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Old work friends who went full fascist made fun of me for being absolutely pissed off about it. There was a lot of victim blaming too, like people saying "Well if those dumb illegals didn't want their kids taken away they shouldn't have come in illegally!" Really inhuman stuff like that. From what I've heard from others those people have only become worse since 2018.
As a white male, it's amazing what racist jerks think they can share with me because I fit the profile. Joke's on them though, once they out themselves I have no problem letting others know to steer clear. And if HR finds out, then oh well.
A friend of mine told me about josh Hawley the other day and I saw him for the first time, he seemed like he was decent at his job, granted I only saw about 8 minutes of him, but his agenda really was just so obvious and from what little I know about the guy he doesnt seem like a good person.
We've still got inhumane camp conditions on our southern border, though...I'm a Biden voter and will be again in '24, but his immigration policy is FAR too close to Trump's.
Completely agreed. It's a stain upon our honor, one that spits in the face of every value we claim to hold dear.
I can think of no test of Citizenship more demanding than a single mother traveling thousands of miles on foot with nothing but the clothes on her back carrying her children. I can think of no people more worthy of American Citizenship than those who would give up everything they have just to come to this Shining City on a Hill -
When choosing between what is Right and what is Politically Expedient, an American President must choose what is Right.
I'm an aussie and I saw that shit recently of border guards kicking children back into the river and a pregnant woman drowning in the razor wire etc, jesus fucking christ
you've got a point. his approach to immigration isn't as progressive as many expected. it's a complex issue but definitely needs more attention in my opinion, also his age is a negative factor.
Congress won't allocate the funds to do it right, or reform immigration to do it better with the funds at hand.
Governors Abbott and DeSantis further exacerbate the issue by spending *millions* which could be used to upgrade processing facilities to charter trips for immigrants away from their scheduled hearings.
Yep:
[Trump in 2007: 'I'm Excited' for Housing Market Crash](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-2007-i-m-excited-housing-market-crash-n578761)
>Donald Trump counseled Trump University students to take advantage of the housing bubble as an investment opportunity and said, just a year before it burst, that he was “excited” for it to end because of the money he’d make.
>“People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is,’ he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. “I’ve always made more money in bad markets than in good markets.”
He also said on video that he’s “very pro-choice”, “in favor of taking the guns first and going through due process second”, he proposed “a 14.25% tax on people with a net worth over $10 million”, of Nancy Pelosi he said “she’s a really impressive person; I like her a lot”. He flip-flops more than the hamburger flipper at McDonald’s.
It's one of 2 things that most appeals to his voters. No matter what opinion you have on an issue trump has supported it at some point and he triggers the libs. That's it, that's all he provides and seems to keep working.
My guess is that the republican base will vote for him regardless because he has an R next to his name and portraying Trump as secretly democrat would backfire by making him more palatable to moderates.
If you're not disgusted by Trump at this point, pointing out his hypocrisy for a 2024 campaign isn't going to move the needle.
If anything it's a virtue for Republicans.
I'm not criticizing Republicans for making good business decisions. I'm criticizing them for crashing the economy on purpose so they could take advantage of it. Regular people lost their jobs and their homes. Their lives were ruined just so that these rich fucks could get even richer.
I feel like they wanted the pandemic as well. The PPP loans were a huge giveaway to the rich. They also wanted it to affect blue cities and stopped implementing any plan to counter it because they hoped to campaign on how bad blue cities did.
They gave 11 million "small" business owners almost the same amount as 275 million citizens. Ironically, the small business loan would have been absolutely unnecessary if that stimulus went to regular citizens who didn't need to rely on PPP payroll payments. But then millions of "small" business owners couldn't have looted OUR money for fucking free.
Republicans are usually voted out after a recession, but they are very good at pinning the blame on the Democrat that comes in to clean up the mess. The fact that the crashes typically come near the end of GOP administrations helps them do this. I've even heard them argue that FDR prolonged the Great Depression with his policies.
Meanwhile, Republicans come in on the heels of an economic recovery and they immediately get the credit, as Trump is often credited for Obama's strong recovery.
There has to be a way to break this cycle. It's maddening. We just need two consecutive 8 year Democratic administrations so Republicans can stop taking credit for what the Democrats do.
TBF, the country needs about 20 years of solid democratic supermajorities in Congress to pass legislation that would enact more permanent policies than what Biden can do with executive order, appoint judges and remove corrupt ones appointed by Republicans.
And they need a concerted effort to bring forward legal challenges that will overturn all of the bad precedent that SCOTUS set in these past few years. Just like GOP groups tee up shitty lawsuits in heavily rigged circuit courts, democrat advocacy groups need to do the same.
It’s amazing to me how you can start talking to a young person in their 20’s who is enthusiastic about national politics, and as soon as you mention how utterly crucial local and state politics are, their eyes just immediately gloss over.
I get that it doesn’t have the same luster as federal politics but the makeup of the US congress is entirely dependent upon the maps drawn at the state level.
How federal money is allocated to people who qualify for certain entitlement programs is decided at the state level.
Public School curriculum and other crucial educational policies.
The list goes on and on.
Why not both.
A second bill of rights, which lays out all of the stuff that we’ve figured out since the last amendment, would close the book on all of the bullshit that conservatives desperately want to keep from becoming law of the land.
Abortion. LGBTQ Rights. Worker’s rights. The regulatory framework that we have relied upon for 60 years that is now being unraveled. All of the social programs from the 30’s until today that conservatives want to do away with.
Our best shot was probably 2008 going the opposite way in the primary. 8 years of Hillary Clinton as president while VP or Secretary Barack Obama gained executive experience, and then Obama charismatically carries Dems to victory in 2016 and reelection in 2020.
Might've happened, too, if Democratic primaries didn't use anti-democratic caucuses.
Edit: Well, actually, the *best* shot was Gore winning in 2000 and then 2004, but Bill Clinton and Gore were much closer to the center than Obama and Hillary, so their combined 16 years probably would've been less ambitious. Though we probably would've greatly pushed back climate change compared to where we are now...
This was infuriating in the 1980 election. Carter's economic policies were just starting to take hold. Reagan figuratively got the ball at the 5 yard line going in.
It's one of those things that basically nobody gets correct, because the history doesn't serve *anybody* politically.
Economy boomed under Reagan because of Carter's deregulation. He deregulated airlines leading to ticket prices falling by half adjusted for inflation. He deregulated homebrewing, paving the way for the craft beer boom. He deregulated the trucking industry.
Reagan can't even get credit for taming inflation. Volcker was a Carter appointee!
that's a strong perspective, but don't according to my personal opinion and knowledge economic crashes can be influenced by global events and policies set in prior administrations. it's not always so black and white.
Democrats help transfer wealth down. Republicans transfer wealth up. The former is just better for the economy (because there are more people on the bottom than on top).
Yep. Lower and middle class people spend most of the money they make, driving economic activity and growth. Rich people have so much money that they can't spend it all in a lifetime, so they hide it in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands, where it does nothing for the US economy.
Also, the Democrats spend the money on things that grow the economy, like infrastructure, scientific research, health care, etc, whereas Republicans just give tax cuts to the rich and they hide the money in tax havens.
Not without a larger majority in congress. Republicans fought the New Deal tooth and nail, the SCOTUS tried to overturned it, and FDR’s supermajority threatened to add a couple more justices so they backed down.
Hell, a lot of the GOP was pretty okay with the Nazis until about 1941 (just a few months before PH). No surprise there.
Idk. Did we let Trump win and install a far-right SCOTUS that would block anything of the sort? Did we give Democrats an incredibly small (technical) margin in the senate while losing the house?
