We’re ending 2021 with what one analyst described as the strongest first-year economic track record of any president in the last 50 years.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 29, 2021
Let’s keep the progress going.
That sent right wingers over the edge. Here's just one example:
Fox News brought on Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) to suggest that the president is living in a bubble and fails to see the only thing that matters to right wingers these days: inflation.I didn't realize April Fools' Day was in December this year. https://t.co/TI0vznR0xm
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) December 30, 2021
The analyst Biden referred to is Matthew Winkler of Bloomberg News, whose most recent article is titled, "Biden's Economic Performance Has Proved Unbeatable." The subtitle says it all: "No first-year president going back to Carter comes close to matching the current White House occupant’s No. 1 or No. 2 ranking in each of 10 key measures."
America’s economy improved more in Joe Biden's first 12 months than any president during the past 50 years notwithstanding the contrary media narrative contributing to dour public opinion.
Winkler goes on to document how Biden comes in either first or second on things like GDP, stock market performance, consumer credit, non-farm payroll, and manufacturing jobs. While Winkler acknowledges the problem of inflation, he notes that the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note is fluctuating well below the rate of inflation and ends with this:
The clear message from the market that tells all other markets what to do is that the people with the most at stake are betting on the Biden economy.
With all of that, let's review what's happening here. As Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said a few months ago, Republicans have been counting on chaos as their strategy to prevail in 2022. Spreading disinformation about Covid and vaccines has worked for them in prolonging the pandemic. But they've also put a lot of effort into suggesting that the economy would be chaotic over the holidays, as Dana Milbank summarized.
For months, the GOP-Fox News axis forecast the bluest of Christmases.House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy joined 159 House Republicans in a letter to President Biden saying his policies “will certainly ensure that this Christmas will not be merry” because of a “supply chain crisis” and inflation.
Chairman Jim Banks of the House Republican Study Committee, citing the same reasons, wrote to colleagues: “Our job as Republicans is to explain to the American people what the grinches at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave did to ruin Christmas.”
Fox News told viewers that “Christmas presents for your kids may not arrive on time or even at all” (Sean Hannity), that the president is “the Biden Who Stole Christmas” (Laura Ingraham) and that Biden is “facing a nightmare come Christmastime,” when “gifts are going to cost a fortune, and that’s even if you’re lucky enough to snag anything” (Jesse Watters).
Let's be clear about one thing: all of those people were wrong. The so-called "Christmas crisis" never materialized. Supply chain issues weren't a problem, holiday retail sales jumped 8.5 percent from last year (nearly 11 percent from pre-pandemic 2019), and gas prices were 14 cents a gallon lower than in November.
All of that, added to Winklers analysis, explains why the only thing right wingers want to talk about right now is inflation. It's working. As Philip Bump noted, most people used to assume that unemployment rates were the best measure of the health of the economy. That changed this past year, with three-quarters of Republicans now saying that prices are the key indicator of economic health.
All of this reminds me of the famous adage from James Carville during the 1992 election: "It's the economy, stupid." According to political scientists, he had a point.
Several studies have found that the economy is a major factor that affects how people vote — more specifically, that voters reward the incumbent party when they feel that economic times...are good, and voters are more likely to boot the incumbent out of the White House when they feel economic times are bad.
Republicans desperately need the Biden economy to fail. If they can't make that happen, they'll simply use their propaganda network to convince as many people as possible that things are really bad.
So...based on what news source you pay attention to, this country is either in the midst of a "Biden boom" or is headed for 1970s style stagflation. Nevermind that only one option is backed up by facts. Right wingers have managed to politicize everything else. Why not the economy?
Not sure the GOP has ever not politicized the economy. Deficits! Tax and spend liberals! (Never mind which party in power actually runs up the deficit with tax cuts to the very rich.)
ReplyDeleteThen, too, I wonder if the whole coinage "supply chain" isn't part of the mainstream media's usual effort to DE-politicize obvious issues to stay "balanced" (and to hype the supposed disaster quite as much as the GOP, obviously imbalanced as that is). As demand dropped in the first months of the pandemic, business responded by cutting costs and reducing supply, with no halfway efficient process in place for restoring them. And lo and behold, a small fraction of markets (certain chips, used cars) suffered high prices. In a rational world, this would be a sign of the inefficiency of free markets. But instead it's just how awful things and/or Biden are.
To add to your comments, many, if not most manufacturers and suppliers at all levels have gone to "just in time" inventories over the years. This system allows very little stocking up on either manufacturing parts or end-user supplies. When the demand dried up, due to Covid, the suppliers quickly cut back on or ran out of inventories. Biden's fault? Hardly. The effects of capitalists using just in time inventories in order to maximize profits? Probably.
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