Ok, it is not so secret. It is handsome Joe Biden!
Well, just look at what my boyfriend President did with our economy!
Falling inflation, rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery
The European economy, hobbled by unfamiliar weakness in Germany, is barely growing. China is struggling to recapture its sizzle. And Japan continues to disappoint.
But in the United States, it’s a different story. Here, despite lingering consumer angst over inflation, the surprisingly strong economy is outperforming all of its major trading partners.
Since 2020, the United States has powered through a once-in-a-century pandemic, the highest inflation in 40 years and fallout from two foreign wars. Now, after posting faster annual growth last year than in 2022, the U.S. economy is quashing fears of a recession while offering lessons for future crisis-fighting.
“The U.S. has really come out of this into a place of strength and is moving forward like covid never happened,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist who now runs an eponymous consulting firm. “We earned this; it wasn’t just a fluke.”
That is right! Not just a great economy — but the world’s best!!!
U.S. winning world economic war
The United States economy grew faster than any other large advanced economy last year — by a wide margin — and is on track to do so again in 2024.
Why it matters: America's outperformance is rooted in its distinctive structural strengths, policy choices, and some luck. It reflects a fundamental resilience in the world's largest economy that is easy to overlook amid the nation's problems.
State of play: All countries were dealing with the same problems of post-pandemic inflation and high interest rates meant to combat it. But the U.S. managed to achieve solid growth in spite of those headwinds.
White House economic adviser Lael Brainard, speaking to reporters last week, cited "strong policy actions that were designed to lead to a strong and broad-based recovery faster than we have seen previously in the U.S. — and faster than we saw in other countries."
and people are starting to notice!
US Consumer Confidence Increased in January
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® rose in January to 114.8 (1985=100), up from a revised 108.0 in December. The reading was the highest since December 2021, and marked the third straight monthly increase. The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—surged to 161.3 (1985=100) from 147.2 last month. The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—improved to 83.8 (1985=100) in January, up from a revised reading of 81.9 in December.
and the good news just keeps coming!
Labor market grew 353,000 in January, soaring past expectations
The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, a shockingly strong pickup, even as higher interest rates continue to ripple through the economy.
The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent, and has now been below 4 percent for two years, the longest stretch of unemployment since the 1960s.
The job gains were roughly double economists’ predictions of 177,000, underscoring how the labor market is propelling the economy forward and firmly out of recession territory
“Remarkable, resilient and robust is the only way to describe the juggernaut that is the American labor market,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the accounting firm RSM. “We really are witnessing a historic recovery of the American economy following the shocks of the pandemic.”
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THANKS!
Now onto….
Other Good News
Joe Biden Is Arming Greece So Greece Can Arm Ukraine—And Pro-Russia Republicans Can’t Stop Him
As the Republican Party’s blockade of aid to Ukraine drags into its fourth month, the U.S. government under Pres. Joe Biden has found a clever new way to give Ukraine’s forces the weapons and ammunition they need to defend their country.
It is, in essence, an American version of Germany’s circular weapons trade—the so-called Ringtausch. The United States is gifting older surplus weapons to Greece with the understanding that Greece donates to Ukraine some of its own surplus weapons.
Greek media broke the news last week. According to the newspaper Kathimerini and other media, the Biden administration offered the Greek government three 87-foot Protector-class patrol boats, two Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters, 10 Allison T56 turboprop engines for Lockheed P-3 patrol planes plus 60 M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and a consignment of transport trucks.
All this hardware is U.S. military surplus—and is available to Greece, free of charge, under a U.S. legal authority called “excess defense articles.” Federal law allows an American president to declare military systems surplus to need, assign them a value—potentially zero dollars—and give them away on the condition that the recipient transport them.
Ukraine's new 100-mile bomb from Boeing is ready
After successful testing in the U.S., Ukraine will soon receive it first big batch of long-range missiles made by Boeing
(BA.N), opens new tab that promise to extend its range deep into Russian-held territory, according to sources familiar with the matter.
They could arrive "on the battlefield" as soon as Wednesday, Politico reported.
Ukraine needs Boeing's Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) to augment the limited number of 100-mile range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rockets the U.S. has sent.
