immigrants into this country.
However. Let’s be real about this immigrant “crisis”. These immigrants bring with them the will to work and we have a huge shortage of workers and low paying entry level jobs. These immigrants will eventually fill those jobs. There isn’t a diner or a landscaper in this country that couldn’t use the help. It seems that the average 18-23 year old in this country is too important to get a job as a dishwasher or apprentice landscaper. They have bigger aspirations, they want to be an influencer. While they go on Tik Tok and promote low sodium dog biscuits for pooch, the immigrants will be filling the jobs oblivion to make this country run. Many of these immigrants will eventually become citizens and run businesses of their own and you know who they won’t be hiring? Those social media influencers with 12,000 followers.
I am not against immigration, obviously. What I am against is the Biden Administration idea of immigration. Everyone should go through the same requirements and those requirements should be consistent. I am not smart enough to create a policy but I do know that we need to have one.
So, as we get closer to Election ‘24, I think we need to keep several things fresh in our minds. Those being the Biden Administration’s failure in Afghanistan, the Biden administration woeful policy on immigration and the one thing that could very well undermine the Democrats hold on the White House, Inflation.
Take your pick.
Excellent article. Love when you start the week a "little" angry;)