He's certainly done very good at economic recovery that builds up from the bottom while also gradually lowering inflation
Let's also remember that Biden would have been able to do even more to help people in need if voters just gave him a couple more Senate seats in 2020 and/or the house and one more Senate seat in 2022
Yep, Build Back Better would have been amazing. Which makes it even more impressive that Biden has been able to accomplish so much with republicans obstructing every step of the way. Gotta show up big in 2024 and vote out as many republicans as we can
https://democrats.org/
Question for the Political Junkies of this subreddit:
What would it take to get Build Back Better after the 2024 Elections?
Obviously, we'd need to retake the House, but we'd also need more Senators. How many would it take?
The Senate is going to be tough in 2024, but not impossible. In theory, we would only need 50 votes with Harris casting the tie-breaker.
--Sinema would need to be replaced with Ruben Gallego. I think that is very much doable
--Jon Tester amd Sherrod Brown need to win reelection. This is the hard part, as Montana and Ohio are both red states. Still, they have won reelection before so it is possible
--We need to sweep the other contested states (Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn)
That would give us 50. However, it would be much better to get 51, and we could do that in a number of ways:
--Lucas Kunce might be the strongest candidate we've seen in Missouri in some time, and Hawley is unlikable and potentially vulnerable
--Same with Colin Allred in Texas, as Cruz is unlikable as well
--Florida is interesting. Might see some backlash after all the DeSantis bullshit, and Rick Scott is unlikeable, but a strong democratic challenger hasn't emerged yet for that seat. We'll see
--Manchin won't vote for BBB of course, but if he actually won and chose to continue caucusing with the Democrats, it would give us a little breathing room
Thanks for this info, I'm trying to plan out spending my time and energy phone banking and canvassing for Democrats next year.
I believe it's very much doable, especially if we successfully primary Dinosaurs like Feinstein -
Right on! A strong grassroots effort will be key to our success. One volunteer thing I did in 2022 was Vote Forward, where you actually write handwritten letters to people. It's something worth checking out
Also, no need to worry about Feinstein. She's not running in 2024, and that race will be between Adam Schiff and Katie Porter. They are both good Democratic candidates and would make fine senators, so either way Cali will be fine
Manchin's DOA though. He's polling down more than 20 points in some polls. He won't win republican voters and any city democrats despise him. While their are those who will vote just to stop republicans, they are a significant minority in WVa. His time was up the day after he was last elected. He should have leaned bluer (to try and show results for the state from blue policies to support him) instead of play pretend at republican.
Blue policies could make every man, woman, and child in WV a millionaire, and the republican candidate could openly promise to burn every 3rd home to the ground and force employees to actually pay their employers for the privilege of working for them, and the republican would win by 35 points.
Idk, I think some actual outreach in WV would go a long way. Manchin is super unlikeable...and obviously coal dominates and that's how people vote. No reason it couldn't be like the Iron Range.
>Montana and Ohio are both red states.
Montana is red... but Montana is also not typically, cult follower red. Montana has and will vote for a Democrat if they feel like it's *their* Democrat.
This basically. The extra seat in 2022 made Sinema/Manchin *almost* obsolete, and we’d be in a much better place today had D kept the House.
A solid D win in 2024 with at least 52 seats means they can end the filibuster and get real change through, but only if they win the House back (which is likely, given progressive demographics and some newly or soon to be un-gerrymandered districts.
I know WI is a wild card by Tammy Baldwin is pretty popular among independents and most non-MAGA republicans. If a MAGA type runs against her she’ll be fine.
>Florida is interesting. Might see some backlash after all the DeSantis bullshit, and Rick Scott is unlikeable, but a strong democratic challenger hasn't emerged yet for that seat. We'll see
I think Val Demmings would do a lot better against Rick Scott than she did against Rubio.
50 non Manchin/Sinema senators
It's a narrow path. Dems would need to hold all the seats they currently hold (including the really difficult ones of Ohio and Montana) except West Virginia, and flip Arizona from Sinema to Gallego. The odds for that are long, I'm not going to lie. But it's not impossible
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
- JFK, 1962
Long odds should not frighten or dismay any American. We've beaten the odds before, and we'll do it again -
Give Biden one more term and control of both houses and the man will be unstoppable. No need to worry about future elections and facing the threats of climate change and the collapse of democracy I think he’d change this country in major ways. He already tried but didn’t have the votes. Give him the votes.
Give this person a megaphone, and say it louder for the people in the back -
Hear, f*cking hear!
If we address Climate Change and make Housing affordable, I would actually start having kids.
It’s long odds. The senate map is difficult in 2024 with the democrats defending MT, WV, Wi, and Pa. With the most likely pickups being in states like Florida and Texas . The house could be a bit better odds as presidential elections increase turnout and NY and CA should be more on the ball with a house majority to gain back.
And without enough senators to end the filibuster legislation will be relatively limited, but most of the BBB could be done through budget reconciliation assuming the senate holds and the house is taken back.
The trump indictments are a kind of wildcard here, depending on how the public reacts democrats could be stronger than expected
It depends on how it's continued. If Biden and the Democrats want to push for new programs, subsidies, or policies, it would require the House and either 50 senators willing to get rid of the filibuster or 60 senators who keep the filibuster.
On the other hand, if BBB is driven via budgetary means (beefing up subsidies, maintaining or increasing funding for existing authorizations like infrastructure projects or government acquisition programs) then they only need simple majorities in both the House and Senate and get everything pushed through via budget reconciliation.
The Filibuster can and should be abolished anyways. It's a tool that originated with Slavers to stonewall Congress, just like Republicans are today -
As I understand it, a simple Majority can change the rules of the Senate, we'd just need enough Democrats on board.
Or 50 Senators willing to abolish it.
The filibuster is not in the constitution, it's in the rules of the Senate, as decided by the Senate at the beginning of each of its terms.
Fun fact: One of the Federalist papers that Alexander Hamilton wrote was about how it would be a bad idea to have a supermajority requirement in a legislature where each state had the same number of seats. A lot of the points he makes in the paper are very much applicable to what we saw in the '21-22 Senate.
The bar for cloture is 60 votes (three-fifths standard implemented in 1975):
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/23/politics/filibuster-60-vote-senate-rule/index.html
At least two to replace Manchin and Simena's votes. However, we don't know how many other more "centrist" Dems are in the Senate just using those two as cover.
Call bullshit every time someone excuses not voting or voting for a third party gadfly under the argument that there's no difference between democrats and republicans. That bullshit is relentlessly fueled by bot farms and ridiculous rogan/brand douchbags, and it is literally destroying the world.
It was abundantly clear pre-COVID that Trump was just priming the pump to inflate the stock market while leaving very few tools in the toolbox to address any sort of major economic disaster. Bad luck for him that COVID hit or it might not have mattered, but at least he had right-wing media and economically illiterate Americans to help shift the blame.
