"Biden 2024: You've Never Had it So Good, Plebes!"
Like the slogan? I do. I've workshopped it a bit among my liberal acquaintances, but they don't seem to think it'll catch on. Perhaps I'll pitch it to team Biden directly, since it seems to be the president's major message these days.
Sure, inflation is way up since Joe Biden took office. The economy has recovered from the pandemic in fits and starts and job growth hasn't been as robust as economists have hoped. It's only recently that wage growth in those jobs has kept pace with inflation, moreover, meaning that everyday items are far more costly than they were when Donald Trump was president.
We keep paying more in taxes and seeing nothing in return; even Biden himself has reportedly complained that none of the infrastructure projects he promised to buy us with our money are actually, you know, progressing.
You'd think that, judging by that track record, the president would be trying to live down the poor record of "Bidenomics," instead seeking to instill a sense of fear regarding his opponent while insisting happy days are just around the corner. And while he's certainly doing the first one, he's pretending these are the happy days:
With today’s report of 175,000 new jobs, the great American comeback continues.
I had a plan to turn our country around and build our economy from the middle out and the bottom up.
With well over 15 million jobs created since I took office, we are seeing that plan in action. pic.twitter.com/DrtwJ0VkMN
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 3, 2024
We've made so much progress in our first three years, and we have plenty more to make in our second term.
But Trump wants to undo everything we’ve accomplished together.
We have to stop him: https://t.co/AW2V9PVKfp
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2024
We’ve helped create over 15 million new jobs, canceled student loans for millions of Americans, lowered health care and prescription drug costs, and are fighting for your freedoms.
Trump and MAGA Republicans want to undo all our progress.
We won’t let it happen. pic.twitter.com/aWodhQ03oQ
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2024
Yeah, Trump and the "Make America Great Again" Republicans want to make America great again, like it was before the pandemic and Bidenomics ruined it, but Joe and Kamala ain't gonna let that happen on their watch!
I don't think that's quite the own you think it is, Mr. President.
And just in case you didn't get how deep the "You've Never Had it So Good, Plebes!" attitude runs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., one needs only to look at Biden's interview with CNN aired Wednesday.
CNN called the one-on-one with Erin Burnett "rare" -- and a critical look at the trainwreck that ensued was a pretty good indication as to why: This guy is terminally out of touch, and nowhere more than on the economy.
As Burnett noted during her questioning, "there's real pain" among average Americans in paying for everyday expenses.
"I mean, grocery prices are up 30 percent, more than 30 percent since the beginning of the pandemic," she said. "And people are spending more on food and groceries than they have at any time, really, in the past 30 years. I mean, that's a real day-to-day pain that people feel."
"No, it really is," Biden responded, before this let-them-eat-inflationary-cake morsel: "But the fact is that if you take a look at what the American people have, they have the money to spend."
He went on to say that he was angry about "shrinkflation" -- where you pay the same for less of a product -- but guess what he blamed this on?
You nailed it: "Corporate greed!"
"We've got to deal with it," Biden said. "And that's what I'm working on."
Right. And with that attitude, he'll solve it once he gets all the little children in the world to clap their hands simultaneously.
By the way, it's not just that pesky "shrinkflation" that Americans are feeling the pinch about -- although they are feeling that pinch, and blaming it on corporate greed is like blaming blizzards on snowplow manufacturers out to make a buck.
As Forbes noted in April, a 2023 survey indicated that almost four-fifths of Americans -- 78 percent -- were living paycheck-to-paycheck, a 6 percent increase over 2022.
"In other words, more than three-quarters of Americans struggle to save or invest after paying for their monthly expenses," the report said.
But wait -- we're flush with cash, the president is telling us! Are we just buying too many groceries? Are nearly four out of five Americans just going from paycheck to paycheck because we're bad with money?
No, it's because the people in this current administration are bad with money.
They're so bad with it, in fact, that they think we all have it pretty darn good.
If that's the tack Biden and his coterie want to use, they might as well adopt my slogan before it's too late. At least voters could appreciate the honesty.
