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Today — March 29th 2024Your RSS feeds

Van Jones: Food, Mortgage Inflation Making People Not Feel 'Actual Reality'

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” CNN Political Commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones said that the economy is an issue where “actual reality and emotional reality have not lined up” for President Joe Biden because while there are many

The post Van Jones: Food, Mortgage Inflation Making People Not Feel ‘Actual Reality’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Dem Gov. Walz: 'General Malaise' Attached to Biden Due to Inflation, But Eggs Are Up Due to Bird Flu

On Thursday’s broadcast of NBC’s “MTP Now,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) stated that “prices are still up. So, there’s kind of a general malaise that gets attached to the president.” But egg prices are up “because of bird flu,

The post Dem Gov. Walz: ‘General Malaise’ Attached to Biden Due to Inflation, But Eggs Are Up Due to Bird Flu appeared first on Breitbart.

Yesterday — March 28th 2024Your RSS feeds

Yellen: Pushing Green Energy to Lower Energy Costs 'Over Time' Is Key Part of Fighting Inflation

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that a key plank of President Joe Biden’s agenda to lower costs is by “creating incentives to dramatically improve the use of clean energy in the United

The post Yellen: Pushing Green Energy to Lower Energy Costs ‘Over Time’ Is Key Part of Fighting Inflation appeared first on Breitbart.

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Poll: Immigration Bigger Issue than Inflation, Economy

President Joe Biden's easy-migration policies are the top issue facing the United States, according to the latest Harvard Harris poll.

The post Poll: Immigration Bigger Issue than Inflation, Economy appeared first on Breitbart.

Summers: 'Green Investments' and Inflation Reduction Act Will Put Upward Pressure on Interest Rates

During an interview aired on Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” Harvard Professor, economist, Director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, and Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton Larry Summers stated that the “huge set of

Maher: Food Is up a Lot Under Biden, But People Are Ignorant About Inflation Because We Didn't Have It for 20 Years

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that while food prices have gone up significantly under President Joe Biden, 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Trump is doing better among younger voters because he lies and

The post Maher: Food Is up a Lot Under Biden, But People Are Ignorant About Inflation Because We Didn’t Have It for 20 Years appeared first on Breitbart.

Poll: Joe Biden Underwater on the Three Top 2024 Issues

President Joe Biden is underwater on the 3 top issues facing voters in 2024, a poll found, raising a red flag for Biden's reelection chances.

Biden Economy: Record Number of Americans Using 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Apps

A record number of Americans have been using "buy now, pay later" apps amid the surging inflation seen in Biden's economy. 

Carney on ‘Kudlow’: Electric Vehicles Are Pushing Up Auto Insurance Prices

The Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles (EVs) is exacerbating the country's inflationary woes by driving up the price of auto insurance, Breitbart Economics Editor John Carney told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow.

Bidenflation: Fed Sees Interest Rates Staying Higher For Longer to Fight Inflation

Fed officials now expect it will take slightly higher interest rates to get inflation down to their two percent target and to keep it there.

Joann Fabrics and Crafts Files for Bankruptcy, Remains open for Business

The Joann Fabrics and Crafts company recently filed for bankruptcy but said it will continue serving customers in stores and online.

Poll: Majority of Voters Are 'Struggling' Under Joe Biden's Inflation

A majority of voters are "struggling" under President Joe Biden's soaring inflation, a McLaughlin and Associates poll found Monday.

Breitbart Business Digest: The Economy Is Not Being Throttled by High Interest Rates

Despite the Fed's belief that monetary policy is restrictive, the U.S. economy was frolicking along at a robust four percent growth rate in the latter half of the previous annum.

Maher: 'Inflation Persists for a Lot of Things,' But Biden's Ratings Are Bad Because Many Live with 'Head in the Toilet'

During the closing monologue of Friday's broadcast of HBO's "Real Time," host Bill Maher stated that while "inflation persists for a lot of things," "Biden's ratings are in the toilet, not because he's doing such a bad job, but because a lot of Americans like to live with their head in the toilet" of poor perceptions about mental health.

Joe Biden Spikes Migration Yet Complains About Rising Rents

President Joe Biden is declaring that “rents are too high" -- after he deliberately imported roughly 10 million rent-spiking legal and illegal migrants into Americans' neighborhoods.

White House: We're Still Making Inflation Progress, Last Two Months Had 'Seasonality'

During an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, White House National Economic Council Deputy Director Daniel Hornung stated that "our progress on inflation does continue," but "we've expected some seasonality in January and February. We didn't expect the progress to continue on a straight line."

Kellogg's Shareholder: Company Is 'Knowingly Harming Our Children' with Additives, Dyes

Kellogg's is facing even more backlash amidst a mass boycott of their products after one of the company's shareholders publicly demanded accountability for the "harmful additives" in their products.

Ms. Yellen regrets

(Scott Johnson)

In Cole Porter’s “Miss Otis Regrets,” the heroine announces that she’s unable to lunch today. Why? She has a good excuse — because she was strung up by a mob for killing “the man who had led her so far astray.”

Now Ms. Yellen regrets. Janet Yellen holds the venerable office of Secretary of the Treasury. Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Yellen is well qualified for the job and an ostensibly serious person. Yet she has proved unfit for the office, regurgitating administration talking points with an utter lack of seriousness. Inflation — she declared in 2021 that it was “transitory.” Abortion — restricting it would be “very damaging” to the economy. By contrast, she supports the administration’s gusher of “green” spending as constructive. ‘S wonderful.

Ms. Yellen regrets she has revealed herself to be a political hack. “I regret saying [inflation] was transitory,” Yellen said in a March 13 interview on Fox News. “It has come down. But I think transitory means a few weeks or months to most people.” Three years later, it might be worth asking what “transitory” means to her and who suggested she use the term in coordination with the other occupants of the Biden administration clown car.

When Yellen adopted the administration line on inflation being “transitory,” nobody had led Yellen astray. She killed her own reputation. However, she is also able to lunch today. Why anyone should even believe anything she says is not exactly a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. No one should.

Yell About This: Inflation Surges Twice As Much As Expected

The producer price index, a key gauge of inflation, surged higher in February, confirming that the pace of inflation has accelerated as the new year has got underway.

Cookie Monster has a better grasp on the economy than Joe Biden

When Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster tweeted his exasperation with shrinkflation, leading to smaller cookies, Biden’s team jumped on it, blaming corporate America and greed.

Yellen on Inflation Upticks: Trend 'Favorable' But Don't 'Expect This to Be a Smooth Path Month to Month'

During an interview with the Fox Business Network on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reacted to the February CPI and rises in inflation over the past three months by stating that she doesn’t “expect this to be a smooth path

Breitbart Business Digest: Younger Workers Turning Against Biden as Unemployment Rises

President Joe Biden's attempt to convince America that Bidenomics is a blessing is not working —especially among younger Americans.