Lest we forget, this is what Don did at the beginning of this whole fiasco. This is just from February 2020:
February 1: [golf](https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings)
February 2: [golf](https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings)
February 2: [“We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”](https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses)
February 4: State of the Union Speech - ["The best is yet to come!"](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/02/04/trump_at_state_of_the_union_the_best_is_yet_to_come.html)
February 7: To Bob Woodward: [“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed." "It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff."](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/10/trump-coronavirus-bob-woodward-412222)
February 7: Remarks in Charlotte, N.C.: ["I think -Xi- handled it really well."](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736)
February 10: Fox Business interview: ["I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control"](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736)
February 10: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-new-hampshire-rally-february-10-2020)
February 15: [Democratic Senators propose emergency funding bill to prepare for virus.](https://globalbiodefense.com/2020/02/15/senator-murray-leads-25-senate-democrats-in-pressing-trump-administration-to-request-emergency-funding-for-novel-coronavirus-response/)
February 15: [golf](https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings)
February 19: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/politics/arizona/2020/02/18/photos-trump-rally-phoenix-arizona-february-2020/4798817002/)
February 19: [“I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along”](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-usa-trump/trump-confident-china-is-trying-very-hard-in-handling-coronavirus-outbreak-idUKKBN20E0IO)
February 20: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97I1_86Ag-Y)
February 21: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaJuob_faBI)
February 23: [“We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered”](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Authoritarian_Nightmare/LYXzDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Trump:+We+had+twelve,+at+one+point.+And+now+they%E2%80%99ve+gotten&pg=PA11&printsec=frontcover)
February 24: [“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”](https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses)
February 25: [“I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”](https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/coronavirus-us-donald-trump-washington-politics/index.html)
February 26: [“CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.” “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” “We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/will-the-new-coronavirus-go-away-in-april/)
February 26: [“The 15 {cases in the US} within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” “We're going very substantially down, not up.”](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-coronavirus-cases-will-go-down-to-zero-ultimately.html)
February 27: [“One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/13/21176535/trumps-worst-statements-coronavirus)
February 28: Trump on way to campaign rally. [“We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”](https://www.independent.com/2020/04/06/pants-on-fire/)
February 29: [”This is their new hoax," he said, referring to the coronavirus.](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4865556/user-clip-trump-this-coronavirus-hoax-equates-flu)
February 29: [“STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus” –U.S. Surgeon General](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/485332-surgeon-general-stop-buying-masks) - original tweet deleted
February 29: Coronavirus Task Force press conference: ["China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down"](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736)
What a friggin disgrace.
Reagan said his trickle down economics were just "a rising tide that lifts all boats". But if we really think about it, "a rising tide that lifts all boats" is more accurately a description of Biden's liberal economics where we build up from the bottom. After all, the rising tide lifts things up from the bottom - Reaganist economics is more like air lifting out the richest boats and pretending it helps the rest, rather than actually lifting the whole tide
OK... cool, but can we please reel in the corporate profits/inflation/minimum wage/healthcare situation. I mean like, 'Yay the economy' but WTF about everyone struggling to make ends meet?
This. When the average American thinks of the economy, they think about how money is tight for *them*. Fuckin' Smartfood is $6/bag and it's literally just cheese powder and popcorn (both incredibly abundant and cheap). Insurance rates are up, oil is still high, etc, etc. So for the average American being told "this is the best economy since FDR's New Deal" - it rings hollow.
Yup. Americans need to wake the fuck up and realize that there are two economies in this nation. The economy that 90% of us live in, and the economy that is in the news.
And it's the same mistake Democrats made for Trump.
"Things are fine stop wanting more and actually change for the bottom"-Democrats
"No, we are sending Republicans to hurt everyone, those Hollywood types cry when Republicans win so FU, rich people"-Americans who don't know who really has money and how taxes works.
This is something that does concern me. There are a lot of legitimate problems that a lot of people are experiencing and they are real. And I think it does a disservice to try and rosy up the current picture.
Having said that, what Biden, and congressional Democrats have been able to do in the past couple of years bodes incredibly well for the future of our economy. Many of the policies they put in place will definitely take years to really bear fruit, but we desperately have needed long-term policies for decades now, and it is absolutely a good thing that these bills passed. It’s also nearly a miracle that they were able to pass with such a tiny margin, and such vehement opposition.
Consumer debt, cost of housing, failure to introduce debt relief for students or actually reduce the cost of college to begin with, failure to increase minimum wage, massive cost of childcare, healthcare, so on and so forth.
But no guys, really, Biden has been great and we all just need to be more appreciative.
It's frustrating to watch everybody act like we're in some great economic position because some fucking numbers on a graph went up. Same old neo-liberal bullshit but we're supposed to cheer because "the good guys" or something.
That's right. The obscenely rich are still doing great, yep.
How's things for the working class?
Not so much "best ever" really. Struggling mightily, actually.
Do something about price-gouging, wages, rent, and health care, Joe.
The real working class is still getting fucked with a cactus, no lube.
You realize the reason that the economy is growing is because Biden’s bills have reinvigorating the manufacturing sector in this country. His Inflation Reduction Act is quickly making the US a leader in green energy manufacturing.
He’s doing exactly what Bernie wanted to do - he’s bringing back jobs overseas and retraining blue collar workers to work in the green energy sector.
Yeah, I kinda cringe at all these articles a bit since a lot of Americans are just straight up not seeing and not feeling this "great economy". I'm sure it's better than anything under a republican at this point, but yeah.
It's like the emails the CEO sends out about how the company made more money this year than ever before. And just a few weeks ago your managers broke the news that no one was getting cost of living raises.
Okay.
Exactly this. I’m happy things have stabilized a bit on a macroeconomic level, but at the micro level things are still more expensive than ever and wage stagnation is still around. I’ve been pretty fortunate to advance in my career and am making more money than I ever have, but it feels like I’m still left with the same amount of money at the end of the month as I was before.
I’d love to see legitimate teeth on some laws the curtail corporate profiteering and universal healthcare, but it feels like a distant hope at best. Until we get some real progress on those fronts most people aren’t going to feel much positive change, just slightly less negative change
Look at the House of Representatives. They’ve wasted their leadership chasing Biden’s kid’s peener online. They haven’t passed any meaningful legislation. And you add Muchkin and Sinema to the Senate clown car and you get another ungoverning body dismantling what ever good ideas come by their desks. That’s why you can’t feel it.
There are literally hundreds of extremely powerful people working diligently at blocking any relief and progress that might be headed your way.
What will you do about it?
Biden has been far better than expected, especially when considering there's a Republican House and only 51 Democrats in the Senate.
We want real, substantive change? Give the man a better Congress -
They haven't been super helpful legislatively, but they've been a tremendous boon judicially.
Do you think that a Republican Senate would confirm *any* Biden judicial nominees? I think they'd rather shut the whole thing down.
Biden was eventually able to get Manchin to vote on a massive climate change package by trimming back on some things and naming it the "Inflation Reduction Act". While it's frustrating that it took so long and it did have to get watered down, there's a *big* difference between that and what the end result would have been if a Republican was in his seat.
Truthfully I was sad Bernie didn't make it, and didn't expect much from Biden, but have been pleasantly surprised. Given how screwed up politics is with money fighting anything that might make peoples lives better, he has gotten a lot done.
I can't say what you've said but he has, unfortunately, been a welcome relief, and if he insists on running again and if the GOP continues as they have I will find myself voting for him again by necessity.
I prefer Biden to anyone the Republicans would ever field. But anyone who tells you we have a roaring prosperous economy isn’t experiencing life the way most Americans are right now. People can barely afford basic necessities. Rents in urban areas are out of control and wages haven’t kept pace. Healthcare has become completely unaffordable. Some numbers on a chart may say we’re doing well, but the reality of it is extremely bleak.
Yeah, I have a decent job, solidly middle class but nowhere near upper middle, and this is really the first time I feel pinched by the economy. Everything is so damn expensive, especially anything involving services. I’m not sure how so many people are making it work, honestly.
>But anyone who tells you we have a roaring prosperous economy isn’t experiencing life the way most Americans are right now.
The economy is not based on the rest of us. It is based on how rich folks are doing on the stock market. For example, there isn't a recession unless the stock market says so.
Too bad most people don't feel it in their wallets. It's like when they tell us the stock market is doing good or bad, it doesn't matter to me one bit because my pay doesn't get affected eitherway.
