Today a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed strong economic growth of 3.3% in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2023, setting growth for the year at 3.1% (by comparison, in the first three years of Trump’s term, before the pandemic, growth was 2.5%). A year ago, economists projected that the U.S. would have a recession in 2023, and forecast growth of 0.2%.
Meanwhile, unemployment remains low, wages are high, and inflation is receding. As Gabriel T. Rubin put it in the Wall Street Journal today, “The final three months of the year looked a lot like the soft landing Fed officials are seeking to achieve.”
When they took office, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris rejected “supply side” economics and vowed to restore buying power to the demand side of the economy: ordinary Americans. They invested in manufacturing, infrastructure, small businesses, and workers’ rights. And now, after years in which pundits said their policies would never work, the numbers are in. The U.S. economy is very strong indeed, and at least some voters who have backed Republicans for a generation are noticing, as United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain made clear yesterday when the union made a strong and early endorsement of President Biden.
More on this:
Joe Biden Is A Good President, The Country Is Far Better Off Today - The months and months of encouraging economic news continued this week with q4 GDP coming in at 3.3% - far higher than analysts expected, and another sign of just how remarkable the economy has been under Joe Biden. Let’s recap where we are today:
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Best job market since the 1960s, stock market setting records (401Ks are happy), best recovery in the G7, consumer sentiment rising
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Historically elevated wage growth, new business formation and prime-age worker participation rates. In the last few months we’ve seen some of the most robust real wage growth we’ve seen in decades, and Americans at all income levels have seen sizeable increases in their overall net worth
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Lowest uninsured rate in history, record ACA signups this year
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The annual deficit is trillions less than when Biden came to office
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For young people the job market is the best since the 1960s; more young people have health insurance today than ever before; the President has forgiven more than $130b in student debt; by some measure home ownership rates are higher for Gen Z than Gen X and Millennials at this point in their lives; and rising minimum wages in states and cities across the US have created higher floors for new and entry-level workers than in many years
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Crime and murder rates plummeted across the US in 2023, and remain a fraction of what they were 30 years ago.
Data Don’t Lie: Biden’s Economic Record is Much Better than Trump’s
From growth and jobs to investment and business creation, the economy has performed substantially better under Biden than it did under Trump. Biden’s superior record holds even if we set aside the pandemic’s impact in 2020. The exception, of course, is inflation. But just as the COVID-19 pandemic led to the collapse in GDP and employment during Trump’s last year in office, it was also the main reason prices rose so much for a time here and globally, according to new analysis from the Federal Reserve…..
….Far from mismanaging inflation, Biden tamed it. As a result, America has fared better than other advanced countries. In 2023, while U.S. consumer prices rose 3.3 percent, they increased 4.1 percent in France, 3.9 percent in Great Britain, and 3.7 percent in Germany. And we beat inflation without sacrificing growth: In 2023, real GDP grew 2.5 percent in the United States compared to growth rates of 1.0 percent in France, 0.5 percent in the United Kingdom, and negative 0.5 percent in Germany.
I’ve been a pushover for data ever since I oversaw the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau as the Under Secretary of Commerce in the late 1990s. But politicians and the press must also take real economic numbers seriously. It’s time to reframe the narrative based on data that rigorously tracks what happens in the economy and not on mythmaking. President Biden’s record not only eclipses Donald Trump’s, but when policy made a difference—on growth, employment, investment, and inflation—Biden stepped up and improved our economic conditions. Those are the facts.
Joe Biden is a good President. The country is better off. The Democratic Party is strong, and winning elections all across the country. And they have Trump.
from that historically liberal (sarcasm) Wall Street Journal —> What Recession? Growth Ended Up Accelerating in 2023
he recession never showed up in 2023. Consumers made sure of it.
The U.S. economy grew 3.1% over the past year, the Commerce Department said Thursday. A resilient labor market supported strong consumer spending and brushed aside a feared downturn. A year ago economists saw a recession as very likely and projected anemic 0.2% growth for the year. Instead, last year’s gain was a sharp pickup from a comparable 0.7% advance in 2022.
Household incomes are growing again after a lengthy period of stagnation
With periodic interruptions due to business cycle peaks and troughs, the incomes of American households overall have trended up since 1970. In 2018, the median income of U.S. households stood at $74,600.5 This was 49% higher than its level in 1970, when the median income was $50,200.6 (Incomes are expressed in 2018 dollars.
All Three Stock Indices In Record Territory, Dow Breaks 38,000 For First Time Ever
The run of remarkable economic news continues this week as the Dow broke 38,000 for the first time, and all 3 major stock market indices have now been in record territory.
