Joe Biden’s America

Incumbent Utah Senator, Mike Lee, currently running for re-election, has a scary-looking TV commercial out that shows a bleak, photoshopped image of the President and starts, “This is Joe Biden’s America.” The voice then goes on to whine about “Inflation” blah, blah blah, “immigrants,” blah, blah, blah. The first lie here is that President Biden caused America’s problems. The even bigger lie is the deliberate implication that President Biden WANTS America to have problems.

This ad is a typical Republican hodgepodge of inuendo, distortion, misdirection, and outright lies. Mike Lee is not running against Joe Biden. This ad is intended to create a false boogeyman that Lee can run against instead of his real-life opponent.

But it does raise the question. What would “Joe Biden’s America” actually look like? Let’s examine Joe Biden’s record of accomplishments:

The economic record

President Biden’s record on the economy is not only strong, it is record-setting. In 2021 GDP growth in the United States was 5.7%. This is the strongest economic growth in the country since 1984. The July 2022 unemployment rate was 3.5%. This is down from the 6.4% unemployment rate of January 2021 and constitutes the most rapid drop in the unemployment rate ever. The current rate is the lowest in 50 years.

The United States has added 7.9 million new jobs since Biden took office. That is more than during the first 14 months of any previous President. During the same time period, wages went up 6.5%.

High inflation is never good, but it was primarily caused by the price of gas. The evidence shows that the big oil companies decided to use Russia’s war in Ukraine as an excuse to raise prices dramatically and take in huge profits. Inflation has been dropping in recent months as the price of gasoline has come down from it’s high in March. In fact, the rate of inflation for the month of July, 2022 was ZERO.

In addition to this good news, the deficit (which is the economic number that Republicans traditionally use to hammer the so-called “tax and spend Democrats,”), was down $1.3 Trillion in 2021 over the previous year.

Biden’s early successes

President Biden came into office amidst a still-raging pandemic and the damage it was doing to people’s lives and to the economy. He immediately set to work to set up community vaccination sites, and make high-quality treatment available.

In March of 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan which saved or restored millions of jobs that had been affected by the pandemic. It also made significant investments in public health, agriculture, education, housing, public transportation, and provided a $1,400 stimulus payment to millions of Americans,

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This law provides clean drinking water to American families, ensures high-speed internet to rural communities, repairs and rebuilds roads and bridges, improves public transit, upgrades airports and seaports, expands passenger rail, upgrades our electrical power infrastructure, and cleans up pollution.

One week in August 2022

On Tuesday, August 9, President Biden signed the Chips and Science Act which will provide $200 billion to promote domestic research and production of computer chips and clean energy while reducing reliance on foreign technology. This law will significantly increase our competitiveness with China.

On Wednesday, August 10, President Biden signed the PACT Act which gives new protections and benefits to veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits during their service overseas. This, of course, is the bill that Senate Republicans had stupidly blocked in a fit of pique over another bill. As usual, the Republican excuse for blocking aide for injured veterans was that they were “concerned about the cost” of the bill.

On Friday, August 12, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. It fights inflation by reducing the deficit while lowering the cost of energy, health care, and prescription drugs. This law will finally allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices and will reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent.

Not a single Republican in Congress voted to lower the cost of prescription drugs, reduce health insurance premiums, make investments to address climate change, tackle inflation, or require the wealthiest corporations to pay their fair share.

Kamala Harris

Additional major accomplishments

In addition to the above, President Biden has united the world against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, expanded NATO, passed the most significant gun safety bill in 30 years, and appointed the first black woman to the Supreme Court.

Look at Joe Biden, … This has been an extraordinarily successful two years. Any way you cut it, even Republicans have to admit this privately. And they are. It’s been a hell of a run.”

Joe Scarborough

This President knows how to get things done. This President is working for the American people, not for the big corporations, and not for himself. The things he has already accomplished in his first two years in office will have far-reaching and long-lasting benefits for all Americans.

He accomplished most of these things with little help, and often active opposition, from the Republicans. It will be a disaster for our country if the Republicans take control of Congress this Fall. They have already promised to undo Joe Biden’s significant work to make life better for all Americans.

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Sources:

“Employment Situation Summary,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 5, 2022.
D’Angelo Gore, et al, “Biden’s Numbers (First Quarterly Update),” FactCheck.org, April 14, 2022.
“Big Oil Posts Massive $41B Profits in Q1 Thanks to High Consumer Gas Prices,” Accountable, May 10, 2022
“President Biden Announces American Rescue Plan,” Whitehouse.gov, January 20, 2021.
“H.R.1319 – American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,” Congress.gov.
“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” Whitehouse.gov
“H.R. 3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” Congress.gov.
“FACT SHEET: White House Announces over $40 Billion in American Rescue Plan Investments in Our Workforce – With More Coming,” Whitehouse.gov, July 12, 2022.
“FACT SHEET: CHIPS and Science Act Will Lower Costs, Create Jobs, Strengthen Supply Chains, and Counter China,” Whitehouse.gov, August 9, 2022.
“FACT SHEET: President Biden Signs the PACT Act and Delivers on His Promise to America’s Veterans,” Whitehouse.gov, August 10, 2022.
“Summary: The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” Democrats.Senate.gov, August 11, 2022.
Kamala Harris, “Statement from Vice President Harris on the Inflation Reduction Act,” Whitehouse.gov, August 12, 2022.
Joe Scarborough, “Biden is breaking through the typical Washington gridlock,” Morning Joe, MSNBC, August 11,2022.
Joe Scarborough, “Meacham: Biden wants to show that democracy can deliver if you just do the work,” Morning Joe, MSNBC, August 12, 2022.
Edward Luce, “The unexpected triumph of Joe Biden,” Financial Times, August 9, 2022.
Joe Scarborough, “Joe Biden – An extraordinarily successful two years,” The Democrats, Twitter, August 9, 2022.