Biden Wrong on Corporate Profits and Taxes

 

By Pieter Brueghel the Younger – Artdaily.org, Public Domain/Wikicommons

No, Mr. Biden, it is not true that some big corporations earned $40 billion in profits and paid no taxes.

President Biden’s State of the Union Address was just riddled with economic misinformation and misunderstandings. After nearly four years of failing Bidenomics, the country only averted a recession because the administration changed the definition. As the deficit, debt, under-employment, and inflation rise, scrambling for cash, the president is looking to raise taxes on mean old corporations.

Increasing taxes on greedy corporations may sound like a good idea, but unless you are on welfare, self-employed, or work for the government, your salary comes from a greedy corporation. And the greedier that corporation is, the more money it makes, the more jobs it creates, and the more salaries it pays. Increasing taxes on corporations increases costs, decreases corporate expansion, and encourages reducing the number of personnel. It also drives up the cost of products, resulting in fewer jobs and higher prices.

During the State of the Union address, Biden repeated his favorite statistic: “In 2020, 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes.” And, of course, this is complete nonsense. Companies are taxed on profits. Usually, when socialists make these types of claims, they are referring to gross revenue. In this case, Biden is misquoting a study done by a left-leaning think tank, ITEP, which looked at “pretax profits,” a questionable term. What they were probably examining was pretax income, not profits.

Pre-tax income refers to the total revenue a company earns before accounting for taxes, while profits typically refer to the income remaining after deducting all expenses, including taxes. If the study was indeed looking at pre-tax income rather than profits, it’s possible that these companies reported substantial revenues but utilized various legal deductions, credits, and other tax strategies to reduce their taxable income, resulting in a lower effective tax rate or no federal income tax liability for that specific year.

The irony of the tax credits companies use to avoid paying taxes is that many of them come from liberal Democrat policies. Companies get tax breaks for green initiatives, meeting diversity goals, employing the disabled, Research and Development Tax Credit, Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), Renewable Energy Tax Credits, Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit, New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), Opportunity Zone Tax Incentives, Employee Retention Tax Credit, Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) Exclusion, Energy-Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction, and Health Coverage Tax Credits.

The White House complains about companies using their tax credits while simultaneously inventing new ones.

The average American is suffering under the weight of Bidenflation, coupled with a decline in full-time employment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons, at 4.4 million, changed little in February. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part-time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.”

Knowing he has to do something to help people’s checkbooks, Biden has decided to go after nuisance charges. In the State of the Union, Biden said, “I’m also getting rid of junk fees—those hidden fees added at the end of your bills without your knowledge. My administration just announced we’re cutting credit card late fees from $32 to just $8.” And while I hate junk fees as much as anyone else, they are there to keep the price down. Take the fees away, and prices will go up to match the current price plus fees.

Thirty years ago, you did not see a line item on your plane ticket receipt showing that you had paid for checked baggage. But you did pay for it. The cost was just built into your ticket. Then oil became prohibitively expensive, and the price of plane tickets went up. So, to bring the price down slightly, the airlines charged a lower price to people without baggage. Today, if you pay $50 for your bag, that is the price of moving one bag from point A to point B. And you only pay for it if you have a bag. But under the old system, because airlines knew some people had bags and some didn’t, every ticket included an average of, say, $30, which everyone paid. If the government tells the airlines they cannot charge you $50 for luggage, they will just add it back into the ticket price, and everyone will pay it, whether they have a bag or not.

Corporations are already facing higher costs than they did under Trump, owing to gasoline being 50% more expensive and interest rates being about five times higher. In many Democrat states and municipalities, companies are being forced to pay above-market rates for low-skilled and unskilled work. The minimum wage in some places is now between $15 and $20 per hour. Companies are also facing higher theft and rising insurance costs. And most haven’t recovered the money they lost during two years of Biden-induced lockdowns and supply chain disruptions.

Eliminating fees (how that would even be legal or how it would be enforced is a frightening prospect) and slapping higher taxes on top of four years of economic destruction is just going to make it even harder for companies that are not Amazon and Walmart to remain in business.

The post Biden Wrong on Corporate Profits and Taxes appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Pieter_Brueghel_the_Younger,_’Paying_the_Tax_(The_Tax_Collector)’_oil_on_panel,_1620-1640._USC_Fisher_Museum_of_Art

By Pieter Brueghel the Younger - Artdaily.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10787890

Dollar Tree to Close 1,000 Stores After 'Surprise Fourth-Quarter Loss'

Approximately 1,000 Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores are scheduled to be closed after "botched" business decisions and a "surprise fourth-quarter loss," with the company's shares taking a tumble.

Carney on 'Kudlow': Latest Inflation Data Means the Fed Cannot Cut Rates

By: Pam Key · Pam Key
Breitbart economics editor John Carney said Tuesday on Fox Business Network's "Kudlow" that the latest inflation numbers meant the Federal Reserve could not potentially ease interest rates.

Breitbart Business Digest: Inflation Is Back and Rising Again

Inflation is re-igniting, and there is a danger of significant overheating. This should keep the Fed from cutting interest rates in June or July—and very likely for the rest of the year.

Fact Check: Biden Claims His Massive Spending Bill Was The Start of U.S. Recovery from Pandemic

Biden's reckless spending program contributed to inflation, triggering a two-quarter downturn in the economy a year after the American Rescue Plan was signed.

Bidenflation Resurgent: Consumer Prices Rising Faster Than Expected

In a major setback for the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve, inflation is proving stubborn and is rising again.

Biden’s Billionaire Tax and Other Economic Follies

President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

President Biden is very concerned about how to get more money from working Americans and redistribute it to non-working and non-taxpaying people, both foreign and domestic.

He does not seem concerned about reducing his spending, stopping the funding of illegal immigrants, giving away money to Ukraine, or getting people off of welfare. Instead, the fix he came up with in the State of the Union Address was a proposed 25% tax on America’s billionaire households.

The top income tax rate currently is 37%, assessed on income of $346,876 for a married couple filing separately. Therefore, high-income individuals are already paying more than 25%.

He also claimed that “under my plan, nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes.” So, at a glance, it seemed like he would continue to tax people with less than $400,000 income at a 37% rate but would tax people earning more than $400,000 at a rate of 25%, which makes no sense.

When you look more closely at his wording, however, the rate is not based on income but on accumulated wealth, violating the definition of the term “income tax”.

The “tax the rich” mantra surfaces during every Democratic administration, generally more than once. And the justification is always that X percent of the wealthiest families only paid a low income tax rate of Y, “And that just ain’t right.”

According to a 2021 White House study, the top 400 richest families paid an average income tax rate of 8%. During the speech, Biden claimed that the average billionaire only paid 8.2% federal income tax, which is not consistent with the White House study, which only looked at the 400 richest families, not all billionaires.

The study was also horribly flawed, as it counted unrealized capital gains as income, which is not consistent with current tax law.