The glide-bomb will allow Ukraine's military to hit targets at twice the distance reachable by the rockets it now fires from the U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and could force Russia to move supplies even farther from the front lines.
Europe Funds Ukraine with 54 billion
By Thursday morning, just one hour into an emergency European Union summit meeting, this carefully coordinated, behind-the-scenes pressure had forced Mr. Orban to fold. After weeks of standing in the way as the only holdout among 27 leaders, he finally agreed to a landmark fund for Ukraine worth 50 billion euros, or $54 billion.
The breakthrough was especially significant for both Ukraine and the European Union. It will help keep Ukraine’s economy afloat for the next four years, even as U.S. aid is stuck in Congress. And it demonstrated European resolve to stand united in support of Ukraine against Russia, and its determination to bring an often obstructionist Mr. Orban to heel.
Biden’s Bookkeeper Is Latest GOP Witness to Blow Up Impeachment Claims
A former bookkeeper for the Biden family touted by Republicans as a whistleblower failed to blow the lid off the GOP-led impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, telling members of the House Oversight Committee a closed-door hearing that he’d never seen any evidence that the president had enriched himself through his son’s international business deals.
“Based on that insight,” Schwerin said in his opening statement to the committee, “I am not aware of any financial transactions or compensation that Vice President Biden received related to business conducted by any of his family members or their associates nor any involvement by him in their businesses.”
“In fact,” he added shortly after, “I am not aware of any role that Vice President Biden, as a public official or a private citizen, had in any of Hunter’s business activities. None.”
Schwerin called Republican claims of Biden’s corruption “preposterous,” saying that Biden had “always” been “crystal clear” in private discussions that he wanted to take the most transparent, ethical approach to his personal finances.
Judges rebuke lawless MAGA Republicans. We need more of the same.
A distinguishing characteristic of MAGA Republicans is their contempt for the rule of law. Not to be bound by election results, the Constitution or court processes, four-time-indicted former president Donald Trump sets the tone. He declares himself immune from prosecution. He defies judicial gag orders, throws temper tantrums in court and tosses around “executive privilege” like confetti. Thankfully, judges have begun responding to MAGA lawlessness and attempts to nullify federal law.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, for example, in an otherwise routine sentencing memo for Jan. 6, 2021, participant James Little, castigated election deniers and Jan. 6 apologists. “The Court is accustomed to defendants who refuse to accept that they did anything wrong,” he wrote. “But in my thirty-seven years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream.”
Likewise, in sentencing former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro for contempt of Congress, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta admonished: “I know you think it’s a political hatchet job. … [The House Jan. 6 committee] had a job to do, and you made it harder.” He called out Navarro’s attempt to play the victim as nothing but “chutzpah.” He lectured the defendant: “You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution. These are circumstances of your own making.” And he scolded Navarro that executive privilege was neither “magic dust to avoid a duty” nor “a get-out-of-jail-free card.” Every word of this would be equally applicable to Trump and his legion of enablers.
Biden continues to lead among those who dislike both him and Trump
On Tuesday, Quinnipiac University released a new national poll of the 2024 race. It showed that Biden holds a six-point lead over Trump nationally, a function of his faring better with independents (with whom he leads by 12 points) and within his own party.
Let’s say, though, that 2024 is in fact Trump vs. Biden and that, once again, a lot of people come to the polls feeling unhappy about those choices. This poll — this one poll, months before the election — suggests that those voters will break for the incumbent president. And in a race that is expected to be close, that might once again make a critical difference.
Good New Biden Polling Data
A few caveats here: 1) Polling isn’t predictive. Can only tell you where things are today. 2) It’s early, and polling is all over the place right now. It is not all pointing in the same direction. What I see is a close, competitive election. Most national polls have the race within margin of error so essentially tied. It is wrong to suggest that Trump leads or has any kind of advantage. He does in some polls, but Biden leads in others.