Obamacare enrollment hits record level
More than 21 million people have signed up for health plans through the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The record level of enrollment comes as former president Donald Trump, seeking the GOP nomination, is again vowing to repeal the program if elected.
“The American people have made it clear: they don’t want the Affordable Care Act weakened and repealed — they want it strengthened and protected,” Biden said in a statement.
and the terrible week for Trump:
Jury orders Trump to pay Carroll damages for defamation.
A Manhattan jury on Friday ordered former President Donald J. Trump to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in social media posts, news conferences and even on the campaign trail ever since she first accused him in 2019 of raping her in a department store dressing room decades earlier.
The award included $65 million in punitive damages, which the nine-member jury assessed after finding Mr. Trump, 77, had acted maliciously after Ms. Carroll’s lawyers pointed to Mr. Trump’s persisting attacks on her, both from the White House and after leaving office.
$83.3 million is a major number. And there may be more to come: In Trump’s other civil trial, the outcome has yet to be determined. Trump could be on the hook for hundreds of millions more.
In the press room, reporters gasped when the $65 million figure was read out loud.
Carroll walked out of the courthouse arm in arm with her legal team, grinning for the cameras.
and this from Jennifer Rubin
The media’s obsession with early, irrelevant polling (largely within the margin of error) leads them to conclude that Trump, now the likely nominee after New Hampshire, is the favorite to win the presidency. But if we look past the premature and utterly nonpredictive general election polls to examine Trump the candidate, his weaknesses appear overwhelming.
For starters, it is hardly good news for the party out of power when the election already revolves around the challenger’s fitness, rather than the incumbent’s performance. Past presidential challengers such as Mitt Romney, John McCain, John F. Kerry and Al Gore did not have the extra hurdle to prove they were sane, law-abiding and pro-democracy. Trump does, and he reinforces those concerns whenever he opens his mouth.
Consider the heavy baggage that comes with Trump. With less than 55 percent of the vote in New Hampshire and Iowa, his results were underwhelming for someone with near universal name recognition. GOP turnout in Iowa was mediocre at best; in New Hampshire, independents turned out in droves but Republicans made up a surprisingly small share of the primary electorate. His weakness among independent voters in New Hampshire should worry Republicans. A small group of committed followers does not mean widespread enthusiasm for the candidate.
Moreover, Trump seems more confused, incoherent and feeble than ever. Mistaking former president Barack Obama for President Biden, confusing Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, running on about a made-up questions on a cognitive test (very meta, for him) and getting his world wars mixed up give the impression he’s slipping. Former representative Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) posted on X, “His confusion and lack of awareness is a trend. He’s aging very fast. I hope his family is getting him the help he needs.” Ouch. Imagine if Biden committed even one of these goofs — or slurred his words as Trump periodically does.
Beyond that, large numbers of Republicans (and independent voters) say they will not vote for him if he is convicted of a crime. There’s a good chance that will happen in either the New York business falsification case or in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot case. Along the way, outbursts, temper tantrums and bullying courtroom antics akin to those he has displayed in his civil cases will be in the news. And he’s likely to repeat some tirades on courthouse steps. No doubt he will consistently reinforce the perception that he is erratic, irrational, vengeful and unstable. He seems incapable of controlling himself.
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You can then throw in the GOP’s abysmal elections record over the past few years, its losing streak on abortion, House Republicans’ pitiful legislative record and the shrinking number of White Christian evangelicals (his core base of support). It sure does not seem like favorable political terrain for the probable GOP nominee.
Finally, the public is catching on to the economy’s strength. And as the Wall Street Journal reported, there is a good chance things get even better. (“Now Americans are bucking up as inflation cools and the Federal Reserve signals that interest-rate increases are likely behind us. And with the solid labor market putting money in the bank accounts of freely spending consumers, recession fears for 2024 are fading.”)
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A ‘Jarring Political Message’ for Trump?
When I watched the numbers roll in from New Hampshire on Tuesday night, I started to have flashbacks to a very different time. Here is the opening line of a Times story about the 1992 New Hampshire Republican primary:
“President Bush received a jarring political message in the New Hampshire primary today, scoring a less-than-impressive victory over Patrick J. Buchanan, the conservative commentator.” And what was the margin when the Times published those words? George H.W. Bush was beating Buchanan by 18 points, 58 percent to 40.
As I type these words, Donald Trump is beating Nikki Haley by a far lower margin. So is this result a “jarring political message” for Trump in much the same way that it was for Bush? While Trump isn’t the incumbent president, he is the incumbent nominee, and he’s running a version of a classic incumbent campaign. Yet he cleared only 51 percent of the vote in Iowa and, as of this writing, has 54 percent in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire tells us the G.O.P. is still Trump’s party, but it also tells us that Trump’s party is fractured, and fractured parties struggle to win the White House, especially when an incumbent is under fire. Just ask Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Bush in 1992. Each incumbent confronted a credible primary challenger, and each incumbent lost.