The IRS, which would presumably have better data on taxes, determined that the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid an average federal income tax rate of 26 percent.

But even if the White House had been correct that people with high wealth paid low income tax rates, there is no taxable connection between wealth and income.

Wealth is defined by the accumulation of assets, whereas you only pay income tax on income. So, unless we are going to become a communist country that forcibly seizes the assets of the rich and gives them to the poor, then we need to avoid joining Biden on this first step down the slippery slope to serfdom.

The White House study including unrealized capital gains in their income calculations was a subtle nudge to get the public to accept a new tax law.

In previous speeches, Biden proposed taxing unrealized capital gains. But under US law, you only pay tax on capital gains when you realize them. You do not pay tax on the appreciation of your home or your retirement account until you sell it.

Until then, it is just a paper gain and could as easily turn into a paper loss before the time comes to cash it in.

If unrealized capital gains were to be taxed, assets would have to be appraised each year, and a tax would be calculated based on appreciation.

If you did not have enough money to pay the tax, you would have to sell off assets until the tax was covered. To be fair, if Biden wants to tax you when your assets go up in value, will he also give you a tax credit when they go down?

If the stock market has a bad year, should the government send you a check? Imagine someone saying, “Man, I wish I had picked some bad stocks because I could really use some cash right now.”

While we are on the subject of home values, Biden wants to help Americans buy a home and ostensibly tax them on the appreciation. Consequently, he wants to provide a $400 monthly tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

The issue is that this will increase demand for homes, which will drive up prices. The price will increase by the amount people can afford to pay, which is $400 a month.

He also wants to crack down “on big landlords who break antitrust laws by price-fixing and driving up rents.” Government legislation that reduces rents removes the incentive to build new rental units, which decreases the supply and drives up the price, hurting renters.

If the government implements a rent cap, then the result will be a shortage. Either way, renters will suffer.

Working Americans would have to cover the $400 tax credit given to homebuyers. So, the takeaways from the State of the Union address are that the president hates rich people, working people, homeowners, and renters.

The post Biden’s Billionaire Tax and Other Economic Follies appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Biden_SOTU_2024_01

President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

Breitbart Business Digest: All Eyes Turn to This Week's Inflation Report

Last week's inconclusive jobs data means that this week's inflation data has the potential to be very consequential.

Nolte: Record Number Plunder Their 401(k)s in Biden’s America

It’s a pretty terrible sign of the times when a record number of Americans are forced to plunder their 401(k)s.

Nolte: Snickers Hits Back at Joe Biden over State of the Union Smear

Snickers released a statement hitting back at Joe Biden for smearing the candymaker during last week’s State of the Union address.

Schumer: People Have Negative View of Economy 'Because They Remember' How Things Were About a Year Ago

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that people have negative views of the economy “because they remember” how things were about a year ago under President Joe Biden. Schumer said, “We

Breitbart Business Digest: February's Jobs Numbers Are an Economic Rorschach Test

The February jobs numbers should be seen as an economic Rorschach test. What you see in the ink blots released by the Department of Labor largely depends on what you were already inclined to see.

Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims Inflation Trending Down

CLAIM: President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union address that the record inflation that has crippled the nation during his tenure has been trending down. VERDICT: Misleading.

Our Families Are Hurting. Our Country Can Do Better.

What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, as delivered Thursday night by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala.

Good evening, America.

My name is Katie Britt, and I have the honor of serving the people of the great state of Alabama in the United States Senate.

However, that’s not the job that matters most.

I’m a proud wife and mom of two school-age kids. My daughter, Bennett, and my son, Ridgeway, are why I ran for the Senate.

I am worried about their future—and the future of children in every corner of our nation. That’s why I invited you into our home tonight.

Like so many families across America, my husband, Wesley, and I just watched President Biden’s State of the Union address from our living room. What we saw was the performance of a permanent politician who has actually been in office for longer than I’ve even been alive.

One thing was clear: President Biden just doesn’t get it. He’s out of touch. Under his administration, families are worse off. Our communities are less safe, and our country is less secure.

I wish he understood what real families are facing around kitchen tables just like this.

This is where our family has tough conversations and where we make hard decisions. It’s where we share the good, the bad, and the ugly of our days. It’s where we laugh together. It’s where we hold each other’s hands and pray for God’s guidance. And, many nights, it’s where Wesley and I worry.

I know we’re not alone. Tonight, the American family needs to have a tough conversation, because the truth is, we’re all worried about the future of our nation.

The country we know and love seems to be slipping away. It feels like the next generation will have fewer opportunities—and less freedom—than we did. I worry my own children may not even get a shot at living their American dreams.

My American dream allowed me, the daughter of two small business owners from rural Enterprise, Alabama, to be elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of 40.

Growing up sweeping the floor at my dad’s hardware store and cleaning the bathroom at my mom’s dance studio, I never could have imagined what my story would entail.

To think what the American dream can do across just one generation, in just one lifetime, is truly breathtaking.

But right now, the American dream has turned into a nightmare for so many families.

The true, unvarnished State of our Union begins and ends with this: Our families are hurting. Our country can do better.

And you don’t have to look any further than the crisis at our southern border to see it. President Biden inherited the most secure border of all time. But minutes after taking office, he suspended all deportations, halted construction of the border wall, and announced a plan to give amnesty to millions.

We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days.

When I first took office, I did something different. I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas, where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me. She had been sex trafficked by the cartels starting at age 12. She told me not just that she was raped every day, but how many times a day she was raped.

The cartels put her on a mattress in a shoebox of a room, and they sent men through that door, over and over again, for hours and hours on end.

We wouldn’t be OK with this happening in a third-world country. This is the United States of America, and it’s past time we start acting like it.

President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable.

From fentanyl poisonings to horrific murders … there are empty chairs tonight at kitchen tables just like this one because of President Biden’s senseless border policies.

Just think about Laken Riley. In my neighboring state of Georgia, this beautiful, 22-year-old nursing student went out on a jog one morning. But she never got the opportunity to return home. She was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers President Biden chose to release into our homeland.

That could’ve been my daughter. It could’ve been yours.

Tonight, President Biden finally said her name. But he refused to take responsibility for his own actions.

Mr. President, enough is enough. Innocent Americans are dying. And you only have yourself to blame. Fulfill your oath of office. Reverse your policies. End this crisis. And stop the suffering.

Sadly, we know President Biden’s failures don’t stop there.

His reckless spending dug our economy into a hole and sent the cost of living through the roof.

The worst inflation in 40 years. The highest credit card debt in history.

Hardworking families are struggling to make ends meet today. And with soaring mortgage rates and sky-high child care costs, they’re also struggling to plan for tomorrow.

The American people are scraping by while the president proudly proclaims Bidenomics is working!

Bless his heart. We know better.

