By John Ubaldi, “Ubaldi Reports”
One of the most famous political lines ever uttered was coined by Democratic political operative James Carville during the 1992 presidential election, “It’s the Economy Stupid,” this phrase alone defined the presidential contest which propelled then candidate Bill Clinton to the White House.
Twelve years early then Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan used a similar phrase in his quest for the White House when he posed the question to the American people, “Are you better off now then you were four years ago.?” The American people responded no, and with this negative response elected Reagan president.
History again is repeating itself as the singular issue of the 2024 presidential election is the economy, which is far above any other issue on voter’s minds. The American people overwhelmingly have repeated in poll after poll the economy is their top concern.
Can you blame American’s who have seen their economic wellbeing further deteriorate by higher prices on basic necessities such as groceries, rent, utilities, mortgages and just about every item needed to support a family!
With the recent release of August jobs report President Biden took a celebratory tone when the economy added 187,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate edging up to 3.8% from 3.5%.
The president stated that “America’s now in one of the strongest job-creating periods in our history, in the history of our country. It wasn’t that long ago that America was losing jobs. In fact, my predecessor was one of only two presidents in history who entered his presidency and left with fewer jobs than when he entered.”
This was subtle jab at former President Donald Trump. Biden continued to state, “We created more jobs in two years than any president ever created in a four-year, single four-year term,” Biden said, noting the U.S. had a 6.3 percent unemployment rate when he took office at the end of Trump’s term.
“We’ve recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic, we’ve added a million more new jobs.”
What the president failed to mention that in each released jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has downgraded jobs created in each of the previous months.
Unfortunately, for the president the economy is not as rosy as Biden claims it to be. A major inflation metric the Federal Reserve utilizes rose higher in July as higher prices continually squeeze the budget of American families.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index showed that consumer prices rose 0.2% from the previous month, according to the Labor Department. On an annual basis, prices climbed 3.3% — up from 3% the previous month, underscoring the challenge of taming high inflation.
Now inflation has come down from a peak high of 9.1% in June of 2022, but this has nothing to do with any policy enacted by the Biden administration, it comes mainly from the Federal Reserve pushing its most aggressive rate hikes in 40 years to curb inflation.
The Federal Reserve’s aggressive war on inflation has interest rates at its highest level since early 2000’s, but as investor Kevin O’Leary warned it doesn’t come without a cost. This inflationary period has had a negative impact on small business that is currently facing a cash crunch.
In response to surging prices, the central bank has hiked interest rates from nearly zero to north of 5% within the past 18 months. As a result, many companies with fewer than 500 employees can no longer afford to borrow the money they need to fund even their basic operations, O’Leary told Fox Business on Tuesday.
“We’ve got a real crisis coming here, there’s no cash for small businesses,” O’Leary said. “And when the Fed raises rates another 50 basis points, that’s gonna make it worse.”
“If you’re in the S&P 500, you have no trouble financing your business,” he continued. “You can’t say that about small business anymore. The cost of capital has gone through the roof.”
O’Leary mentioned, “We’ve got the CHIPS and Science Act. Where’s that money going? Behemoth giant companies in the S&P 500. The Inflation Reduction Act, another trillion not even printed yet. All going to big guys. Now, that’s great. They represent 40% of the jobs in America, the S&P 500. Everybody knows the S&P 500 is the biggest index in the world. But 60% of America is small business. That’s where 60% of the jobs come from. We’ve given nothing to them. And so they’re struggling because the Fed is raising rates up to 5.5% in a matter of months.”
As much as small businesses are reeling, the American people are feeling it even more.
The president doesn’t speak of what the American people are going through; far too often Biden, Democrats and their allies in the media consistently speak of a vibrant economy. Maybe Biden and Democrats circle of friends everyone is doing fine, unfortunately, consumers are not feeling it, this is why around 70% of the U.S. population is feeling the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction.
Ever since President Biden assumed the presidency in January 2021, prices have gone up on just about everything, especially on groceries, which have risen substantially impacting those who least can afford it the poor and middle class.
Just last year the nation endured a shortage of baby formula, but even now there is still a baby formula shortage, just because it’s not in the news doesn’t mean the situation has gone away. I admonish anyone the next time you shop for groceries stop by the isle where baby formula is stocked and you will see that you are still limited to how much you can purchase.
At the same time, while you are in that same isles just examine the cost of diapers. The National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) is a nonprofit that helps groups collect and give out free diapers to those in need. The organization, which works with hundreds of diaper banks coast to coast, reports that 47% of American families are struggling to afford diapers in 2023.
Wages haven’t kept pace with the rise of inflation, as prices have risen because of inflationary trajectory upward.
Everything the president does is making it harder and harder for Americans to maintain some semblance of economic stability. The administrations war on the fossil fuel energy and its fixation on alternative energy such as wind and solar has only made it more expensive for Americans to fuel their vehicles and to cool and heat their homes.
Too many Americans are having difficulties paying their rent or obtaining viable living accommodations they can afford. Utility costs have skyrocketed because of the president’s delusional pursuit of his and the Democratic Party’s fixation on alternative energy which in their belief will transform America. All it has done is make American consumers pay more to gas up their vehicles and heat and cool their homes!
No matter where you look American consumers are paying more and more just too live, safe to say “Bidenomics” is not working! James Carville was right, “It’s the economy stupid,” and a Reagan stated, “Are you better off now then you were four years ago?” For many American’s no they are not!
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