MAGA-dominated state Republican parties plagued by infighting, money woes
National Republicans fear the cash crunch could hamper field operations in key swing states come 2024
In Arizona, the state GOP chairman has been begging the Republican National Committee for a financial bailout. Michigan party officials have gotten into physical fights as their finances have dipped into the red. And in Georgia, the state party is in a standoff with the Republican governor and saddled with legal fees for alternate electors put forward in 2020.
In each of these 2024 battlegrounds, election denial and grass-roots fervor for former president Donald Trump have rocked the Republican apparatus. Now, the state parties are plagued by infighting, struggling to raise money and sometimes to cover legal costs stemming from Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat — threatening to hamper GOP organizing capabilities in next year’s presidential election.
UAW, Fain endorse Biden, say Trump 'stands against everything we stand for'
The United Auto Workers union endorsed U.S. President Joe Biden's reelection bid on Wednesday, with the union president delivering a fiery speech in Washington that was also harshly critical of Republican former President Donald Trump.
In a full-throated endorsement of the Democratic incumbent, UAW President Shawn Fain cited Biden's pro-union record and his decision to become the first president to join a union picket line this summer during a successful autoworkers strike for higher pay. "Instead of talking trash about our union, Joe Biden stood with us," Fain said.
Fain and Biden previously had sharp differences over electric vehicle policy, and the endorsement could be a strong boost to Biden in Michigan and other manufacturing states.
Fain heaped criticism on Trump, citing his failure to persuade General Motors
(GM.N), opens new tab to keep an assembly plant open in Ohio and his appearance at a non-union hall during last year's strike, and called him a "scab."
"Donald Trump stands against everything we stand for as a society," Fain said.
Biden took the floor to loud cheers and applause from hundreds of UAW members, telling them, "I was so damn proud to stand in that picket line with you."
Other Good News
Americans Feel Better About the Economy.
Americans are feeling more confident about the economy than they have in years
They increasingly expect inflation to continue its descent, preliminary data indicates, and they think interest rates will soon moderate.
The vibecession is over because the economy now slays
For quite some time now, the economy has been happily humming along — low unemployment, high growth, slowing inflation. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Labor Sentiments, chaired by Catherine Rampell, has reported in vibe check after vibe check that Americans just aren’t feeling it.
Consumer confidence is increasing, and the share of Americans who think we’re in a recession (we’re not!) is down. Catherine names some tangibles she thinks we can credit, including higher prices in the stock market and lower ones at the gas pump.
Broader Support for Abortion Rights Continues Post-Dobbs
-- After rising to new heights last year, Americans’ support for legal abortion remains elevated in several long-term Gallup trends.
- A record-high 69% say abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy. The prior high of 67% was recorded last May after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft was leaked, showing that the court planned to nullify constitutional protection for abortion.
- Gallup’s oldest trend on the legality of abortion finds 34% of Americans believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances, nearly matching last year’s record-high 35% and above the 27% average since 1975. Another 51% currently say abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, while 13% (similar to the all-time low of 12%) want it illegal in all circumstances.
- Fifty-two percent of Americans say abortion is morally acceptable, matching last year’s all-time high. This is 10 percentage points above the historical average since 2001.
Louisiana Governor Enacts New Congressional Map Featuring Two Majority-Black Districts
Yesterday evening, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed a bill creating a new congressional map for the state featuring two majority-Black districts, ending a nearly two year saga over adequate Black representation in the Pelican State.
The map increases the Black makeup of the state’s 6th Congressional District — stretching from Caddo Parish to East Baton Rouge Parish that is currently held by U.S. Rep Garret Graves (R) — from 23% to 54%, almost certainly taking out the Republican and netting Democrats an additional seat in Congress. The new district spans more than 200 miles in length.
Democrats and voting rights advocates also hailed the map’s passage. Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), the state’s only Black member of Congress, praised the passage of the map, saying that the changes pave “the way for generations of change-makers in our great state for years to come.”
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Provision of North Carolina Voter Suppression Law
Last night, a federal judge granted a request from voting rights organizations and Democratic groups to temporarily block a provision of North Carolina’s recently enacted voter suppression law, Senate Bill 747.
The now-blocked provision — known as the “undeliverable mail provision” — specifically targeted North Carolina’s same-day voters, those who register to vote the same day that they cast their ballots during the state’s early voting period.