I’ll never forget stopping at a gas station in Chilton County one evening. The gentleman working the counter told me that after retiring, he had to pick up that job in his 70s so he didn’t have to choose between going hungry or going without his medication. He said, “I did everything right, everything I was told to do—I worked hard, I saved, I was responsible.”

He’s not alone. I hear similar concerns from fellow parents when I’m walking with my friends or at one my kids’ games.

But let’s be honest—it’s been a minute since Joe Biden pumped gas, ran car pool, or pushed a grocery cart. Meanwhile, the rest of us see every day that our dollar doesn’t go as far.

And despite what he tells you, our communities are not safer.

For years, the Left has coddled criminals and defunded the police—all while letting repeat offenders walk free.

The result is tragic but foreseeable—from our small towns to America’s most iconic city streets, life is getting more and more dangerous.

Unfortunately, President Biden’s weakness isn’t just hurting families here at home. He’s making us a punchline on the world stage.

Where I’m from, your word is your bond. But for three years, this President has demonstrated that America’s word doesn’t mean what it used to.

From abandoning allies in his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan to desperately pushing another dangerous deal with Iran, President Biden has failed.

We’ve become a nation in retreat. And the enemies of freedom see an opportunity.

[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal aggression in Europe has put our allies on the brink.

Iran’s terrorist proxies have slaughtered Israeli Jews and American citizens. They’ve targeted commercial shipping. And they’ve attacked our troops nearly 200 times since October, killing three U.S. soldiers and two Navy SEALs.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party is undercutting America’s workers. China is buying up our farmland, spying on our military installations, and spreading propaganda through the likes of TikTok.

The CCP knows that if it conquers the minds of our next generation, it conquers America.

And what does President Biden do? He bans TikTok for government employees, but creates an account for his own campaign. You can’t make this stuff up!

Look, we all recall when presidents faced national security threats with strength and resolve.

That seems like ancient history. Right now, our commander in chief is not in command.

The free world deserves better than a dithering and diminished leader.

America deserves leaders who recognize that secure borders, stable prices, safe streets, and a strong defense are the cornerstones of a great nation.

Just ask yourself, are you better off now than you were three years ago?

There is no doubt we’re at a crossroads. We all feel it.

But here’s the good news: We the People are still in the driver’s seat. We get to decide whether our future will grow brighter, or whether we settle for an America in decline.

Well, I know which choice our children deserve—and the choice the Republican Party is fighting for.

We are the party of hardworking parents and families. We want to give you and your children the opportunities to thrive—and we want families to grow. It’s why we strongly support continued nationwide access to in vitro fertilization. We want to help loving moms and dads bring precious life into this world. Wesley and I believe there is no greater blessing in life than our children.

And that’s why tonight, I want to make a direct appeal to the parents out there—and in particular, to my fellow moms. Many of whom will be tossing and turning at 2 a.m., wondering how they are going to be three places at once tomorrow and somehow still get dinner on the table.

First of all, we see you, we hear you, and we stand with you.

I know you’re frustrated. I know you’re probably disgusted by most of what you see going on in Washington. And I’ll be really honest with you—you’re not wrong for feeling that way.

Look, I get it. The task in front of us isn’t an easy one. But I can promise you one thing: It is worth it. So, I am asking you, for the sake of your kids and your grandkids, get into the arena.

Every generation has been called to do hard things. American greatness rests in the fact that we always answer that call.

It’s who we are.

Never forget, we’re steeped in the blood of patriots who overthrew the most powerful empire in the world.

We walk in the footsteps of pioneers who tamed the wild.

We now carry forward the same flame of freedom as the liberators of an oppressed Europe.

We draw courage from those who bent the moral arc of the universe.

And when we gaze upon the heavens, never forget that our DNA contains the same ingenuity that put man on the moon.

America has been tested before, and every single time, we’ve emerged unbowed and unbroken.

Our history has been written with the grit of men and women who got knocked down. But we know their stories because they did not stay down. We are here because they stood back up.

So now it’s our turn—our moment to stand up and prove ourselves worthy of protecting the American dream.

Together, we can reawaken the heroic spirit of a great nation.

Because Americans don’t just have a rendezvous with destiny—we take destiny’s hand, and we lead it.

Our future starts around kitchen tables just like this. With moms and dads just like you.

And you are why I believe with every fiber of my being that despite the current state of our union, our best days are still ahead.

May God bless you, and may God continue to bless these United States of America.

The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

The post Our Families Are Hurting. Our Country Can Do Better. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Republican Response to Biden State of the Union Highlights Border, Economy, and Foreign Policy Failures

In the official Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night, Sen. Katie Britt highlighted several of the Biden administration’s failings—most notably, its handling of the southern border, which she called “a disgrace.”

The Alabama senator declared, “Biden didn’t just create this border crisis, he invited it with 94 executive actions in the first 100 days.”

Biden signed executive orders that stopped several of the Trump administration’s initiatives to curb illegal immigration, including halting building a wall at the southern border and allowing illegal immigrants to enter the United States while applying for asylum rather than waiting in other countries for the several years it takes to actually get a court determination on whether asylum will be granted.

Britt furthered criticized Biden’s border policies by referencing an increase of deadly fentanyl poisonings in the U.S. The drug is predominantly smuggled across the southern border. Speaking from her kitchen, the senator said, “There are empty chairs tonight at kitchen tables just like this one” due to fentanyl poisonings and “horrific murders.”

She also mentioned Laken Riley, a 22-year-old woman who was recently murdered by an illegal immigrant. “She was brutally murdered by one of the millions of illegal border crossers President Biden chose to release into our homeland,” she said.

The president mentioned Riley during his address, holding up a pin with “Say Her Name” across it. However, Biden mispronounced Riley’s name, saying “Lincoln Riley” instead of “Laken.” He also seemed to diminish the circumstances of her death by saying that people were concerned with her death at the hands of an illegal alien but then asked rhetorically, how many Americans die by the hands of people legally here.

Britt also talked about the high cost of living, which she said was going “through the roof.” She disparaged Biden’s economic strategy, saying, “We have the worst inflation in 40 years and the highest credit card debit in our nation’s history.”

She also lambasted Biden for his foreign policy failures, saying that he has made America “a punchline on the world stage.” The senator called out Biden for his “disastrous” pullout of Afghanistan, saying it made America’s allies unable to trust that the U.S. would adequately back them in the future. She said Biden’s foreign policy weakness has also furthered the world’s various conflicts.

“President Biden has failed,” she said. “We’ve become a nation in retreat—and the enemies of freedom, they see an opportunity. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal aggression in Europe has put our allies on the brink. Iran’s terrorist proxies have slaughtered Israelis, Jews, and American citizens. They’ve targeted commercial shipping. And they’ve attacked our troops nearly 200 times since October, killing three U.S. soldiers and two Navy SEALs.”

Elected two years ago at age 40, Britt is the youngest female Republican ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

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Fact-Checking Biden’s State of the Union Address

President Joe Biden delivered his 2024 State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night.

