Say what you will about Donald Trump and his 'mean tweets,' but the man knew what he was doing when it came to reinvigorating our economy.
After eight years of decline and then stagnation under Barack Obama, in three years' time, America became an economic powerhouse under Trump's policies: Unemployment was at record lows; national GDP was way up; economic growth was rising faster than it had in decades; and we were energy independent.
Everywhere you looked, cities were growing, communities were building, and Americans were prospering: Wages rose, taxes fell, and productivity was at an all-time high.
Then Trump allowed buffoons and deep state saboteurs to talk him into shutting down the wonderful economy he and the GOP Congress built over a virus with an extremely high survival rate, and things have not been the same since.
Had Trump's reelection not been stolen from him, there is no doubt he would have rebuilt what was lost due to COVID-19 shutdowns: He would have solved the supply chain issues by now, gas and diesel prices would still be low, the unemployment rate would have been back down to where it was prior to the virus, and Americans would once again be producing at a high rate. We know this because Trump built it all once; there is no reason he would not have done so again.
Instead, we're stuck with a dementia patient who can't speak, can't form sentences, cannot remember simple things, and has to constantly be corrected by White House staff (which is unprecedented). We're stuck with record-high inflation; sky-high fuel prices; soaring food costs; a tanking stock market; an enduring supply chain and logistical crisis; and decreasing worker productivity.
In fact, to that last point, productivity fell a staggering 7.5 percent last month, the most since the end of World War II, according to CNBC:
Worker productivity fell to start 2022 at its fastest pace in nearly 75 years while labor costs soared as the U.S. struggled with surging Covid cases, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.
Nonfarm productivity, a measure of output against hours worked, declined 7.5% from January through March, the biggest fall since the third quarter of 1947.
At the same time, unit labor costs soared 11.6%, bringing the increase over the past four quarters to 7.2%, the biggest gain since the third quarter of 1982. The metric calculates how much employers pay workers in salary and benefits per unit of output.
The report noted further that Wall Street analysts had forecast a 5.2 percent decline in productivity along with an increase of 10.5 percent in unit labor costs. On a four-quarter basis, productivity slipped o.6 percent, which is the most since the last quarter of 1993, then-President Bill Clinton's first year in office.
Taken in sum, the current productivity and labor cost stats underscore the dramatic rise in inflation since Biden took office as prices for a range of goods have risen at the fastest pace in four decades. Last week, Federal Reserve officials said that interest rates would be raised another half-point as a means of trying to control inflation; making things more expensive will mean less spending, so that should bring down prices.
But that will come with its own costs, as well. Already, Americans are paying more -- a lot more -- thanks to "Bidenflation" and with the additional costs of borrowing and lending associated with interest rate hikes, consumers are going to be soaked anew.
Here's something else to keep an eye on: As the labor force becomes more expensive, thanks to worker shortages in some areas and left-wing Democrat pressure on companies to artificially hike wages, there will be a renewed interest in finding ways to automate operations and shed workers, which will lead to a labor glut, falling wages, and more misery.
If you voted for Donald Trump, you got cheated. If you voted for Biden, you're getting what his handlers promised you.
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