President Joe Biden did what he needed to do to promote his booming economy as he slapped down Republicans' intransigence.
Joe Biden did something many have been waiting for him to do for a long time. Biden first acknowledged his darn good economy and played it up.
"One leading economic analyst describes what we've accomplished in 2021 as the strongest first-year economic track record of any president in the last 50 years," Biden said. "Today America is the only leading economy in the world where the economy as a whole is stronger than before the pandemic now."
The President then neutralizes a Republican talking point about inflation.
"I hear Republicans say today that my talking about this strong record shows that I don't understand a lot of people are still suffering," Biden said. "They say that I'm not focused on inflation. Malarkey!"
I wish the President would have said then that the greed of the capitalist corporations is taking advantage of their pricing power. After all, there are no real shortages of most items. Moreover, the supply chain problem is a screwup of the private sector partially reliant on just-in-time inventory (JITI). Instead, the President said later that capitalism without competition is not capitalism. I beg to disagree. According to Milton Friedman, the sole purpose of executives are to maximize profits for the shareholders. Destroying competition is one of its tools. Free enterprise should be what America strives for going forward. But that debate is beyond the scope of this post but I cover it in my book titled “How to make America, Utopia.”
Joe Biden then slaps back at Republicans. He puts them on the defensive.
"They want to talk down the recovery because they voted against the legislation that made it happen," Biden said. They voted against the tax cuts for middle-class families. They voted against the funds we needed to reopen our schools, to keep police officers and firefighters on the job. Lower health care premiums. They voted against the funds we're now using to buy COVID booster shots, more anti-viral pills."
Biden then detailed his way forward.
"I refuse to let them stand in the way of this recovery, and now my focus is on keeping this recovery strong and durable notwithstanding Republican obstructionism," Biden said.
Every Democrat and Progressive should lean into the economy. Highlight how great it has recovered. Then point out that had they followed Republican policies, the financial support given to the poor, middle-class, and small businesses would not have occurred. After all, the Republican vote proved it. The economy would have tanked.
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