Taylor Swift is driving voter registration, and conservatives are terrified
In September, Taylor Swift used her vast social media reach to post information on how people should register to vote. Swift even chose the appropriate National Voter Registration Day to create the post for her legion of fans. USA Today reports that Swift is likely to have gotten more than 30,000 people to sign up, many of whom will be eligible to vote for the very first time this November.
This is exactly why the Republican Party and the right-wing media landscape seem to have lost their collective minds about Swift. They are terrified. The level of hysteria the conservative movement has reached regarding the pop star is the kind they usually reserve for women in political positions, like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
Democrats Are Having a Blast Making a Circus of the GOP’s Hunter Biden Probe
When Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) arrived at the Hunter Biden contempt hearing two weeks ago, he came prepared.
As Moskowitz predicted, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) whipped out the nude photos of Hunter Biden at the January hearing. So Moskowitz clapped back, displaying his Trump-Epstein poster, gleefully reminding the committee of Trump’s ties to Epstein.
“You come up here and talk about Hunter Biden’s behavior, and you’re so disgusted, but the guy that you all kneel to associates himself with a pedophile,” Moskowitz said at the hearing.
The moment caught fire, making the rounds on social media and in news coverage of the hearing. It was just one of several outrageous moments in the committee room that day.
the young, spunky cohort of Democrats—mentored by the leader of Trump’s second impeachment, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)—are refusing to take it. Where past generations of Democrats might have sat back, preferring to let Republican dysfunction speak for itself, the Oversight Dems are hitting Republicans hard.
“We’re calling out their bullshit like every single time, and I think they’re surprised by it. I think they’re not used to it. And I think that we are causing them great embarrassment,” Garcia told The Daily Beast.
MoveOn Will Spend $32 Million to Back Biden and Other Democrats
The liberal group plans to pour cash into an effort to generate enthusiasm for the president and support Democratic Senate and House candidates.
remember
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In 2022 we were told a red wave was coming - it didn’t.
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In 2023 we were told a recession was coming - it didn’t
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In 2024 we are being told Trump is a strong candidate - he won’t be
Before I get to the Lighter Side, I’ve been writing a Boosting Biden post every weekday of this year and plan to continue to the election. You can share these every day (or some days) with Facebook groups or other groups via email with friends on other social media… anywhere! Educate other people about what Biden has done and we can win!
Here are the posts so far. Not too late to read and SHARE:
Dark Brandon Saved us From a Recession: Boosting Biden Day 1
Dark Brandon Destroyed Crime: Boosting Biden Day 2
Dark Brandon Reduced Inflation: Boosting Biden Day 3
Dark Brandon Put the First Black Woman on the Supreme Court: Boosting Biden Day 4
Dark Brandon Cleaned up the Great Lakes: Boosting Biden Day 5
Dark Brandon's Stimulus Saved the Economy: Boosting Biden Day 6
Dark Brandon Created Workforce Hubs to Retrain Workers for Modern Jobs: Boosting Biden Day 7
Dark Brandon Expanded ACA so 10 States have (almost) universal health care! Boosting Biden Day 8
Dark Brandon went after cheating 1%ers AND WON: Boosting Biden Day 9
Dark Brandon Protected People with Disabilities: Boosting Biden Day 10
Dark Brandon Pardoned Thousands Convicted of Marijuana Use: Boosting Biden Day 11
Dark Brandon Created Jobs: Boosting Biden Day 12
Dark Brandon protected our soldiers from sexual harassment and assault: Boosting Biden Day 13
Dark Brandon Cancelled Billions in Student Loans: Boosting Biden Day 14
Dark Brandon OWNED the republicans at the State of the Union: Boosting Biden Day 15
Dark Brandon Caused a Black Small Business Boom! Boosting Biden Day 16
Dark Brandon Protected Veterans Health Care with over nine different Bills: Boosting Biden Day 17
Dark Brandon Saved The State of Virginia! Boosting Biden Day 18
Dark Brandon is Destroying Methane Emissions: Boosting Biden Day 19
Dark Brandon protects victims of sexual harassment and assault: Boosting Biden Day 20
On The Lighter Side
What can you do to save democracy?
Well, as already mentioned, you can share the Boosting Biden posts.
You can also donate to re-elect Joe via the Good News community:
Your donation will come bundled with others from our Good News community and will show the Biden team that there are many of us who support him and combine hard work with optimism in our battles for a better America!
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Looking for something else? Maybe something that doesn’t involve donating? GREAT! Here are some other ideas:
So pick just one and get to it!
I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you 💓💚💛🧡✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿✊❤️🧡💛💚