Let’s get to it. All polls cited here can be found on 538:
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Quinnipiac - Biden leads 50-44 (+6), up 5 points since December
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Economist/YouGov - Biden leads 43-42, up 2 points since last week
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Morning Consult - Biden trails 44-42, but up 3 points since last week
3 polls this week find movement towards Biden. Is it a trend, or just bouncy polling? We will see in the coming days. But remember, we also have these recent polls in key states showing Biden outperforming his 2020 results:
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Michigan - Target Insyght, Biden 45-41 (+4). Biden won MI by 2.8 pts in 2020.
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New Hampshire - USA Today/Suffolk, Biden 42-34 (+8). Marist Biden 52-45 (+7). Biden won NH by 7.4 points in 2020.
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Pennsylvania - Susquehanna, Biden 47-39 (+8). Quinnipiac, Biden 49-46 (+3). Biden won PA by 1.2 pts in 2020.
Some other data, insights, analyses:
Moody’s 2024 forecast has Biden winning, and winning North Carolina!
The GOP’s blunders take their toll
House Republicans who have become indifferent to the adverse consequences of nihilism and performative politics might want to consider the toll their chaos-producing antics are taking. From vowing to pursue meritless impeachments to nixing a border security measure to please former president Donald Trump, they have given Democrats plenty of ammunition to blast them out of the majority in November.
Republicans, by the admission of conservative Rep. Chip Roy (Tex.), have not a single accomplishment on which to run this year. “For the life of me, I do not understand how you can go to the trouble of campaigning, raising money, going to events, talking to people, coming to this town as a member of a party who allegedly stands for something … and then do nothing about it,” he bellowed on the House floor in November. “One thing: I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing — one — that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” He got no answer.
Here’s the real reason why right-wing media figures are targeting Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
Conservatives are going into self-exile.
The movement that once championed small, business-friendly government is now led by far-right media forces hoping to cash in on attention from raging culture wars, sealing off its adherents from the rest of society.
“There’s something striking about watching the far-right tying itself in knots and attacking Swift and [her boyfriend Travis] Kelce that demonstrates how badly the far-right media has alienated itself from most of society,” Charlie Warzel, a staff writer at The Atlantic who covers the intersection of politics, technology, and culture, told me Tuesday. “They’ve built out this alternate universe and reality of grievance and it feels like instead of using it to wage an effective culture war, they’re fully lost in it and can’t see that they’ve chosen as their primary enemy the person with the literal highest approval rating in American life right now.”
“This isn’t the first time it’s happened,” Warzel added. “The far-right is systematically alienating itself from many of the institutions and people that normal Americans frequent, like, and associate themselves with. And I don’t think they can see how exhausting and off-putting that is to people who don’t spend their days mainlining Fox News or on X.”
But heading into the 2024 election, alienating the rest of the country — which still handily outnumbers the MAGA loyalists — with absurd conspiracy theories about Swift, Kelce, and some of its most treasured institutions makes little sense as an electoral strategy.
As Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former Trump White House communications director turned vocal critic of the former president, put it on “The View” Tuesday: “I cannot think of a dumber political fight to pick than one with the Swifties.”
Trump Is Botching His Already Dismal Shot With Women Voters
If Donald Trump doesn’t change his campaign’s trajectory, the voter gender gap will be a gender Grand Canyon by November, as hordes of women run screaming away from the presumptive nominee, earning Joe Biden a second term.
According to a new Quinnipiac poll, 58 percent of female registered voters now support Biden—an increase that propelled Biden to a 6-point lead against Trump in a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup. As of December 2023, Biden’s support among women was just 53 percent and has grown by 5 points in just the last month.
This raises an obvious question: What changed between December and January?
It’s not absurd to think that three women have contributed to this abrupt shift: Nikki Haley, E. Jean Carroll, and Taylor Swift.
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
The Dark Brandon Economy Is Remarkably Strong. Stop the Malarky!!! Boosting Biden Day 21
Dark Brandon Is a Snarky MFer: Boosting Biden Day 22
Dark Brandon Is Old. Get Over It. Boosting Biden Day 23
Dark Brandon is halting the biggest fossil fuel expansion on earth: Boosting Biden Day 24
Dark Brandon has done more for unions than any president ever: Boosting Biden Day 25
want to help? Read, rec, and share the posts when they come out (well, you can read and share them at any time) and…..
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!
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!
.
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 💓💚💛🧡✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿✊❤️🧡💛💚