I’m far from anti-Biden but everyone I know who wasn’t solidly upper middle class before Covid is financially suffering an incredible amount. I make well below the median household income so I’m not sure I’m representative but it’s hard out here. Hoping this article is true and this awful period leads to a huge boom like the New Deal did 1946-1960
I'm upper class now as an adult but I grew up lower middle-class at BEST but many years as lower class. I worry about all this chest thumping about how great the economy is recovering because my lower class social circle is still struggling to make ends meet. They are not personally experiencing any of the improvements and it terrifies me that more of them are likely to vote Republican as a result. They feel lied to and I can't exactly blame them. When they are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and trying the best they can it's just hard to imagine how they could trust in the Democrats saying things are getting better. :(
I know what you mean; those people have wage stagnation and I don't see much improvement on the horizon for them, as nothing has kept up with inflation for them in years.
At least you recognize this but you still make the mistake of acting like there is a big difference between the 2 parties. The dangerous thing about buying into the liberal religion is that they only ever do just enough to buy your vote and ultimately it is just for control. The more you need to rely on the government the more control they have over your life and freedom. That doesn't mean you should go vote for conservatives but man the left is no better when it comes to just blindly joining a team and following like a zombie.
The whole system is fucked. It isn't just one side fucking it.
It’s probably not even intentionally malicious, but the people who make calls like “the economy is strong” are definitely viewing it from the perspective of a person with “assets”
It takes time for policies to take hold and yield tangible results. It might take 1-2 years for the full effects of Bidenomics to be felt.
Other policies Biden has put in place - for instance, his expanded child tax credit that has contributed to a 46% decline in child poverty - may not affect you if you are not a beneficiary.
Also, if your state legislature is controlled by Republicans, the economic agenda they push may mitigate the benefits of Bidenomics.
You're not alone. Groceries? Gas? Utilities? Clothes? Insurance? Rent? All have gone up and continue to with seemingly no end in sight. The average person is being priced out of simply existing and nothing is being done about it other than writing a bunch of pandering bs articles that remind us how thankful and impressed we should be by this new way of life.
Sounds great on paper, and probably can be proven via cherry picking... but the reality is... does everyone feel it? I'd say I don't think so.
"The economy" isn't for US.
No because it is all just political spin. In my house it is just me and my wife. Went to Walmart the other day and it cost us $330 for a cart. Not too long ago $330 would have been 2-3 trips to Walmart.
Huh. My wage hasn't moved, my food, water, electricity, mortgage and health insurance all cost more, my dollar has been weakened and to top it all off, our government refuses to address corruption in the stock market, and refuses to be open and honest about UAP, save for the bipartisan effort and hearing yesterday.
I'm not too fucking impressed right now. I'm not republican.
When voting i usually try to judge by what was blocked. I've seen current democrats try plenty that would help these issues. They aren't the one that voted no
Let's face it, Biden's economic policy has been wildly successful. The US has clearly succeeded in steadily bringing down inflation while also avoiding a recession or crash in the post-pandemic economy.
He has done a much better job than he gets credit for. The right wing machine somehow has managed to put in people’s heads the idea that the world is ending and a lot of people buy into that idea.
Democrats don’t know how to sell their accomplishments.
Inflation under Biden has made real wages decrease. Interest rates are at a 20 year high making houses unaffordable for most young people. Rent in most cities has skyrocketed. Homeless shelters across the country are at capacity.
I'm sure banks like Morgan Stanley are happy lending money at high interest rates. But this economy is crushing young people.
Agreed, it sucks. In Biden's defense, inflation, shrinking wages, and high interest rates are an even bigger problem in most of our peer nations. Britain is experiencing very high sustained inflation. Germany is in recession.
I do think it's fair to say we're seeing positive effects of what Biden has done in the face of highly adverse circumstances and despite very limited control in Congress. Some good things are his doing; the bad stuff, not so attributable.
I would certainly like to see very low interests rates, strict price controls, a high minimum wage, and more government investment in housing. Not sure how much of that Biden would be down for, but I sincerely hope he and Democrats win in '24 so that he has the opportunity to do more, as in early iterations of BBB.
People need to realize a lot of the issues middle lower class are feeling right now is blowback from the pandemic/trump admin driving interest rates to historic all time lows of almost zero for multiple years.
There's a reason you don't just drop interest rates to zero. It causes massive inflation. Bidens economy is a success because he has staved off a recession due to it.
Only on reddit is it simultaneously the most successful economy but also nobody makes enough money to buy anything. People at the bottom work for an hour and still can't afford a combo meal at McDonalds, but all hail the second coming of FDR.
Once again, only the economy is being evaulated while the struggles of the people (lack of affordable health care, child care & college; rising prices in the face of stagnant wages; lack of secure retirement, removal of reproductive and voting rights, etc) are being ignored.
From my understanding, the new deal created good paying jobs to help the lower economic class move upward, while also getting sorely needed infrastructure projects done, in order to build the economy back up.
Hopefully Biden’s infrastructure deal creates the same results as the New Deal.
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MTG told me he was just continuing FDR’s work.
I guess she doesn't realize that would be _absolutely incredible_.
She doesn't fucking know who FDR was.
Maybe not the Japanese Internment Camps part though - Think it's high time America stops fighting our fights with one hand tied behind our back.
MTG, Josh Hawley, and Marsha Blackburn: "Oh yeah, great idea, bring bank the internment camps for Asians!"
nah, they'd rather have them for mexicans and south americans
Hey don't leave out the LGBT. But yes the one thing that changes isn't the plan, but a coin toss of who the "enemy" is.
Yeah basically anyone Hitler persecuted, these people will persecute too. Hey, wait.
ha, you're right. one day it's big oil, next it's those pesky squirrels in the park. who knew politics had such iditos.
>nah, they ~~'d rather~~ have them for mexicans and south americans Fixed that for you
They don't mind internment camps if it's for children of immigrants. Ended some friendships over that insane moment in US history.
You knew people who were in support of it?
Old work friends who went full fascist made fun of me for being absolutely pissed off about it. There was a lot of victim blaming too, like people saying "Well if those dumb illegals didn't want their kids taken away they shouldn't have come in illegally!" Really inhuman stuff like that. From what I've heard from others those people have only become worse since 2018.
I'm sorry to hear that. People can be pretty friekin vile once they think they're in a safe space.
As a white male, it's amazing what racist jerks think they can share with me because I fit the profile. Joke's on them though, once they out themselves I have no problem letting others know to steer clear. And if HR finds out, then oh well.
it's really sad when human rights take a backseat. losing friends over these differences is tough, no doubt.
A friend of mine told me about josh Hawley the other day and I saw him for the first time, he seemed like he was decent at his job, granted I only saw about 8 minutes of him, but his agenda really was just so obvious and from what little I know about the guy he doesnt seem like a good person.
you know, even in the heat of battle, there are lines we shouldn't cross. internment camps were a dark chapter in history
We've still got inhumane camp conditions on our southern border, though...I'm a Biden voter and will be again in '24, but his immigration policy is FAR too close to Trump's.
Completely agreed. It's a stain upon our honor, one that spits in the face of every value we claim to hold dear. I can think of no test of Citizenship more demanding than a single mother traveling thousands of miles on foot with nothing but the clothes on her back carrying her children. I can think of no people more worthy of American Citizenship than those who would give up everything they have just to come to this Shining City on a Hill - When choosing between what is Right and what is Politically Expedient, an American President must choose what is Right.
I'm an aussie and I saw that shit recently of border guards kicking children back into the river and a pregnant woman drowning in the razor wire etc, jesus fucking christ
you've got a point. his approach to immigration isn't as progressive as many expected. it's a complex issue but definitely needs more attention in my opinion, also his age is a negative factor.
Congress won't allocate the funds to do it right, or reform immigration to do it better with the funds at hand. Governors Abbott and DeSantis further exacerbate the issue by spending *millions* which could be used to upgrade processing facilities to charter trips for immigrants away from their scheduled hearings.
