Michael Ramirez Essay: Amidst The Rubble
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TAKING A VICTORY LAP THROUGH THE RUBBLE
by Michael P. Ramirez, October 29, 2023
The White House celebrated an unexpected red-hot 4.9% GDP growth rate in the third quarter. That’s a 2.8% increase from the second quarter. President Biden characterized it as proof that Bidenomics is working.
In a statement released on Thursday, Biden said:
“I always say it is a mistake to bet against the American people, and just today we learned the economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter. I never believed we would need a recession to bring inflation down – and today we saw again that the American economy continues to grow even as inflation has come down.”
Increased consumer spending contributed to this unanticipated explosive growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also credited exports, increased inventories, and rising federal and state government spending.
While the administration was taking its victory lap, the public wasn’t buying it. Outside of the Beltway, Americans know these policies are not working. They only need to open up their wallets. A trip to the gas station or a store easily dispels the mythology of Biden’s economic success.
You see, the Biden administration failed to mention a number of things, including our national debt, higher interest rates, higher prices, continuing inflation, fiscal irresponsibility, uncontrolled spending, and a massive increase in regulations.
Under the clownish Republican antics and the circus atmosphere in selecting a House Speaker, there is a legitimate concern - irresponsible fiscal spending by an administration that seems to know no limits.
Our national debt exceeded $33 trillion for the first time in history in September. The federal government’s gross debt just passed $32 trillion in June. That means we added $1 trillion in debt in just three months.
Federal spending has increased from $4.45 trillion to $6.21 trillion in 2023. That’s a 40% increase in just four years. The CBO recently reported the federal budget deficit is expected to be $2 TRILLION for fiscal year 2023. It is roughly double the amount from the previous year, $1.1 trillion larger than 2022.
If you feel like everything is a lot more expensive than it was, well, it is. Sure, inflation has come down… a little…, but it’s the old “on-sale” game where they have a steep price increase followed by a series of smaller cuts claiming to be big, significant price reductions.
According to the House Budget Committee, since Biden has taken office, prices have cumulatively increased by 17.1%. According to the House Budget Committee, “A family of four is paying $15,133 per year, or $1,261 per month more to purchase the same goods and service compared to the day Biden took office.”
Under Biden’s green energy policies, electricity costs were 14.3% more in 2022 than in 2021. It was the largest annual increase in average residential electricity spending since 1984.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate more than doubled to 8%, a level not seen since 2000. Median home prices have increased by 26% since 2020.
The silent killer is regulation. According to a study released earlier this year by professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Dr. Casy Mulligan, Biden administration regulations have cost Americans about $10,000 per household.
The study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity showed that the Biden administration had already surpassed the explosive pace of regulatory costs under the Obama administration. Regulations under just four federal agencies, HHS, FCC, Labor, and CFPB, added $257.7 billion under Biden, surpassing the $200.4 billion under Obama. While the Biden administration added fewer regulations per year than Obama or Trump, the regulations they have implemented are “especially costly.” The study concludes that if President Biden were reelected, that cost would increase to as high as $60,000 per household.
Remember, the Supreme Court reined in some of the more exuberant Biden administration regulations. So, the Biden administration changed the methodology to calculate regulatory costs under the guise of “modernizing” the regulatory process. A “significant regulatory action” used to be defined as having a $100 million annual economic cost. Now it’s $200 million. They combine that with Biden's accounting gimmicks to reduce the perceived future impact on the economy.
This is just the economic impact of Biden's policies. Add to that global chaos derived from projecting weakness, rising crime and store closures because of a failure of accountability and pro-criminal reforms, political enmity sowing division rather than unity, WOKE-ism, progressive extremism, and so much more… These errant policies, designed to accommodate the extreme progressive fringe, merely divide and destroy America.
The Biden administration can take a victory lap… around a landscape of destruction.
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