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To the editor:
Democratic presidents are often forced to clean up economic messes left by Republican presidents. The EPI has found, "Since 1949, there has been a Democratic advantage in ... key ... indicators measuring economic health, including:" GDP, job growth, unemployment rate, inflation, and more.
George Bush left office with the Great Recession of 2008 raging. Barack Obama started a recovery that lasted well into the Trump administration. Trump left another economic mess in his wake. In 2022 CNBC reported, "Every person on TV says recession. ... I've never seen anything like it." Apparently, the talking heads repeated their prediction so often that people believed it then, and many still believe it today. There has been no recession, thanks largely to Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress. The Federal Reserve has adjusted interest rates to help curb inflation. Usually, these measures increase the unemployment rate and slow economic growth, but Biden's policies kept the economy growing even as inflation came down from 8% in 2022 to the current rate of 3.3%.
Lowering interest rates had little effect on oil prices, which were rising because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the greed of OPEC. By selling from the strategic oil reserve at high prices, Biden reduced oil prices and kept them within a tolerable range. He is now buying at reduced prices to refill the oil reserve and has so far netted America a profit of $582 million.
Under Biden, the government invested a lot of money to stimulate the economy, largely by implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, which is funded by collecting more taxes on those who earn over $400,000 per year. It has not increased either inflation or taxes on the middle class. No Republicans voted for the bill, but they have taken credit for projects in their districts which they voted against. Many of these projects are designed to reduce the effects of climate change.
Biden kept the unemployment rate at near record lows and maintained GDP growth despite the universal predictions of a recession. A recent article in the Atlantic declared, "America's economic performance has left other countries in the dust and even broken some of its own records." Prices have gone up, but "wages adjusted for inflation are higher today than they were before the pandemic." The article's headline: "The U.S. Economy Reaches Superstar Status."
Sherwin Skar
Marshall