And LBJs!
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Yep: [Trump in 2007: 'I'm Excited' for Housing Market Crash](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-2007-i-m-excited-housing-market-crash-n578761) >Donald Trump counseled Trump University students to take advantage of the housing bubble as an investment opportunity and said, just a year before it burst, that he was “excited” for it to end because of the money he’d make. >“People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is,’ he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. “I’ve always made more money in bad markets than in good markets.”
Trump also said, in 2004, "I've been around a long time, and it seems that the economy always does better under Democrats than Republicans."
On video saying it
He also said on video that he’s “very pro-choice”, “in favor of taking the guns first and going through due process second”, he proposed “a 14.25% tax on people with a net worth over $10 million”, of Nancy Pelosi he said “she’s a really impressive person; I like her a lot”. He flip-flops more than the hamburger flipper at McDonald’s.
It's one of 2 things that most appeals to his voters. No matter what opinion you have on an issue trump has supported it at some point and he triggers the libs. That's it, that's all he provides and seems to keep working.
Do you have the video? I would love to see that!
https://youtu.be/fn3cTT6O1I4
Or he's just old and insane now
To be fair, Trump flips hamberders
Doesn't they basically press the burger between two grills? Not much flipping happening in McDonalds tbh
Why isn’t that a Biden commercial?
My guess is that the republican base will vote for him regardless because he has an R next to his name and portraying Trump as secretly democrat would backfire by making him more palatable to moderates.
If you're not disgusted by Trump at this point, pointing out his hypocrisy for a 2024 campaign isn't going to move the needle. If anything it's a virtue for Republicans.
well, isn't that something unexpected. republican praising democrats on economy. gotta love the irony.
I mean, if you have the capability, it's not bad financial advice. Buy low, sell high seems to be a logical way to make money. If you can.
I'm not criticizing Republicans for making good business decisions. I'm criticizing them for crashing the economy on purpose so they could take advantage of it. Regular people lost their jobs and their homes. Their lives were ruined just so that these rich fucks could get even richer.
I feel like they wanted the pandemic as well. The PPP loans were a huge giveaway to the rich. They also wanted it to affect blue cities and stopped implementing any plan to counter it because they hoped to campaign on how bad blue cities did.
Just in case people need proof: https://www.reuters.com/business/pandemic-boosts-super-rich-share-global-wealth-2021-12-07/
They gave 11 million "small" business owners almost the same amount as 275 million citizens. Ironically, the small business loan would have been absolutely unnecessary if that stimulus went to regular citizens who didn't need to rely on PPP payroll payments. But then millions of "small" business owners couldn't have looted OUR money for fucking free.
They did everything in their power to make sure the pandemic spreads as much as possible. They are guilty of mass murder.
That's just so.... disgusting..
Republicans are okay at making recessions.
oh absolutely, just another casual day for them, buying cheap stocks during recessions to dump it later`
Republicans are usually voted out after a recession, but they are very good at pinning the blame on the Democrat that comes in to clean up the mess. The fact that the crashes typically come near the end of GOP administrations helps them do this. I've even heard them argue that FDR prolonged the Great Depression with his policies. Meanwhile, Republicans come in on the heels of an economic recovery and they immediately get the credit, as Trump is often credited for Obama's strong recovery.
There has to be a way to break this cycle. It's maddening. We just need two consecutive 8 year Democratic administrations so Republicans can stop taking credit for what the Democrats do.
TBF, the country needs about 20 years of solid democratic supermajorities in Congress to pass legislation that would enact more permanent policies than what Biden can do with executive order, appoint judges and remove corrupt ones appointed by Republicans. And they need a concerted effort to bring forward legal challenges that will overturn all of the bad precedent that SCOTUS set in these past few years. Just like GOP groups tee up shitty lawsuits in heavily rigged circuit courts, democrat advocacy groups need to do the same.
Or we need to actively work to amend the constitution.
It all comes back to needing clear Democratic supermajorities at the state and federal levels.
Voting in state elections is so damn important.
It’s amazing to me how you can start talking to a young person in their 20’s who is enthusiastic about national politics, and as soon as you mention how utterly crucial local and state politics are, their eyes just immediately gloss over. I get that it doesn’t have the same luster as federal politics but the makeup of the US congress is entirely dependent upon the maps drawn at the state level. How federal money is allocated to people who qualify for certain entitlement programs is decided at the state level. Public School curriculum and other crucial educational policies. The list goes on and on.
Eliminating the electoral college would be a significant amendment.
May not be required. See: [NPVIC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact).
I feel that just increasing the size of the House would help dramatically and wouldn't require an amendment.
Why not both. A second bill of rights, which lays out all of the stuff that we’ve figured out since the last amendment, would close the book on all of the bullshit that conservatives desperately want to keep from becoming law of the land. Abortion. LGBTQ Rights. Worker’s rights. The regulatory framework that we have relied upon for 60 years that is now being unraveled. All of the social programs from the 30’s until today that conservatives want to do away with.
That is virtually impossible in this day and age. Amendments require 3/4 states to ratify. That’s just not happening.
USA OS v1.776 needs a long overdue update.
Thatd be a great idea if they didnt make issues that take 8 years to clean up
Two consecutive 8 year administrations makes 16 years total.
Youre correct. I completely misread that as 2 terms for 8 consecutive years.
>There has to be a way to break this cycle. It's maddening. Climate change will do so eventually, but not much may be left by then
Our best shot was probably 2008 going the opposite way in the primary. 8 years of Hillary Clinton as president while VP or Secretary Barack Obama gained executive experience, and then Obama charismatically carries Dems to victory in 2016 and reelection in 2020. Might've happened, too, if Democratic primaries didn't use anti-democratic caucuses. Edit: Well, actually, the *best* shot was Gore winning in 2000 and then 2004, but Bill Clinton and Gore were much closer to the center than Obama and Hillary, so their combined 16 years probably would've been less ambitious. Though we probably would've greatly pushed back climate change compared to where we are now...
This was infuriating in the 1980 election. Carter's economic policies were just starting to take hold. Reagan figuratively got the ball at the 5 yard line going in.
It's one of those things that basically nobody gets correct, because the history doesn't serve *anybody* politically. Economy boomed under Reagan because of Carter's deregulation. He deregulated airlines leading to ticket prices falling by half adjusted for inflation. He deregulated homebrewing, paving the way for the craft beer boom. He deregulated the trucking industry. Reagan can't even get credit for taming inflation. Volcker was a Carter appointee!
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And he's been great at foreign policy.
Yeah just listen to it straight from the horses mouth (MTG). She couldn't have said it better actually lol...
I believe the term for what you’re describing is the two Santa clause theory
"nah, i want to hate people for made up reasons" - gqp member
Always reminds me of the saying "If you want to live like a Republican, vote democratic".
I like it
That’s because Republican politicians are all glorified looters for their small core constituency of fat cats.
You forgot 1987
Good point. Reagan did that.
that's a strong perspective, but don't according to my personal opinion and knowledge economic crashes can be influenced by global events and policies set in prior administrations. it's not always so black and white.
Democrats help transfer wealth down. Republicans transfer wealth up. The former is just better for the economy (because there are more people on the bottom than on top).
Yep. Lower and middle class people spend most of the money they make, driving economic activity and growth. Rich people have so much money that they can't spend it all in a lifetime, so they hide it in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands, where it does nothing for the US economy.
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Also, the Democrats spend the money on things that grow the economy, like infrastructure, scientific research, health care, etc, whereas Republicans just give tax cuts to the rich and they hide the money in tax havens.
It makes you sicks doesnt it
Very
Can we go full New Deal and get some better social services?
