The Patriot Post® · Joe Biden's Very Costly Presidency
On August 16, Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, arguably one of the most grossly misnamed pieces of legislation in the history of legislation. On September 13, he held an “inflation reduction” party. That same day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst day since June 2020, falling nearly 4%. In fact, since Biden signed his radical leftist climate boondoggle in August, the Dow Jones has fallen almost 5,000 points, or more than 14%. And last month was the worst September for stocks since 2002.
What was that Biden said about the market in January? “It has hit record after record after record on my watch, while making things more equitable for working class people,” he boasted. “The stock market — the last guy’s measure of everything — is about 20% higher than it was when my predecessor was there.”
Since Biden said that, the Dow Jones has fallen 22%.
Oof. No wonder the president doesn’t say much about stock markets anymore.
When he does, it’s to promise to keep doing what he’s been doing to create this mess. Last Wednesday, he insisted, “Our economy remains resilient in the face of challenges — we’ll continue making progress cutting prices and implementing responsible investments in our infrastructure, manufacturing, and clean energy transition.”
How can you “continue making progress cutting prices” when inflation relentlessly continues its post-American Rescue Plan increase? The third quarter just ended Friday and we’ll see what the GDP report reveals, but GDP fell in both the first and second quarters, which has long been the technical definition of a recession — at least until Biden’s media propagandists started arguing the point.
Biden’s economy has been particularly hard on retirees living on a fixed income. He loves bragging about his work to save and improve Social Security and Medicare in the face of threats from Republicans, but it’s pretty tough to see prices for everyday goods rise by multiples of your Social Security cost-of-living bump. Adjusted for inflation, Social Security benefits have fallen this year, leaving retirees looking for new jobs or relying on food banks for help.
And for any retirees living off of their own 401(k)s — or those planning to do so soon — those accounts have taken a huge hit from the aforementioned bear market. Through the end of the second quarter, CNBC reports, “Falling stock markets have wiped out more than $9 trillion in wealth from U.S. households, putting more pressure on family balance sheets and spending.” The third quarter only added to the misery.
There are two more important things to keep in mind regarding stock markets: First, Americans who’ve invested own stock, and its value should eventually rise again, restoring lost value and wealth. In fact, a down market can be a buying opportunity. Second, markets are largely a measure of consumer confidence, and it’s clear that confidence has been shaken by the actions of the political party in control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. If voters cast their ballots based on economic concerns, Democrats are rightfully in trouble.