During the 67-minute speech, frequently interrupted by applause from fellow Democrat senators and members of Congress, Biden spoke on a wide range of issues, from border security and the economy to abortion and foreign policies relating to Israel and Ukraine.

The president made numerous claims, many of them contentious and sharply partisan. The Daily Signal fact-checked many of those claims to assess whether they were truthful and accurate.

  1. ‘Dagger at the Throat of American Democracy’

Biden compared the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s. 

“Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy,” he said. 

“Jan. 6 and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden said. “But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed.” 

If Biden was saying no attack happened on the Capitol between 1865 and 2021, that would be inaccurate. 

In 1954, four Puerto Rican terrorists attacked the Capitol. Unlike those who got inside the Capitol building two years ago, the 1954 terrorists were armed with guns. The four opened fire from the House Gallery, wounding five lawmakers: Reps. Alvin Bentley, Ben Jensen, Clifford Davis, George Hyde Fallon, and Kenneth Roberts. 

In 1971, a domestic terrorist group, the Weather Underground, bombed the Capitol, causing $300,000 worth of damage. Luckily, no one was killed or injured. 

The so-called Weathermen returned in 1983 and set off another bomb that “tore through the second floor of the Capitol’s North Wing,” according to the Senate’s history website. There were no fatalities.

As for Biden’s reference to “insurrectionists,” hundreds have been convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, but not one was convicted of insurrection. But some were charged with sedition. 

The term “insurrection” has a specific legal definition under the U.S. Code (U.S.C. 2383), which says:

Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

According to Biden’s own Justice Department, none of the 950 arrested in connection with the riot was charged with insurrection.

Prosecutors did charge 50 defendants with conspiracy, and four have been convicted of seditious conspiracy. The other conspiracy-related charges were conspiracy to obstruct a congressional proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct law enforcement during a civil disorder, or conspiracy to injure an officer.  

Seditious conspiracy (under U.S.C. 2384) is defined this way: 

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than [20] years, or both.

—Fred Lucas

2. ‘Cutting the Federal Deficit’

Biden twice took credit for cutting the federal deficit, and later said he wanted to cut it further by hiking taxes on corporations and the wealthy.  

He first noted that under his administration, Medicare now has the authority to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs similar to that of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

“That’s not just saving seniors money,” Biden said. “It’s saving taxpayers money, cutting the federal deficit by $160 billion because Medicare will no longer have to pay exorbitant prices to Big Pharma.” 

Later, Biden said, “I’ve already cut the federal deficit by over $1 trillion.”

“I signed a bipartisan budget deal that will cut another trillion dollars over the next decade,” he said. “And now it’s my goal to cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more by making big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share.” He used variations on the terms “fair” and “fair share” at least nine times. 

However, the federal budget deficit is set to increase every year for the next decade, wrote David Ditch, a senior policy analyst in the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation.

“When deficits get too high, as happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, it adds to inflationary pressures on the economy. If current trends continue, driven by the growth of spending as a share of the economy, deficits will balloon even in years without a recession or a major war,” Ditch wrote. 

“The first-ever $1 trillion deficit happened in fiscal year 2009 and helped fuel the tea party movement in response. Incredibly, not only are $1 trillion deficits now standard operating procedure, but the federal government is set to crack $2 trillion deficits every year as soon as 2031—even sooner if any new legislation expands the [Washington] swamp,” Ditch added. 

The Congressional Budget Office projects the government will spend more on interest payments in 2024 on the accumulated debt than on national defense.

—Fred Lucas

The president also claimed that “the last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit.”

That’s untrue. Those in income brackets earning $200,000 or more paid more taxes in 2018 compared with 2017. Those making less than $200,000 annually paid less in taxes.

—Tony Kinnett

3. COVID-19 Was ‘Worst Economic Crisis in a Century’

Biden called the COVID-19 pandemic the “worst economic crisis in a century.” That’s objectively incorrect. The Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1941, resulted in 24.9% of Americans being forced into unemployment. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the second quarter of 2020, unemployment hit 13%, and the pandemic only lasted two years.

—Tony Kinnett

4. ‘Most Americans’ Said to Support Roe v. Wade

“Like most Americans, I believe Roe v. Wade got it right,” Biden said of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling making abortion legal nationwide. 

The Supreme Court overturned Roe in June 2022, ruling that there was no constitutional right to abortion. In 2023, 44% of Americans identified as pro-life, according to a Gallup poll, while 52% identified as pro-abortion, and 4% had no opinion. 

Biden used the story of Texas resident Kate Cox, who was a guest of the president and in the audience Thursday night, to advocate for abortion. 

Cox, according to Biden, became pregnant with “a fetus with a fatal condition,” and because of Texas law protecting the unborn, Cox went to another state to have an abortion. 

Cox’s baby had a genetic condition known as trisomy 18, according to reporting by The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan. 

“Trisomy 18 is a condition in which a baby had an extra copy of chromosome 18, making it highly likely that the baby would die in the womb or shortly after birth—though some babies with trisomy 18 do survive, such as the daughter of former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.,” Olohan reported.

—Virginia Allen

5. ‘Toughest Set of Border Security Reforms We’ve Ever Seen’

Biden touted his support of a “bipartisan” bill that, according to the president, included the “toughest set of border-security reforms we’ve ever seen.” 

He claimed that the bill would “bring order to the border.” 

The border bill Biden was referring to failed in the Senate in February because it “codified Joe Biden’s open border,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”  

The Senate’s 370-page bill included about $20 billion in border-related spending and directed the Department of Homeland Security to close the southern border “during a period of 7 consecutive calendar days, [if] there is an average of 5,000 or more aliens who are encountered each day.” 

According to Jeh Johnson, homeland security secretary in the administration of President Barack Obama, 1,000 illegal crossings a day amounted to a very bad day at the border. 

If the bill were passed, more than 1.8 million illegal aliens a year would be permitted to enter the United States. The bill also would give the president the authority to “direct the [homeland security secretary] to suspend use of the border emergency authority on an emergency basis.”  

The legislation also would have allowed the policy of “catch and release” to not only continue, but be incorporated into law. 

Last May, the House passed a border security bill, HR 2, which would end “catch and release,” restart construction on the border wall, and reinstate former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. 

The Democrat-controlled Senate has yet to take up HR 2. 

Biden went on to say he’s ready to “fix” the border. In February, there were rumors that he was considering taking executive action on the border, but has yet to do so. Instead, the president has continued to call on Congress to take action on the border. 

On his first day in office on Jan. 20, 2021, Biden stopped construction of the Trump administration’s wall at the southern border, signed an executive order “revoking a Trump Executive Order that directed harsh and extreme immigration enforcement,” and strategically undid many of the Trump administration’s other border security policies.