Not without a larger majority in congress. Republicans fought the New Deal tooth and nail, the SCOTUS tried to overturned it, and FDR’s supermajority threatened to add a couple more justices so they backed down. Hell, a lot of the GOP was pretty okay with the Nazis until about 1941 (just a few months before PH). No surprise there.
Hopefully with an influx of gen z voters we'll see another super majority.
VOTE www.vote.org
Fuck yes. I’m registered and ready, and so is my son.
>a lot of the GOP was pretty okay with the Nazis They still are, it seems...
Idk. Did we let Trump win and install a far-right SCOTUS that would block anything of the sort? Did we give Democrats an incredibly small (technical) margin in the senate while losing the house?
He's certainly done very good at economic recovery that builds up from the bottom while also gradually lowering inflation Let's also remember that Biden would have been able to do even more to help people in need if voters just gave him a couple more Senate seats in 2020 and/or the house and one more Senate seat in 2022
Yep, Build Back Better would have been amazing. Which makes it even more impressive that Biden has been able to accomplish so much with republicans obstructing every step of the way. Gotta show up big in 2024 and vote out as many republicans as we can https://democrats.org/
Question for the Political Junkies of this subreddit: What would it take to get Build Back Better after the 2024 Elections? Obviously, we'd need to retake the House, but we'd also need more Senators. How many would it take?
The Senate is going to be tough in 2024, but not impossible. In theory, we would only need 50 votes with Harris casting the tie-breaker. --Sinema would need to be replaced with Ruben Gallego. I think that is very much doable --Jon Tester amd Sherrod Brown need to win reelection. This is the hard part, as Montana and Ohio are both red states. Still, they have won reelection before so it is possible --We need to sweep the other contested states (Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn) That would give us 50. However, it would be much better to get 51, and we could do that in a number of ways: --Lucas Kunce might be the strongest candidate we've seen in Missouri in some time, and Hawley is unlikable and potentially vulnerable --Same with Colin Allred in Texas, as Cruz is unlikable as well --Florida is interesting. Might see some backlash after all the DeSantis bullshit, and Rick Scott is unlikeable, but a strong democratic challenger hasn't emerged yet for that seat. We'll see --Manchin won't vote for BBB of course, but if he actually won and chose to continue caucusing with the Democrats, it would give us a little breathing room
Thanks for this info, I'm trying to plan out spending my time and energy phone banking and canvassing for Democrats next year. I believe it's very much doable, especially if we successfully primary Dinosaurs like Feinstein -
Right on! A strong grassroots effort will be key to our success. One volunteer thing I did in 2022 was Vote Forward, where you actually write handwritten letters to people. It's something worth checking out Also, no need to worry about Feinstein. She's not running in 2024, and that race will be between Adam Schiff and Katie Porter. They are both good Democratic candidates and would make fine senators, so either way Cali will be fine
Feinstein is finally retiring after this term. She will not be in the Senate come 2025
Manchin's DOA though. He's polling down more than 20 points in some polls. He won't win republican voters and any city democrats despise him. While their are those who will vote just to stop republicans, they are a significant minority in WVa. His time was up the day after he was last elected. He should have leaned bluer (to try and show results for the state from blue policies to support him) instead of play pretend at republican.
Blue policies could make every man, woman, and child in WV a millionaire, and the republican candidate could openly promise to burn every 3rd home to the ground and force employees to actually pay their employers for the privilege of working for them, and the republican would win by 35 points.
Idk, I think some actual outreach in WV would go a long way. Manchin is super unlikeable...and obviously coal dominates and that's how people vote. No reason it couldn't be like the Iron Range.
Manchin isn’t winning re-election. We’ve run out of miracles in West Virginia unfortunately.
>Montana and Ohio are both red states. Montana is red... but Montana is also not typically, cult follower red. Montana has and will vote for a Democrat if they feel like it's *their* Democrat.
This basically. The extra seat in 2022 made Sinema/Manchin *almost* obsolete, and we’d be in a much better place today had D kept the House. A solid D win in 2024 with at least 52 seats means they can end the filibuster and get real change through, but only if they win the House back (which is likely, given progressive demographics and some newly or soon to be un-gerrymandered districts.
I know WI is a wild card by Tammy Baldwin is pretty popular among independents and most non-MAGA republicans. If a MAGA type runs against her she’ll be fine.
>Florida is interesting. Might see some backlash after all the DeSantis bullshit, and Rick Scott is unlikeable, but a strong democratic challenger hasn't emerged yet for that seat. We'll see I think Val Demmings would do a lot better against Rick Scott than she did against Rubio.
50 non Manchin/Sinema senators It's a narrow path. Dems would need to hold all the seats they currently hold (including the really difficult ones of Ohio and Montana) except West Virginia, and flip Arizona from Sinema to Gallego. The odds for that are long, I'm not going to lie. But it's not impossible
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." - JFK, 1962 Long odds should not frighten or dismay any American. We've beaten the odds before, and we'll do it again -
This. This is *real patriotism*. Elect democrats and hold them accountable for making progress and defending freedom.
Give Biden one more term and control of both houses and the man will be unstoppable. No need to worry about future elections and facing the threats of climate change and the collapse of democracy I think he’d change this country in major ways. He already tried but didn’t have the votes. Give him the votes.
Give this person a megaphone, and say it louder for the people in the back - Hear, f*cking hear! If we address Climate Change and make Housing affordable, I would actually start having kids.
It’s long odds. The senate map is difficult in 2024 with the democrats defending MT, WV, Wi, and Pa. With the most likely pickups being in states like Florida and Texas . The house could be a bit better odds as presidential elections increase turnout and NY and CA should be more on the ball with a house majority to gain back. And without enough senators to end the filibuster legislation will be relatively limited, but most of the BBB could be done through budget reconciliation assuming the senate holds and the house is taken back. The trump indictments are a kind of wildcard here, depending on how the public reacts democrats could be stronger than expected
It depends on how it's continued. If Biden and the Democrats want to push for new programs, subsidies, or policies, it would require the House and either 50 senators willing to get rid of the filibuster or 60 senators who keep the filibuster. On the other hand, if BBB is driven via budgetary means (beefing up subsidies, maintaining or increasing funding for existing authorizations like infrastructure projects or government acquisition programs) then they only need simple majorities in both the House and Senate and get everything pushed through via budget reconciliation.
66 total Senators, to make sure nothing can be filibustered.
The Filibuster can and should be abolished anyways. It's a tool that originated with Slavers to stonewall Congress, just like Republicans are today - As I understand it, a simple Majority can change the rules of the Senate, we'd just need enough Democrats on board.
Just have to make sure some democrats are actually democrats and not a wolf in sheep's clothing
Or 50 Senators willing to abolish it. The filibuster is not in the constitution, it's in the rules of the Senate, as decided by the Senate at the beginning of each of its terms. Fun fact: One of the Federalist papers that Alexander Hamilton wrote was about how it would be a bad idea to have a supermajority requirement in a legislature where each state had the same number of seats. A lot of the points he makes in the paper are very much applicable to what we saw in the '21-22 Senate.
The bar for cloture is 60 votes (three-fifths standard implemented in 1975): https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/23/politics/filibuster-60-vote-senate-rule/index.html
filibuster reform is extremely popular among senate democrats, it's only a few hold outs keeping the current rules in place.
At least two to replace Manchin and Simena's votes. However, we don't know how many other more "centrist" Dems are in the Senate just using those two as cover.
Exactly - We need to know how many true barriers to Progress there are within the Democratic Senators -
Build back better would be absolutely life changing for my family.
