Brunswick Beacon, 02.08.24
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 are hitting record highs. Earnings are up, inflation and gas prices are down, unemployment is near 50-year lows. President Biden created 2.7 million jobs in 2023, more than Trump did in any year. Biden has created 14.3 million jobs in three years, more than any President in any four-year term. New factories are being built, including several in NC, bringing still more jobs.
Our economy had the world’s best recovery from Covid, and Americans feel it. Consumer confidence has risen 29 percent since November, the largest two-month increase in more than 30 years.
Even Trump couldn’t deny the strong economy, so he claimed credit instead, despite being gone for three years: “The only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did.” Then, he rooted for an economic crash this year so he could blame Biden: “When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during the next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president I just don’t want to be, Herbert Hoover.”
Biden replied: “He already is. He’s the first president since Hoover to lose jobs while in office.” Trump lost 3 million jobs as president, the worst jobs record since Hoover.
Even Republicans criticized Trump for putting himself above the well-being of Americans. “I don’t want the economy to crash because people’s livelihoods depend on it,” said Ron DeSantis. “People would get thrown out of work; businesses would go under. I don’t want to see that happening. I want people to do well.”
Chris Christie summed it up best: “If you put him back behind the desk in the Oval Office and the choice comes and the decision is needed to be made as to whether he puts himself first or he puts you first, how much more evidence do you need that he will pick himself?”
Rich Cooper
Leland