—Virginia Allen

6. Slaying Victim Laken Riley Incorrectly Identified as ‘Lincoln’

The first name of the young woman who was the victim of a recent brutal killing, allegedly by an illegal immigrant in Georgia, was “Laken,” not “Lincoln.” Accused of previous offenses, the man accused of killing Laken Riley was caught and released into the United States due to a reversal of Trump’s administration’s policies on illegal immigration by Biden.

—Tony Kinnett

7. Transgenderism as ‘Fundamental Right’ 

Biden suggested that the proposed Equality Act represents a protection of “fundamental rights.” He said, “I want to protect other fundamental rights. Pass the Equality Act, and my message to transgender Americans: I have your back!” 

The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

Contrary to Biden’s framing, that would undermine some existing fundamental rights, like women’s rights to safety and privacy in women’s spaces (including women’s prisons) and their right to fair competition in sports. 

The bill could also undermine children’s right to grow up without having their growth stunted by experimental transgender medical interventions. Earlier this week, journalist Michael Shellenberger released internal files from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, files revealing that doctors and psychologists who support medical interventions euphemistically referred to as “gender-affirming care” acknowledge that the side effects of such drugs are not fully known. They also admitted that teenagers have contracted cancer due to cross-sex hormones and that those drugs could permanently stunt a child’s growth.

—Tyler O’Neil

8. ‘Book Banning

Biden urged Americans to “stop denying another core value of America—our diversity.” He suggested that “banning books” is an example of such a denial.

The president was referring to the movement to restrict the availability of sexually explicit materials in school libraries, which some on the Left have falsely branded “book banning.”

While parents note that “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe contains depictions of sexual acts between a boy and a man and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison contains long passages in which a boy reminisces about sexual experiences at age 10, pro-transgender advocates defend those and similar books as necessary for LGBTQ+ children to “see themselves” in literature.

Removing such books from school libraries does not represent “banning” them, as it does not prevent publishers from printing them, parents from buying them, or children from reading them. It merely restricts their spread to minors in a school setting.

Heritage Foundation scholars checked school libraries across the country and found that the books are still available on the bookshelves. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)

—Tyler O’Neil

9. ‘Voter Suppression, Election Subversion’

Biden noted that the Voting Rights Act was signed 59 years ago, but said Congress has to pass more laws on voting. 

“But 59 years later, there are forces taking us back in time,” the president said. “Voter suppression. Election subversion. Unlimited dark money. Extreme gerrymandering.”

He referenced the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a famed civil rights activist who died in 2020. 

“If you truly want to honor him and all the heroes who marched with him, then it’s time for more than just talk,” Biden said. “Pass and send me the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.”

Biden didn’t specify what he meant by election subversion or voter suppression. But he previously has characterized voter-ID laws as voter suppression. The laws also restricted ballot harvesting and cleaned up voter-registration rolls of the names of dead people. 

Almost two dozen states enacted election reform laws in 2021. Biden specifically criticized a Georgia election reform law as “Jim Crow 2.0,” a reference to the segregated South of the past. 

An independent survey conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab, in conjunction with the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, found that 99% of voters felt safe at polling stations, 98.9% reported no issues or difficulty in casting a ballot, 97% rated interactions with poll workers as “good” or “excellent,” and 95.3% reported wait times of less than 30 minutes. 

The left-leaning New York Times described 2022 voter turnout—56%—as strong, but “shy of the 2018 high-water-mark midterms.”

Several studies have shown that voter-ID laws do not suppress voting. A 2019 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research—based on turnout data from 2008 to 2018—said voter-ID laws “have no negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation.” 

A 2023 study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, voter-ID laws actually “produced a Democratic advantage, which weakened to near zero after 2012” and added voter-ID laws have “negligible average effects.”

—Fred Lucas

10. Preschoolers ‘50% More Likely’ to Earn Degrees

Biden claimed that children who attend preschool “are 50% more likely to earn a two- or four-year degree no matter their background.” That’s misleading. The study from Blueprint Labs that the White House based the statement on explicitly states that preschool “has no detectable impact on state achievement test scores” or college enrollment tests. 

The study did not show that preschool attendance increased the likelihood students would apply to two- or four-year programs compared with those who didn’t attend preschool.

—Tony Kinnett

11. Alabama Court ‘Shut Down IVF Treatments

The president claimed that “the Alabama Supreme Court shut down [in vitro fertilization] treatments across the state, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.” That isn’t true. The Alabama Supreme Court did not “shut down” IVF treatments, but ruled embryos were to be classified as human beings

That decision was not directly caused by the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, either. Nothing in the Supreme Court’s ruling mentioned IVF or triggered a preexisting Alabama law to make IVF illegal.

Additionally, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill protecting IVF treatments and procedures earlier Thursday, which Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, promptly signed into law.

—Tony Kinnett

12. ‘Shrinkflation’

As expected, the president also sharply criticized what he called “shrinkflation.”

“Too many corporations raise their prices to pad their profits, charging you more and more for less and less,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price-gouging or deceptive pricing, from food to health care to housing.” 

He blamed companies for the rising cost of snacks. 

“In fact, snack companies think you won’t notice when they charge you just as much for the same size bag, but with fewer chips in it,” Biden said. 

He called for Congress to pass legislation drafted by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., “to put a stop to shrinkflation.”

However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed prices for both business and consumers have increased 18% on average since Biden took office in January 2021.

“Grocery stores cannot simply reduce the prices they charge while the prices they themselves pay continue to rise,” E.J. Antoni, a public finance economist and research fellow in The Heritage Foundation, recently wrote

He added, “If a dairy farmer charges a grocer 20% more for milk, then the grocer will also charge a family 20% more for milk. That’s not gouging anyone. It’s merely staying in business.”

—Fred Lucas

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Mean-Spirited Joe

(John Hinderaker)

Joe Biden is delivering his State of the Union speech tonight. Apparently he will chide Americans for not appreciating his wonderful economy; declining real wages will not be mentioned. He will denounce “shrinkflation,” as though people are too stupid to know inflation when they see it. Nor will Biden mention the eight million or so illegals who have streamed across the border, wreaking havoc, since he opened it.

Biden has always been mean-spirited. He is a nasty person, and always has been. Take, for example, his recent interview in the New Yorker. The interview is replete with Biden’s trademark classlessness, but take just one example: his smearing of Justice Thomas:

In a concurring opinion on Dobbs, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the legal rationale for overturning Roe could be applied to “correct the error” in cases on same-sex marriage, the decriminalization of homosexuality, and access to contraception. I asked Biden if he thought that the Justices would undo those protections. “I don’t think there’s a majority to go there,” he said, but added, “I think that a couple on the Court would go considerably further”—specifically “the guy who likes to spend a lot of time on yachts.”

“Thomas?” I asked.

Biden grinned.

