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Monday, September 30, 2024

Democrats Are Always Better For the Economy and Now is No Different

The stock market has reached record territory.  Economic policy of the current administration has led to the quickest, and deepest recovery from the inflation that affected the global economy, and has managed it well, with interest rates and a careful balance of spending which has kept a recession completely out of the conversation.  In spite of the fact that we went through the inflation experience, and did see a rise in fuel prices, we also experienced wage growth, once we went through the COVID fluctuations, that topped out at 6.9% and has managed to stay relatively high, compared to the Trump administrations figures on the same economic measure.  

And we've had steady, GNP growth at 3% or higher.  Sustained.  

And of course, we have had the longest period of sustained job growth and low unemployment in literally decades.  The last three Democrats in the White House have combined for the creation of 51.3 million jobs, while Republicans in the White House since then have accounted for 1.3 million.  Of course, Republicans have tried to convolute and twist those facts a thousand ways from Sunday, with no luck, because they are facts that can't be disputed.  The last Republican in the White House accounted for the loss of 2.7 million jobs, another indisputable fact.  And while there was a pandemic going on, mismanagement of it from the White House, inept and incompetent by the nicest of possible descriptions, was a major cause of the loss of jobs and the high unemployment inherited by the Biden administration. 

Unemployment, being one of the most important factors in American economic health, has been something Democrats have been incredibly successful at generating and protecting, not just since Clinton entered the White House, but going all the way back to World War 2. During the 14 Presidencies since the end of that war, seven Republican, seven Democrat, the Democrats added 88 million jobs to the American economy, compared to just 32 million under Republicans.  Wage growth also fares better under Democratic party Presidents.  Those are facts.  

The unemployment and job creation rates are front line signs of economic health.  The healthier the economy, the more jobs it creates, the lower the unemployment rate.  

Trump Economy vs. Harris Economy

The fact that Trump is a rich man, an alleged billionaire, is not an indication that he knows what's best for the economy.  He sure knows what's best for his economy, as far as the rest of the country, he's never acted like he cared.  And what did we get with Trump?  Four years, riding on the success of his predecessor, who led the economic recovery from the Bush Recession, the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression.  Nothing new or innovative, tariffs which created inflation double what it had been, modest growth in the GNP, nothing you'd expect from a self-proclaimed genius.  

And we got trillions added to the national debt, telling us that all the Republican caterwauling we've heard about increasing the debt being impossible to sustain was meaningless.  Trump did it and so they were OK with it.  I mean, he really did it, not only such a gigantic number, but making a tax increase for 80% of American wage earners, and a tax cut for the top 5% the order of the day.  It was pretty deceptive, too, cutting out the exemption for the working class, giving them less than a 1% cut, and then taking away their ability to deduct an additional 7% of their wages.  

What we will be getting from Harris is a guarantee of no tax increases, up to a wage earned of $400,000.  We won't get that from Trump, who is proposing another tax increase for those who aren't already wealthy.  Along with that, economists have estimated his tariff regulations would add almost $4,000 a year to current American's living expenses.   

Harris has been part of an administration that thinks of ways to bring down costs for Americans, not how to make money off raising them.  Biden sold off a nice chunk of our national oil reserves, at a premium price, only to buy the oil to re-fill the reserve at a much lower price, insuring the strategic oil reserves are at their highest level in decades while adding several billion dollars to the plus side of the revenue.  That drove gas prices down, along with some of the pressure that competition is generating now among oil producing countries.  The Saudis need some cash flow, so they're willing to increase production which drops the price of gas.  That's yet to come, by the way.  

I'm sure willing to vote for four more years of this economy.  


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