Monday, October 07, 2024

Economic Facts Undermine GOP Election-Year Talking Points

Steve Benen: As the evidence leaves little doubt that the U.S. economy is on strong footing, Republicans are telling voters not to believe their lying eyes.

Posted by tonyroma at 05:30 PM | 5 COMMENTS | permalink

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There are plenty of important issues in the 2024 elections, but by most measures, the state of the economy is the dominant electoral concern, and voters' attitudes about the economy will very likely dictate the outcome.

With this in mind, Republicans desperately want Americans to believe that the nation is on the brink of economic collapse. Reality is telling a very different story. The New York Times reported:

Fresh employment data for September showed that hiring picked up strongly, the unemployment rate dipped and wage growth came in strong - adding to a string of recent data pointing to economic resilience. And the incoming evidence points to a clear conclusion: The economy is robust. Data revisions released last week showed that growth has been stronger and incomes have been more solid than previously understood. Retail sales data are holding up. And now, employers appear to be meeting resilient consumer demand by continuing to expand their work forces.

It was against this backdrop that a reporter asked Donald Trump on Friday, "Jobs are up, the stock market hit an all time high. Do you acknowledge that the economy is improving?"

"No," the former president said. "It's not."

One of the most frustrating things about the 2024 election cycle is the Republicans' willingness to simply create an alternate reality that voters are supposed to embrace. And when the evidence leaves little doubt that the U.S. economy is on strong footing, Republicans tell voters not to believe their lying eyes.

If reality were a stronger force in this year's elections, Trump and his party would be in real trouble.

One of the most frustrating things about the 2024 election cycle is the Republicans' willingness to simply create an alternate reality that voters are supposed to embrace.

This is the story of Trump's complete takeover of the GOP, turning it into a lie-fueled, conspiracy-driven, post truth entity untethered to anything resembling demonstrable facts and observed reality. And far too many Americans are making decisions and choices based upon false or discredited information spewed from the highest rungs of what's supposed to be a responsible political party.

All Trump and his Republican lemmings do daily is continuously yell "Fire" in the theater of public news and information, causing undue stress and strain upon those dealing with and addressing numerous issues as they exist in reality.

#1 | Posted by tonyroma at 2024-10-07 10:11 AM

Another view:

All the Good Economic News Vindicates Bidenomics

Paul Krugman

It's hard to overstate just how good recent economic numbers have been.

On Friday, we learned that job growth is still solid while unemployment remains historically low. I think it's safe to say that Donald Trump's 2020 prediction that a Joe Biden presidency would mean a "depression" - a claim he's now repeating by predicting a "great depression" if Kamala Harris wins - didn't come true.

A week earlier we learned that inflation has continued to decline and is now more or less at the Federal Reserve's target of 2 percent. This success has defied the view, held by many economists just a couple of years ago, that disinflation would require years of high unemployment.

So does this good news vindicate Bidenomics? I would say yes - but not quite the way you might imagine.

The good economic news confirms that you can do well while doing good, that America can prosper in the present while preparing for the future by aiding children, building infrastructure, promoting the energy transition and more.

And that, at a fundamental level, is what Bidenomics was about - the assertion, now vindicated, that progressive policies can go hand in hand with prosperity.

#2 | Posted by tonyroma at 2024-10-07 10:20 PM

" progressive policies can go hand in hand with prosperity."

Conservatives hate ever admittibg it bit when FDR became President we were in the Great Republican Depression of 1929. His Progressive policies started pulling us out of it BEFORE 1941; yea of course after 1941 all he had to do was fight WWII om both the Atlantic and the Pacific and in Europe as well as Indonesia ans SE Asia but he did it an we emerged from that war as the richest, most powerful nation ever seen on the planet as well as having the largest, most prosperous middle class ever seen on the planet. So....I guess Progressive Policies have been PROVEN so many times that it is just a joke when conservatives try to attack them. I literally laugh out loud when I read their idioyic posts!

#3 | Posted by danni at 2024-10-08 09:54 AM

Economic Facts Undermine GOP Election-Year Talking Points

The Facts always undermine maga talking points.

Always.

#4 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-10-08 01:23 PM

If only Trumpers buu-lieved in facts!

But, I have to say.... there seems to be Something in the Air:

www.youtube.com

#5 | Posted by Corky at 2024-10-08 02:58 PM

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