Those familiar with Thomas’s history will appreciate the absurdity of describing him as a yachtsman. He is better known for driving around America in an RV. But in any event, it is Biden–not Thomas–who has enriched himself and his family to the tune of many millions of dollars through influence peddling. Worst of all, he peddled his influence to powers hostile to America. It takes a lot of nerve for Joe Biden to sneer at the Court’s foremost intellectual for accepting a ride on a boat.

But that is Joe Biden: mean-spirited, through and through.

The price of inflation

(Scott Johnson)

Jeffrey Anderson presents a comparative analysis of presidents and inflation. The mainstream press to the contrary notwithstanding, he explains what Biden has done to make us feel so black and blue. It’s not our imagination. It’s the inflation, stupid! See his City Journal column “No great mystery.” Anderson manages to review the data and perform the analysis with a sense of humor.

The daycare minders at the White House have persuaded Biden to single out “shrinkflation” as the villain. However, “shrinkflation” reflects “inflation.” It is a manifestation of rising prices. Sentient observers understand that Biden economic policies have triggered the inflation that we have suffered, just as they understand that Biden’s senescence has slowed the windmills of his mind. Biden trusts we won’t notice he indicts himself when he decries “shrinkflation.”

Biden’s daycare minders take us for fools. Thus the administration’s critique of Republicans for causing the invasion of illegals that Biden invited, facilitated, and denied. They think we are stupid.

We hear that Biden threatens to point the finger at alleged corporate wrongdoing as the source of our pain in tonight’s State of the Union address. For some reason or other this wave of alleged wrongdoing has run riot under the regime of…Joe Biden. It was somehow held in check under the regime of…Donald Trump. James Bovard seeks to immunize us against the foolishness of the Biden party line in his New York Post column “Joe Biden’s State of the Union ‘shrinkflation’ swindle.”

Breitbart Business Digest: Powell Pointedly Refuses to Endorse the Immigration Surge

Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointedly declined to defend the establishment view that immigration is a boon for the economy and more immigration even better.

State of Delusion: Biden’s Address Will Expose Wide Divide Between President and Reality

President Joe Biden on Thursday night will address a joint session of Congress and the American people to persuade voters that his many failures are actually successes.

Don’t buy it.

He will continue a campaign of gaslighting around his administration’s increasingly dangerous border catastrophe, his unaffordable and anemic economy, and his disastrous foreign policy that puts us all at risk. Biden will attempt to persuade us of the strength of his union—but he’s living in a state of delusion, and his primetime speech will make that painfully clear.

The reality of life in Biden’s America has become so far detached from the messaging coming out of his White House, it’s hard to imagine any address will change the minds of voters who have lost faith in the president. But we know he will try.

Here’s what you can expect to hear from Biden—and the hard truths he will continue to ignore:

First, he’s sure to deflect on his role in creating the border crisis. And this issue may best highlight the growing divide between the president’s dishonest view of his administration and the reality Americans face every day.

Biden will claim the historic number of illegal immigrants allowed in the country on his watch has nothing to do with him. He will tell you the humanitarian disaster caused by his blatant encouragement of illegal immigration is not his fault. He will blame Congress for a crisis of his making—a truly Orwellian touch. 

The reality? Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas began intentionally and systematically dismantling all semblance of border security within hours of taking the oath of office. Before he was even sworn in, during Democratic debates, he promised to give free health care to illegal immigrants and oppose deportation. As soon as he got to the Oval Office, Biden ended almost all of former President Donald Trump’s policies that deterred mass illegal immigration, such as “Remain in Mexico”; halted construction of the border wall; and turned on a flashing “open” sign that remains on to this day. 

The result has been an unmitigated disaster. More than 9 million people have illegally entered the country on Biden’s watch—that’s more than the population of most states, and doesn’t include the 1.7 million people we know have evaded authorities altogether. His incoherent position on the border is overcrowding and overwhelming our schools and health care system, fueling a fentanyl crisis that’s destroying families in every state, and giving criminals free rein across the country—with deadly results.

Unfortunately for Biden, the American people already blame him for the crisis. Almost 70% of Americans disapprove of his handling of the border, and immigration is now the top concern of a plurality of voters. For the first time ever, a majority of Americans support a border wall. That is Biden’s legacy on the border.

We also know Biden will try to persuade Americans that “Bidenomics” is working, that the crime and decay in our cities are nothing to be concerned about, that the military is strong, and that Republicans are a threat to democracy. 

Here’s the truth: The president’s economic agenda has led to nothing but strife for average families. Real wages are down, prices are up, and credit card debt is at a record high. A staggering 60% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Even Democrats admit the “Bidenomics” campaign is failing.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan majority of Americans think we have a crime crisis; Biden’s Pentagon is overseeing a historic recruitment shortfall and plunging public confidence; and our enemies have watched as Biden’s administration repeatedly fumbles on the world stage

Lastly, in perhaps his most cynical gambit, Biden will try to persuade you that Republicans are an existential threat to our democracy. He will make this claim just days after the Supreme Court unanimously overruled activist judges and officials from his own party who were trying to kick his chief rival off the ballot. The irony is stunning, and would be comical if it wasn’t so insulting. 

The State of the Union is an opportunity for every president to highlight his successes. But when an administration has so little success to promote, the only thing left to do is deceive and deflect. Instead of taking responsibility for his own dismal record, Biden will desperately attempt to rewrite history while using the federal government against his rivals.

Don’t be fooled. Biden is living in a state of delusion while the rest of us live in reality—far worse off than we were when he took office. No matter what he says in front of Congress on Thursday night, the real state of his union is weak, woke, and weaponized against those who dare to speak out.

Luckily, the American people will have the opportunity to respond in November. 

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

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Axelrod: Messaging About Democracy Is for Those with 'Privilege' to Not Worry About Inflation

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser David Axelrod stated that while he thinks President Joe Biden is doing a good job as President and that he’s concerned about the democracy issue

Breitbart Business Digest: The Coming Democrat Freak Out Over Fed Policy

When Jerome Powell steps into the congressional coliseum to deliver his semi-annual testimony to the House and Senate, he is very likely to be met with an aggrieved chorus of Democratic lawmakers arguing that monetary loosening is long overdue.

Atlanta Fed's Bostic Warns Rate Cut Could Reignite Inflation

Raphael Bostic warned on Monday that a premature Fed cut could spark an economic boom that would send inflation higher again.

Bidenomics in Crisis: Majority of Voters Say Biden's Policies Will Make Inflation Worse

As high inflation vexes the U.S. economy, a solid majority of registered voters say Biden's policies will make prices rise.

Kellogg's Faces Boycott After CEO Pushes 'Cereal for Dinner' in Response to Inflation

Kellogg's is facing a boycott after its CEO suggested that cash-strapped families suffering under inflation should eat "cereal for dinner."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Rejects Proposal to Raise Governor's Salary

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has rejected a proposal to raise the governor's salary with a three percent increase in the 2025 budget.