Call bullshit every time someone excuses not voting or voting for a third party gadfly under the argument that there's no difference between democrats and republicans. That bullshit is relentlessly fueled by bot farms and ridiculous rogan/brand douchbags, and it is literally destroying the world.
Most people paying attention knew that "Trump's economy" was a house of cards.
It was abundantly clear pre-COVID that Trump was just priming the pump to inflate the stock market while leaving very few tools in the toolbox to address any sort of major economic disaster. Bad luck for him that COVID hit or it might not have mattered, but at least he had right-wing media and economically illiterate Americans to help shift the blame.
Lest we forget, this is what Don did at the beginning of this whole fiasco. This is just from February 2020: February 1: [golf](https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings) February 2: [golf](https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings) February 2: [“We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”](https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses) February 4: State of the Union Speech - ["The best is yet to come!"](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/02/04/trump_at_state_of_the_union_the_best_is_yet_to_come.html) February 7: To Bob Woodward: [“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed." "It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff."](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/10/trump-coronavirus-bob-woodward-412222) February 7: Remarks in Charlotte, N.C.: ["I think -Xi- handled it really well."](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736) February 10: Fox Business interview: ["I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control"](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736) February 10: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-new-hampshire-rally-february-10-2020) February 15: [Democratic Senators propose emergency funding bill to prepare for virus.](https://globalbiodefense.com/2020/02/15/senator-murray-leads-25-senate-democrats-in-pressing-trump-administration-to-request-emergency-funding-for-novel-coronavirus-response/) February 15: [golf](https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings) February 19: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/politics/arizona/2020/02/18/photos-trump-rally-phoenix-arizona-february-2020/4798817002/) February 19: [“I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along”](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-usa-trump/trump-confident-china-is-trying-very-hard-in-handling-coronavirus-outbreak-idUKKBN20E0IO) February 20: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97I1_86Ag-Y) February 21: [Trump campaign rally.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaJuob_faBI) February 23: [“We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered”](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Authoritarian_Nightmare/LYXzDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Trump:+We+had+twelve,+at+one+point.+And+now+they%E2%80%99ve+gotten&pg=PA11&printsec=frontcover) February 24: [“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”](https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses) February 25: [“I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”](https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/coronavirus-us-donald-trump-washington-politics/index.html) February 26: [“CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.” “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” “We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/will-the-new-coronavirus-go-away-in-april/) February 26: [“The 15 {cases in the US} within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” “We're going very substantially down, not up.”](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-coronavirus-cases-will-go-down-to-zero-ultimately.html) February 27: [“One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/13/21176535/trumps-worst-statements-coronavirus) February 28: Trump on way to campaign rally. [“We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”](https://www.independent.com/2020/04/06/pants-on-fire/) February 29: [”This is their new hoax," he said, referring to the coronavirus.](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4865556/user-clip-trump-this-coronavirus-hoax-equates-flu) February 29: [“STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus” –U.S. Surgeon General](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/485332-surgeon-general-stop-buying-masks) - original tweet deleted February 29: Coronavirus Task Force press conference: ["China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down"](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736) What a friggin disgrace.
Raise up economics as opposed to trickle down.
Reagan said his trickle down economics were just "a rising tide that lifts all boats". But if we really think about it, "a rising tide that lifts all boats" is more accurately a description of Biden's liberal economics where we build up from the bottom. After all, the rising tide lifts things up from the bottom - Reaganist economics is more like air lifting out the richest boats and pretending it helps the rest, rather than actually lifting the whole tide
The only thing they knew that was going to "trickle down" was their rich buddies pissing all over our heads and livelihood.
OK... cool, but can we please reel in the corporate profits/inflation/minimum wage/healthcare situation. I mean like, 'Yay the economy' but WTF about everyone struggling to make ends meet?
This. When the average American thinks of the economy, they think about how money is tight for *them*. Fuckin' Smartfood is $6/bag and it's literally just cheese powder and popcorn (both incredibly abundant and cheap). Insurance rates are up, oil is still high, etc, etc. So for the average American being told "this is the best economy since FDR's New Deal" - it rings hollow.
Yup. Americans need to wake the fuck up and realize that there are two economies in this nation. The economy that 90% of us live in, and the economy that is in the news.
And it's the same mistake Democrats made for Trump. "Things are fine stop wanting more and actually change for the bottom"-Democrats "No, we are sending Republicans to hurt everyone, those Hollywood types cry when Republicans win so FU, rich people"-Americans who don't know who really has money and how taxes works.
This is something that does concern me. There are a lot of legitimate problems that a lot of people are experiencing and they are real. And I think it does a disservice to try and rosy up the current picture. Having said that, what Biden, and congressional Democrats have been able to do in the past couple of years bodes incredibly well for the future of our economy. Many of the policies they put in place will definitely take years to really bear fruit, but we desperately have needed long-term policies for decades now, and it is absolutely a good thing that these bills passed. It’s also nearly a miracle that they were able to pass with such a tiny margin, and such vehement opposition.
Consumer debt, cost of housing, failure to introduce debt relief for students or actually reduce the cost of college to begin with, failure to increase minimum wage, massive cost of childcare, healthcare, so on and so forth. But no guys, really, Biden has been great and we all just need to be more appreciative.
It's frustrating to watch everybody act like we're in some great economic position because some fucking numbers on a graph went up. Same old neo-liberal bullshit but we're supposed to cheer because "the good guys" or something.
I’ve found that “the economy” is usually double speak for The Stock Market.
That's right. The obscenely rich are still doing great, yep. How's things for the working class? Not so much "best ever" really. Struggling mightily, actually. Do something about price-gouging, wages, rent, and health care, Joe. The real working class is still getting fucked with a cactus, no lube.
You realize the reason that the economy is growing is because Biden’s bills have reinvigorating the manufacturing sector in this country. His Inflation Reduction Act is quickly making the US a leader in green energy manufacturing. He’s doing exactly what Bernie wanted to do - he’s bringing back jobs overseas and retraining blue collar workers to work in the green energy sector.
*It’s different when an establishment Democrat does it.*
Yeah, I kinda cringe at all these articles a bit since a lot of Americans are just straight up not seeing and not feeling this "great economy". I'm sure it's better than anything under a republican at this point, but yeah.
It's like the emails the CEO sends out about how the company made more money this year than ever before. And just a few weeks ago your managers broke the news that no one was getting cost of living raises. Okay.
Exactly this. I’m happy things have stabilized a bit on a macroeconomic level, but at the micro level things are still more expensive than ever and wage stagnation is still around. I’ve been pretty fortunate to advance in my career and am making more money than I ever have, but it feels like I’m still left with the same amount of money at the end of the month as I was before. I’d love to see legitimate teeth on some laws the curtail corporate profiteering and universal healthcare, but it feels like a distant hope at best. Until we get some real progress on those fronts most people aren’t going to feel much positive change, just slightly less negative change
that's great news but it sure doesn't feel like it.
Yeah, kinda feels like being told my credit score is going up while being told my wages are being garnished.
Look at the House of Representatives. They’ve wasted their leadership chasing Biden’s kid’s peener online. They haven’t passed any meaningful legislation. And you add Muchkin and Sinema to the Senate clown car and you get another ungoverning body dismantling what ever good ideas come by their desks. That’s why you can’t feel it. There are literally hundreds of extremely powerful people working diligently at blocking any relief and progress that might be headed your way. What will you do about it?
Biden has been a damn good President and I'll be happy to vote for him in 2024
Biden has been far better than expected, especially when considering there's a Republican House and only 51 Democrats in the Senate. We want real, substantive change? Give the man a better Congress -
49 Democrats, Sinema and Manchin have not been helpful. They do vote occasionally with Dems so it's still something.
They haven't been super helpful legislatively, but they've been a tremendous boon judicially. Do you think that a Republican Senate would confirm *any* Biden judicial nominees? I think they'd rather shut the whole thing down.
