Consumer spending accounts for approximately two-thirds of the U.S. economy, so Joe Biden's crushing…
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Image of the Day: "Bidenomics" Crushes Consumer Confidence

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.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="849"] Bidenomics Crushes Consumer Confidence[/caption]

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May 08, 2024 • 12:39 PM

Liberty Update

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Notable Quotes
 
On America's Immigration Court Backlog:
 
 

"New migrants pouring into the U.S. after the Biden administration let a COVID-19 restriction called Title 42 expire last week will not break the nation's stretched court system. The system is already shattered, according to several former judges, immigration experts, and Department of Homeland Security data.

"The average wait time for a 'Notice to Appear' before a judge at one of the nation's 66 immigration courts is now four and a half years. In some cities it is much longer. In New York City, new migrants do not have to appear in court until 2032. This growing backlog creates an incentive for more people to cross the border and request asylum as each new case pushes assigned court dates further into the future. In the meantime, many migrants are permitted to live and work in the United States.

"'It's well past broken,' said Art Arthur, a former immigration court judge and now a resident fellow at the conservative Center for Immigration Studies. 'The courts weren't set up for this. When you don't do anything at the front end, the back end just collapses. Everybody who shows up now knows the chances are 90 percent or better you're going to be here indefinitely or forever.'"

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— James Varney, RealClearInvestigations
— James Varney, RealClearInvestigations
Posted May 17, 2023 • 08:25 AM
 
 
On Special Counsel John Durham's Report:
 
 

"The FBI was instrumental in perpetrating the Russia hoax. The bureau never had any plausible evidence or verified intelligence when it wrongfully launched a dilating and damaging investigation of Donald Trump. Nothing was ever vetted or corroborated. Indeed, the FBI knew it was a pernicious lie from the outset. That is the conclusion to be drawn from Special Counsel John Durham's final report released to the public on Monday. ...

"The FBI discovered almost immediately in the summer of 2016 that the claims of Trump-Russia collusion had been manufactured by Hillary Clinton and her confederates. The damning fiction constituted what is surely the dirtiest trick in American politics, and it triggered the greatest mass delusion in history."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Gregg Jarrett, Fox News Legal Analyst and Commentator
— Gregg Jarrett, Fox News Legal Analyst and Commentator
Posted May 16, 2023 • 08:22 AM
 
 
On the Biden Administration's Regulatory Onslaught on Home Appliances:
 
 

"In the run up to the gas stove ban, and subsequent to it, the Biden administration has unleased the biggest, most comprehensive, strictest regulatory onslaught ever on home appliances. As the Washington Times documents, 'President Biden's green energy goals have resulted in an array of new efficiency rules for a slew of household appliances,' including microwaves, air purifiers, and even toothbrush chargers. Also among the appliances soon to be regulated out of existence or fundamentally altered are, gas furnaces, air conditioners, lightbulbs, refrigerators, clothes washers, and gasoline- and diesel-powered cars.

"How bad will the impact on consumer choice be? Only about 4% of stoves currently on the market would remain for sale under Biden's new rules. And, the new washing machine regulations would remove 98% of existing top loading machines from the market. Do you like your microwave to have an internal light and a clock? Too bad, because those features use too much energy according to Biden's 'ban 'em-all' cronies at the U.S. Department of Energy. Pick your favorite appliance and watch it disappear from the market under Biden's new rules."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— H. Sterling Burnett, Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute
— H. Sterling Burnett, Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute
Posted May 15, 2023 • 08:15 AM
 
 
Reporting On the U.S. House Oversight Committee's Revelations About the Bidens Use of Shell Companies to Conceal Foreign Cash:
 
 

"The Biden family and its business associates created a complicated web of more than 20 companies, according to bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee -- a system, GOP lawmakers say, that was meant to conceal money received from foreign nationals.

"Sixteen of the companies were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden's tenure as vice president, the committee said in a press conference on Wednesday. The Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received more than $10 million from foreign nationals and their related companies, the records show. These payments occurred both while Biden was in office as vice president and after his time in office ended."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Brittany Bernstein, National Review Online
— Brittany Bernstein, National Review Online
Posted May 11, 2023 • 08:24 AM
 
 
On the Impacts of President Biden's Economic Policies:
 
 

"President Joe Biden's polling numbers continue to deteriorate. According to a recent ABC News poll, just 36% of voters approve of the president's performance.

"The people are angry about inflation. Lower-income households are disturbed that they cannot afford a new vehicle. That is particularly true for electric vehicles, where the price of the battery alone costs about $10,000. Biden, of course, isn't a fan of non-electric cars.

"More broadly, the public fears that Biden is driving the economy over the cliff. Yes, the employment market remains resilient. But employment growth has clearly slowed. Wage inflation remains elevated, too high to be consistent with 2% inflation which remains the Federal Reserve's inflation target. Indeed, wage inflation is running at over 5%. Productivity growth over the pandemic period is expanding at just over 1%. To achieve the Federal Reserve's 2% target, wage inflation must fall toward 3%. Wages and prices will converge."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— James Rogan, Writer and Former U.S. Foreign Service Officer
— James Rogan, Writer and Former U.S. Foreign Service Officer
Posted May 10, 2023 • 08:24 AM
 
 
Reporting On the 'Foreign Malign Influence Center':
 
 

"Critics are sounding the alarm that a new federal office to shield U.S. public opinion from purported threats of foreign disinformation is a thinly veiled reboot under a new name of the abortive Disinformation Governance Board, the Homeland Security Department office abandoned after being defined in the public mind as an Orwellian 'Ministry of Truth.'

