Freedom Line Blog

Consumer spending accounts for approximately two-thirds of the U.S. economy, so Joe Biden’s crushing impact on consumer confidence helps resolve his apologists’ confusion over Biden’s economic disapproval.  After inheriting an economy rebounding from the Covid shock, Biden’s policies quickly drove consumer confidence back downward, where it continues to stagnate.  No wonder he finds himself in such electoral hot water.

Bidenomics Crushes Consumer Confidence

While Joe Biden attempts to blame a shifting array of scapegoats for inflation, the simple numbers demonstrate the unmistakable truth.  Consumer prices began skyrocketing upon Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, and wage gains plummeted toward an immediate deficit relative to inflation.  During the Trump presidency, wages consistently exceeded inflation, only rarely even coming in even, let alone in negative territory.  Economist Stephen Moore illustrates the reality unambiguously:

From Andy Puzder, a snapshot of how inflation dreadfully continues to outpace American workers’ paycheck gains:

Biden’s Inflationary Gift

From our friends at AEI, a wonderful capture of the difference between the Obama/Biden jobs “recovery,” which was the worst in recorded U.S. history (as the graph shows, they promised that unemployment wouldn’t surpass 8% under their wasteful spending “stimulus,” but instead it exceeded 8% for a record uninterrupted stretch), versus the sharp recovery under President Trump:

The Obama/Biden Jobs “Recovery”

The Trump Actual Jobs Recovery

From the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income rose by 6.8% in 2019 – a record one-year increase – to a record high of $68,700.  Notably, under the supposed racist President Donald Trump, those 2019 income gains were largest for minority groups.  And since 2016, median income has risen 9.7%, which is fantastic news for Americans, even if it might be bad news for leftists in their disinformation campaign:

Record Income Rise in 2019

Despite the leftist onslaught of doom and despair, it’s encouraging to see that even left-leaning Pew Research data shows Americans leading the developed world in terms of economic optimism, with the highest percentage of people saying that they expect improvement over the next year.  In fact, we’re the only nation with a majority reporting optimism:

U.S. Leads World in Economic Optimism

Defying nearly universal economists’ expectations, it was just announced that the American economy added a record 2.5 million jobs last month, and the unemployment rate actually fell sharply to 13.3%.  Surveyed economists had anticipated a loss of 8.3 million jobs, and a rise in unemployment to 19.5%.  The Dow instantly shot up nearly 1,000 upon opening, and we’re nearly back to its pre-coronavirus record levels.

In our latest Liberty Update, we highlight the benefits of the Trump Administration’s deregulation effort, both pre-pandemic and going forward, and how a budding effort among Congressional leftists to impose a moratorium on business mergers would severely undermine that effort.  Rasmussen Reports brings excellent news in that regard, as large majorities of Americans agree with Trump rather than hyper-regulatory leftists:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey shows that 58% of likely U.S. voters approve of Trump’s decision to temporarily limit government regulation of small businesses to help them bounce back.  Just 26% are opposed, while 17% are undecided.”

Sadly but perhaps predictably, those on the left stubbornly disagree:

The president’s action has triggered criticism from some.  While 70% of Republicans and 59% of voters not affiliated with either major party agree with the decision to temporarily limit government regulation of small businesses, just 44% of Democrats share that view.”

Nevertheless, this is welcome news, as Americans maintain faith in what gave us the strongest economy in human history when the coronavirus pandemic suddenly hit – deregulation and letting America’s free market forces work.

This is incredible.  Amid the coronavirus scare and economic malaise across the rest of the world, the Labor Department reports that job growth in the U.S. exceeded expectations by 100,000 in February:

Nonfarm payrolls grew far more than expected in February as companies continued to hire amid a growing coronavirus scare.  The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 273,000 new jobs during the month, while the unemployment rate was 3.5%.  Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for payroll growth of 175,000 and a 3.5% jobless level.  Average hourly earnings grew by 3% over the past year, in line with estimates.”

Although the effects of the coronavirus create uncertainty going forward, the Trump Bump has continued.

Americans already expressed record satisfaction on economic conditions in the U.S., over three years into President Trump’s tenure.  Turns out that things are even better than we initially realized, as employment data from the end of 2019 was just significantly updated:

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Even Better Than First Realized

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From our friends at the Senate Joint Economic Committee (JEC), another helpful perspective on how President Trump’s economic agenda has helped those who need it most, in contrast to his predecessor who only claimed his policies pursued that end:

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Trump Economy Boosts Those Most In Need

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More phenomenal news from Gallup.  Consumer spending accounts for approximately two-thirds of the U.S. economy, and economic confidence has now reached its highest point since 2000, when the mainstream media couldn’t stop talking about how great things were.  Thank you, deregulation and tax cuts.

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Thank You, Tax Cuts and Deregulation

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From the official federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and our friends at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a nice visualization of how the Trump economic agenda has most benefited those in the lower-wage industries starting in 2018 after tax reform took effect.  So much for leftists’ class warfare attacks on tax cuts and deregulation.

A Trump Bump

In our Liberty Update commentary entitled “No, Scandinavia Doesn’t Vindicate Socialism” this week, we rightly ridicule admitted socialist Bernie Sanders, including his odd claim that “we now have an economy that is fundamentally broke and grotesquely unfair.”  Well, as this Gallup survey illustrates, he’s swimming upstream against American public opinion.  Specifically, in a survey that Gallup has conducted periodically since 2001, the public’s view of the job market has now hit an all-time record high:

Sorry, Socialists

Perhaps this helps explain why Sanders has suddenly plummeted in 2020 Democratic candidate surveys, although one wonders how long people like Elizabeth Warren can avoid the same fate.

After years of Obama economic malaise, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) highlights how worker productivity is finally surging following the election of Donald Trump and implementation of his deregulatory and tax-cutting agenda:

Worker Productivity Finally Surging

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Here’s why that’s important, as AEI’s James Pethokoukis notes:

[P]roductivity increased at a rapid 3.6% annualized rate during the first three months of this year.  On a year-ago basis, this puts productivity growth at 2.4%, the fastest pace since early 2010 and far better than the 1% pace that has typified the post-financial crisis expansion.  As Barclays economist Blerina Uruci told The Wall Street Journal, ‘That means we can grow at a faster pace on a more sustained basis.  It also means the economy can run hotter for longer without causing inflationary pressure.’  Moreover, consistent 2%-plus productivity growth makes a 3% real GDP economy less of a stretch.”

Last week, new jobless claims fell below the milestone 200,000 level, and to the lowest point since the 1960s (when the labor force was significantly smaller).   In this chart, note also the steep drop starting in 2017 with the tax-cutting and deregulatory agenda that arrived with the Trump Administration, after the number of new claims had plateaued toward the end of the Obama Administration:

Jobless Claims Plummet

People like Barack Obama, rationalizing his unsatisfactory economic stewardship, assured us that manufacturing was a thing of the past, and not coming back.  Well, a funny thing happened following his departure:

Barack Was Wrong

While attention can be distracted by shiny objects elsewhere, a nice new illustration of the U.S. economy’s revitalization beginning in 2017, as the procession of deregulation and tax-cuts revitalized an economic cycle previously on weary legs:

An Economic Surge

From the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee, a stark illustration of the sharp increase in wage and salary growth for full-time employees in the bottom 10% of earners:

The Poor Get Richer

From our friends who do such great work at the Tax Foundation, take a look at how tax cuts have led to companies bringing back more cash to the U.S.:

Tax Cuts Spur Repatriation