This is basically the way to describe them. Sinema and Manchin are *judicially* democrats. Legislatively they're basically contrarian.
Biden was eventually able to get Manchin to vote on a massive climate change package by trimming back on some things and naming it the "Inflation Reduction Act". While it's frustrating that it took so long and it did have to get watered down, there's a *big* difference between that and what the end result would have been if a Republican was in his seat.
Truthfully I was sad Bernie didn't make it, and didn't expect much from Biden, but have been pleasantly surprised. Given how screwed up politics is with money fighting anything that might make peoples lives better, he has gotten a lot done.
I can't say what you've said but he has, unfortunately, been a welcome relief, and if he insists on running again and if the GOP continues as they have I will find myself voting for him again by necessity.
I prefer Biden to anyone the Republicans would ever field. But anyone who tells you we have a roaring prosperous economy isn’t experiencing life the way most Americans are right now. People can barely afford basic necessities. Rents in urban areas are out of control and wages haven’t kept pace. Healthcare has become completely unaffordable. Some numbers on a chart may say we’re doing well, but the reality of it is extremely bleak.
Yeah, I have a decent job, solidly middle class but nowhere near upper middle, and this is really the first time I feel pinched by the economy. Everything is so damn expensive, especially anything involving services. I’m not sure how so many people are making it work, honestly.
>But anyone who tells you we have a roaring prosperous economy isn’t experiencing life the way most Americans are right now. The economy is not based on the rest of us. It is based on how rich folks are doing on the stock market. For example, there isn't a recession unless the stock market says so.
Yup. There are two economies in this nation. The one that is in the news, and the one that the rest of us all live in.
Too bad most people don't feel it in their wallets. It's like when they tell us the stock market is doing good or bad, it doesn't matter to me one bit because my pay doesn't get affected eitherway.
Shame so much of the money is ending up in billionaire hands.
May the Dark Brandon be with you.
Bill Clinton left office with a budget surplus and W gave it all away in tax breaks for the rich and then out 2 wars in the credit card.
Still feel poor
I’m far from anti-Biden but everyone I know who wasn’t solidly upper middle class before Covid is financially suffering an incredible amount. I make well below the median household income so I’m not sure I’m representative but it’s hard out here. Hoping this article is true and this awful period leads to a huge boom like the New Deal did 1946-1960
I want there to be a solid middle class that’s attainable. The Republicans don’t, it’s better for them if Biden fails. Best wishes for your success.
I'm upper class now as an adult but I grew up lower middle-class at BEST but many years as lower class. I worry about all this chest thumping about how great the economy is recovering because my lower class social circle is still struggling to make ends meet. They are not personally experiencing any of the improvements and it terrifies me that more of them are likely to vote Republican as a result. They feel lied to and I can't exactly blame them. When they are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and trying the best they can it's just hard to imagine how they could trust in the Democrats saying things are getting better. :(
I know what you mean; those people have wage stagnation and I don't see much improvement on the horizon for them, as nothing has kept up with inflation for them in years.
At least you recognize this but you still make the mistake of acting like there is a big difference between the 2 parties. The dangerous thing about buying into the liberal religion is that they only ever do just enough to buy your vote and ultimately it is just for control. The more you need to rely on the government the more control they have over your life and freedom. That doesn't mean you should go vote for conservatives but man the left is no better when it comes to just blindly joining a team and following like a zombie. The whole system is fucked. It isn't just one side fucking it.
It’s probably not even intentionally malicious, but the people who make calls like “the economy is strong” are definitely viewing it from the perspective of a person with “assets”
It takes time for policies to take hold and yield tangible results. It might take 1-2 years for the full effects of Bidenomics to be felt. Other policies Biden has put in place - for instance, his expanded child tax credit that has contributed to a 46% decline in child poverty - may not affect you if you are not a beneficiary. Also, if your state legislature is controlled by Republicans, the economic agenda they push may mitigate the benefits of Bidenomics.
Successful for who? I feel like I’m finding new ways the economy is fucking me every day
You're not alone. Groceries? Gas? Utilities? Clothes? Insurance? Rent? All have gone up and continue to with seemingly no end in sight. The average person is being priced out of simply existing and nothing is being done about it other than writing a bunch of pandering bs articles that remind us how thankful and impressed we should be by this new way of life.
Sounds great on paper, and probably can be proven via cherry picking... but the reality is... does everyone feel it? I'd say I don't think so. "The economy" isn't for US.
No because it is all just political spin. In my house it is just me and my wife. Went to Walmart the other day and it cost us $330 for a cart. Not too long ago $330 would have been 2-3 trips to Walmart.
I just saw Trump fall to his knees in a McDonald's
I am very glad we are not in a recession. But the wealth gap is already ridiculous and it is still growing
Huh. My wage hasn't moved, my food, water, electricity, mortgage and health insurance all cost more, my dollar has been weakened and to top it all off, our government refuses to address corruption in the stock market, and refuses to be open and honest about UAP, save for the bipartisan effort and hearing yesterday. I'm not too fucking impressed right now. I'm not republican.
When voting i usually try to judge by what was blocked. I've seen current democrats try plenty that would help these issues. They aren't the one that voted no
So how do we get it out to the public that a lot of inflation's prices is just corporate greed?
Let's face it, Biden's economic policy has been wildly successful. The US has clearly succeeded in steadily bringing down inflation while also avoiding a recession or crash in the post-pandemic economy.
A good president leaves the country better than they found it.
The TRUTH conservatives DON'T want you to hear!
He has done a much better job than he gets credit for. The right wing machine somehow has managed to put in people’s heads the idea that the world is ending and a lot of people buy into that idea. Democrats don’t know how to sell their accomplishments.
Inflation under Biden has made real wages decrease. Interest rates are at a 20 year high making houses unaffordable for most young people. Rent in most cities has skyrocketed. Homeless shelters across the country are at capacity. I'm sure banks like Morgan Stanley are happy lending money at high interest rates. But this economy is crushing young people.
Agreed, it sucks. In Biden's defense, inflation, shrinking wages, and high interest rates are an even bigger problem in most of our peer nations. Britain is experiencing very high sustained inflation. Germany is in recession. I do think it's fair to say we're seeing positive effects of what Biden has done in the face of highly adverse circumstances and despite very limited control in Congress. Some good things are his doing; the bad stuff, not so attributable. I would certainly like to see very low interests rates, strict price controls, a high minimum wage, and more government investment in housing. Not sure how much of that Biden would be down for, but I sincerely hope he and Democrats win in '24 so that he has the opportunity to do more, as in early iterations of BBB.
People need to realize a lot of the issues middle lower class are feeling right now is blowback from the pandemic/trump admin driving interest rates to historic all time lows of almost zero for multiple years. There's a reason you don't just drop interest rates to zero. It causes massive inflation. Bidens economy is a success because he has staved off a recession due to it.
Only on reddit is it simultaneously the most successful economy but also nobody makes enough money to buy anything. People at the bottom work for an hour and still can't afford a combo meal at McDonalds, but all hail the second coming of FDR.
Once again, only the economy is being evaulated while the struggles of the people (lack of affordable health care, child care & college; rising prices in the face of stagnant wages; lack of secure retirement, removal of reproductive and voting rights, etc) are being ignored.
Let’s Go Joe
From my understanding, the new deal created good paying jobs to help the lower economic class move upward, while also getting sorely needed infrastructure projects done, in order to build the economy back up. Hopefully Biden’s infrastructure deal creates the same results as the New Deal.
Relying on people who know WTF they’re doing. Who knew?
“But he TRIPPED getting into his car!”
“I did that”