"Housed in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the new Foreign Malign Influence Center was launched with little public notice but is already provoking fears that it will use overstated foreign threats as a pretext to interfere in domestic political debate or will duplicate other federal efforts, especially a controversial State Department unit that tries to squelch populism abroad."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Greg Piper, Just the News
— Greg Piper, Just the News
Posted May 09, 2023 • 08:23 AM
 
 
On the Biden Administration's Unprecedented Regulatory Push:
 
 

"In the span of a few weeks, the Biden administration has proposed regulations that would effectively ban gas stoves, force a massive shift to electric cars, sharply raise the cost of dishwashers, increase loan costs for frugal borrowers, regulate puddles as 'navigable waters,' and limit hunting and fishing across the country. It will soon release a proposed rule targeting power plants with hugely expensive carbon capture mandates.

"This is just the tip of the spear."

Read the entire artilce here.

 
 
— The Editorial Board, Issues & Insights
— The Editorial Board, Issues & Insights
Posted May 08, 2023 • 08:18 AM
 
 
On President Biden's Border Crisis:
 
 

"Tens of thousands of migrants are massing at the southern border, waiting for next Friday when President Joe Biden has promised to end the Title 42 health policy that has been used to deny migrants entrance into the country.

"Even before Title 42 expires, the border is being flooded with migrants from around the world, and a vast additional reservoir is gathering in Mexico, waiting for the dam to burst. Biden's policy will be to release them into the country where they will be allowed to stay as long as they want on condition that they claim they are afraid to return home.

"In anticipation of this humanitarian crisis, Biden has ordered an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the border where, according to legal limitations, they will act as bureaucrats rather than police. They are to assist the 2,500 National Guard troops who are already there helping U.S. Customs and Border Protection to process migrants into the country as quickly as possible.

"The new troops won't be enough. Biden could send a million men and women to the border, and the crisis would still only get worse. What is about to happen isn't due to a lack of manpower but bad policy. As long as this president lets migrants who claim asylum into the country indefinitely, more will come."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— The Editors, Washinton Examiner
— The Editors, Washinton Examiner
Posted May 06, 2023 • 07:05 AM
 
 
Reporting On Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and the Debt Limit:
 
 

"Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema saved the filibuster and cut down President Joe Biden's agenda, delighting Republicans. Now they're breaking with Democrats on the debt limit, and Republicans hope they keep it coming.

"The two centrists, who spent Biden's first two years in office at odds with the left, are glaring outliers on the debt drama in the party's 51-member Senate caucus. While their Democratic colleagues insist on no negotiations until the debt ceiling is lifted, Manchin and Sinema are not only pushing for a bipartisan deal but positioning themselves as potential players in any future Senate talks on a way out of the crisis.

"The Arizona independent and West Virginia Democrat have communicated that message in their own ways. Manchin has urged Biden to work directly with Speaker Kevin McCarthy and regularly puts out statements pushing for bipartisan talks that show up in GOP press releases. Sinema has quietly dined with McCarthy and signaled her hopes for a negotiated solution to GOP senators."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Burgess Everett, Politico
— Burgess Everett, Politico
Posted May 04, 2023 • 06:29 AM
 
 
On President Biden and the Debt Ceiling:
 
 

"In arguing with Republicans over raising Washington's legal debt limit, President Joe Biden tries to make a virtue of intransigence.

"House Republicans passed a bill 217-215 last week to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion and cut deficit spending by $4.8 trillion over 10 years. It's the only legislation that exists to avoid default, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Monday could come as early as June 1. Yet, while declining even to consider it, the Biden Democrats say it is Republicans who are leading the nation off a cliff.

"But consider the facts. Deficit spending adds to debt -- sorry to state the obvious -- and since we're already $31.4 trillion in hock, it's logical and balanced to deal with them together. Republicans have done their part by agreeing to raise the ceiling so the U.S. doesn't default on what it owes lenders. Simultaneously, they ask reasonably for parallel bipartisan efforts to reduce spending so the nation will live more nearly within its means over the next decade.

"But Biden and his party refuse point-blank, feign outrage at the very suggestion, and demand a blank check. They say Republicans must accept the full faith and credit of the Democratic Party (of all improbable things), lift the debt limit with no strings attached, and accept on trust the Biden gang's assertion that it will go along with spending restraint in separate budget talks."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Hugo Gurdon, Editor-in-Chief of Washington Examiner
— Hugo Gurdon, Editor-in-Chief of Washington Examiner
Posted May 03, 2023 • 07:54 AM
 
Notable Quote   
 
"I didn't expect debates in 2024. It seemed to me that there was too much risk involved for both Biden and Trump. Nor is there a mandate of heaven for presidential debates. But the two candidates calculate risk differently -- that's probably why they are presidents. In their view, the potential upside of watching your opponent melt down is greater than the risk of tripping up. If you do implode, you…[more]
 
 
— Matthew Continetti, Washington Free Beacon
 
Liberty Poll   

Do you believe televised debates between President Biden and former President Trump will actually happen or will fall apart for many potential reasons?