Part of the folklore of Joe Biden is that, while in office prior to his current position, he maintained his residence in his home state of Delaware and commuted to Washington via Amtrak. Imagine that- A politician humble enough to take public transportation to work.
Yesterday, President Joe Biden made a speech in Nevada announcing the first of several rail infrastructure projects underway, and it was impressive. The Los Angeles to Las Vegas leg alone will create thousands of union jobs and take thousands of polluting cars off the road.
Another piece of the Biden economic plan clicks into place.
In November, 199,000 more jobs were added to the U.S. economy, the unemployment rate held at an astounding 3.7% and wage growth outpaced inflation again, continuing unprecedented string of successes for American working families. Consumer confidence is on the rise again because we have money in our pockets and most of us feel good about our prospects. The inflation rate dropped again to 3.4% and costs have come down because manufacturing output and transportation capabilities have caught up with consumer demand.
Despite the naysayers, all of those are signs of a vibrant and healthy economy.
Political pundits on the right are seriously befuddled by the success of Bidenomics, but it really isn’t that hard to understand. The Biden administration is investing in our country, rebuilding the middle class and growing our economy from the bottom up. This is a plan that benefits ALL of us, not just the uber-wealthy. Conversely, the Supply-Side “Trickle-Down Economics” plan promoted by the Republican party since the time of Reagan has inflated our debt, depleted our critical infrastructure, hollowed out the middle class and transferred massive wealth to the already-ultrawealthy. Almost all of us are weaker and poorer today because of this misguided effort.
Fun fact: After all the Republican carping about our national debt, without the tax cuts for the wealthy of the Reagan, Bush and Trump administrations, there would be NO national debt. Our debt growth is a fair taxation problem, not a spending problem; a discussion that still needs to happen in Congress.
So, here we are with the exact right leader for our time, one whose vision recognizes the need to reinvest in our country and the importance of a strong middle class to keep our economy growing. Moreover, Joe Biden is a leader who has the legislative experience to navigate the politically charged climate of our democracy. Let’s give some credit to the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan (and Democratic legislators who made them happen) for pulling us out of the recession left by the last administration and re-establishing the USA as a world leader.
Other administrations have promised and failed to deliver stable good paying jobs, plentiful and affordable goods and services, progress toward ending climate-related chaos, and real opportunities for competitive American businesses. There is still much to do for these things that truly matter, but Joe Biden and the Democrats are getting the job done.
Mark Toenjes – WCD member
Header image: generated by Microsoft Image Creator from Designer
Further evidence folks are understand just how good things are now: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/how-the-economy-is-doing-right-now-according-to-american-consumers-rcna128725