On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.
Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the third and final post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us.
1)We have often made the case that the Biden Presidency has been a failure along so many dimensions. High Inflation, high crime, massive influx of millions of unvetted, unvaccinated, and possible terroristic illegal immigrants, trillions of dollars added onto an already massive national debt, war outbreaks around the world with no plan to counteract the wars, etc.
All of which has led many, many Americans to become dissatisfied with the condition of the country today:
According to a recent Gallup poll, a record low percentage of Americans are satisfied with the “way democracy is working.”
Only 28% of those polled are satisfied with the state of the country which is down from 2021.
Only 38% of Democrats are satisfied even though Joe Biden is a Democrat.
Only 21% of Republicans and only 36% of Independents are satisfied.
At one time (1991) Gallup found that about 60% of Americans were satisfied with the way democracy was working.
Another epic failure from an epic failure of a Presidency.
2)But the polling results just keep getting worse for Biden:
A recent Rasmussen poll found that almost half (45%) of Americans feel they are worse off financially now than they were a year ago.
Only 23% of respondents said they are better off economically than a year ago.
29% said their financial status is unchanged.
Thus, a whopping 74%, three out of four, say things have not gotten any better over the past year.
These are not surprising results since consumer prices in total are up almost 17% since Biden took office.
And while wages on average are up 14.3% since Biden took office, inflation has wiped out those gains by being up 16.8%.
Only 18% of Republicans said they were better off financially vs. last year and a dismal 13% of Independents say they are better off.
The numbers are not good: Americans are falling behind when it comes to leading a better life for themselves and their families, thanks mostly to the failed economic policies of the Biden administration.
3)Not only are his policies failing, but American’s faith in his abilities is also failing:
According to a recent Associated press and University of Chicago poll, 77% of those polled think Biden is “too old to effectively serve another 4 year term as President.”
Far less, but probably still too many, at 51% think Trump is too old to serve as President for another term.
Great, no one thinks that the two leading candidates to be on the Presidential ballot this year are young or vibrant enough to be President again.
4)Getting back to the economy, while the unemployment numbers have been the sole good news in Biden’s economy, that may be a deceiving number:
According to a recent Forbes survey, 38% of all U.S. companies are expecting to implement layoffs in 2024, a potential result that would wipe out Biden’s good unemployment numbers.
The survey cited companies like Nike, Roku, Amazon, Spotify, Hasbro, and others as candidates to implement employee layoffs this year.
This comes on the heels of 2023 where 65% of companies had layoffs and 25% of those laid off more than 30% of their workforce.
22% of the 38% said that they would likely be laying off 30% or more of their workforce.
52% said they would not be hiring in 2024 new employees in 2024.
Fully 42% of mid sized companies expect to be paying off employees this year.
70% of the companies surveyed said that rising costs, i.e. Biden’s inflation trend, creates the need to reduce operating expenses of which salaries and employees are the main driver.
52% said they are expecting a recession this year which is another reason they expect to cut headcount.
After 3.500 retail locations were closed last year, there is no expectation that that negative trend will reverse this year,, with Walmart having closed 22 of its stores last year and no plans to open new locations this year.
Not good news for Biden and his sole economic bright spot. Also, if you look at the profiles of those losing their jobs and jobs being created, those losing their jobs include a lot of high paid, white collar, tech industry workers while the jobs Biden is bragging about tend to be lower paying, less skilled so-called hospitality and healthcare jobs. Not good numbers for Biden or the rest of us in 2024.
4)Okay, let’s step away from Biden’s failing governance for a piece of failing governance in New York state:
Keep in mind that New York is losing far more businesses and residents than it is gaining, likely as a result of a number of negative factors.
These factors include high taxes, high crime rates, massive illegal immigration issues, homelessness, rat infestation in New York City, and other major problems.
And yet, despite these major issues that are in immediate need of resolving, New York governor, Kathy Hochul, is enthusiastically supporting the spending of $12 million to build a floating swimming pool off the coast of New York City.
That is $12 million that could be spent on feeding and sheltering the homeless, reducing taxes, fighting drug addiction, etc..
But no, she wants to build a floating, self filtering, plus sign shaped pool in the waters off of New York City.
And to add insult to injury, with all of the budget problems New York City is facing, including cutting its budget for essential services for its citizens to handle the illegal immigration invasion of the city, its mayor, Eric Adams, has said he will commit $4 million of city taxpayer money to this disaster of an idea.
.
This has to be one of the worst political ideas to come along in a while. First, given how many taxpayers are suffering with high food, energy, taxation, and housing costs, why are New York politicians even considering this type of expenditure, why are they spending time on these inane ideas when real people are suffering real issues?
And second, if the idea is to provide recreation and water safety opportunities for inner city residents in NYC, then why not just provide regular, time tested, cheaper land based po\ol access? A floating pool in a the river? Stupid is too tame a description for this idea and the wasteful spending it will incur.
The numbers are certainly not good in America today: lost faith in elderly Presidential candidates, horrible economic numbers as a result of Biden’s horrible economic policies, and stupid spending in New York. The numbers do not lie.
**********************
If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:
https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom
**********************
No comments:
Post a Comment