Kellogg’s CEO Suggests Cash-Strapped Families Suffering Under Inflation Eat 'Cereal for Dinner'

American families struggling with high food prices due to inflation should eat cereal for dinner in order to save money, Kellogg's CEO Gary Pilnick, who has an estimated net worth of $15.7 million, said.

Breitbart Business Digest: George Eliot's Currency Debasement Warning

George Eliot's short story "Brother Jacob" begins with a warning about the danger of the desire to be a provider of sweets. It's a warning about inflation

White House: Inflation 'Very Close to Normal' and Prices 'Moving in the Right Direction' -- But They'll Go Up

During an interview with ABC News on Thursday, White House Senior Adviser Gene Sperling stated that “people have been through a tough few years” but the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) price index reading is “very close to normal” and “prices

Breitbart Business Digest: Inflation Is Even Worse Than It Looks

Inflation is rising, and the underlying indicators of price pressures suggest this is unlikely to reverse soon.

CNN's Sellers: 'It's Hard for Me to Say Bidenomics Is Working' 

During CNN’s coverage of the Michigan primaries on Tuesday, CNN Political Commentator Bakari Sellers stated that “it’s hard for me to say Bidenomics is working when people are still having trouble with the cost of grocery prices,” and that while

Core Inflation Measure Shows Prices Rising At Fastest Pace In A Year

The pace of price hikes faced by American households accelerated in January to its fastest in a year, challenging the notion that high inflation is receding. The personal consumption expenditure price index, known as the PCE price index, rose 0.3

Yellen on Economic Pessimism: People 'Getting Ahead' But They 'Remember' 'Prices Were Lower' and COVID Hurt

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen responded to a question on economic pessimism among Americans by saying that “The pandemic had very significant and lasting impacts…on their lifestyles and attitudes.” And because “some prices

Breitbart Business Digest: The Real Story Behind the Revised GDP Numbers

The economy did not grow quite as fast as previously thought in the third quarter, but the details should undermine any hopes that this might allow for earlier or deeper rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.

Clyburn: 'Food Prices Are Up,' But Medicine Is Down

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Biden Campaign Co-Chair Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) acknowledged that “food prices are up” under President Joe Biden, but the price of medicine is down, there are jobs being created, and infrastructure improvements. While discussing the

Illegal Immigration, Ukraine, and the Economy

 

By U.S. Customs and Border Protection – CBP Processing Unaccompanied Children, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51178808

 

Mainstream media and the administration are pushing a narrative that funding for the Ukraine War and illegal immigration is helping the economy, both of which are complete nonsense. In fact, a Washington Post story on this topic begins by saying that “the economy is roaring,” and then goes on to explain how this amazing economy is driven by immigrants who are responsible for job creation.

Although they have twisted the interpretation of the economic data to make it appear that the economy is doing well, the average American is worse off than they were five years ago. Biden claims job creation, but the number of full-time jobs has been in steady decline. The number of part-time jobs is growing, and this is because of an influx of millions of people for whom minimum wage and no benefits are better than what they left behind. Twitter is full of ironic posts by conservatives saying, “Biden created X number of jobs, and I have three of them.” The number of Americans working two or more jobs has increased by 28% under Biden.

Wages have increased only modestly, while prices are up a cumulative 21 percent. Biden claims inflation is falling, but what he actually means is that prices are rising more slowly than they were a year ago. That is not much of a help if you already cannot afford to make ends meet. Gas is still about 42% higher than before the pandemic, and food is up 25%. The reasons why your dollar is buying less are because of government spending, credit expansion, deficits, debt, and money printing.

The funding for the Ukraine war is a perfect example. While there may be very legitimate national security reasons to defend Ukraine and oppose the expansion of Russia, it is not true that Ukraine funding is growing the US economy. The Wall Street Journal claims that the aid given to Ukraine benefits the US economy because much of it is actually paid to US defense contractors. And while this is true, that money represents government debt. The government is literally borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

Government debt-funded spending helps a few US firms, but debt causes inflation and currency devaluation, which hurt Americans now. It also hurts Americans in the future in the form of taxes needed to repay the debt.

Illusory economic growth stemming from debt-fueled government spending is temporary and unsustainable. The boom must end in a bust, which will be even worse than our current economy. Government debt must be repaid with interest, and interest rates are currently dramatically higher than in 2019. Currently, the Fed discount window interest rate is 5.5%, and the monthly interest rate on US government debt is 3.15 percent.

Another issue with increasing America’s debt to defend another country is the opportunity cost. Buying weapons for Ukraine is not an investment in productive assets. If you take a loan to buy a machine that allows you to earn income in the future, you calculate the income against the debt, and if you have a positive gain, you borrow the money. For example, you take a loan to buy a limousine and then charge people $300 an hour to ride in it. But the money spent on Ukraine will never produce an economic return.

If the same amount of money had been put into education, research and development, or border security, America would see a return on its investment.

Turning our attention to border security takes us back to immigration. The Washington Post recently claimed that “About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024.” All they are really saying is that 50% of the new jobs were taken by immigrants. This is not a benefit to the average American. The Congressional Budget Office claims that the economy will grow by $7 trillion over the next decade, and $1 trillion of this is attributable to immigration.

The $7 trillion figure is just a mathematical function of the average US annual growth times 10 years. And it is based on the highest Biden growth year, a one-time boost to the economy when Biden allowed people to get back to work after Covid. That $7 trillion will most likely take more like 15 years to materialize, assuming the US economy ever gets back to normal.

The additional $1 trillion attributed to immigrants is simply based on the projected increase in the size of the population. So, basically, what the data proves is that immigration makes the population larger, something we all probably knew. And these figures ignore the money spent on welfare, aid to immigrants and illegal immigrants, healthcare paid for by the state, the cost of educating immigrant children, the cost of courts and law enforcement, increased crime and drug use caused by open borders… all of which is funded by government debt which, as we have already covered, hurts the economy in the long term and diverts resources from other more productive activities or citizen services.

 

 

The post Illegal Immigration, Ukraine, and the Economy appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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By U.S. Customs and Border Protection - CBP Processing Unaccompanied Children, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51178808

From Policy to Pain: How the Fed Impacts Your Wallet

By Gryffindor (Wikimedia Commons)

Artificial interest rate controls cause inflationary booms, depressing busts, and result in taxpayers bailing out wealthy bankers every five to ten years.

While businesses struggle to obtain loans and consumers suffer under extremely high interest rates, the Federal Reserve cautioned this week “against cutting US interest rates too soon or too much.”

The implication is that the Federal Reserve knows what the correct interest rate should be and when and by how much it should be cut. But for every other product, apart from loans, the market determines the price. And the market is never wrong.

The Fed deciding that it knows the right interest rates and quantity of dollars that the economy should have is extremely presumptuous. Even more worrying, the acceptance by the general public that the Fed is correct is an example of central planning.

Entrusting the Fed with superior knowledge over the market, comprising 330 million consumers and sellers, represents a frightening leap toward central authority dictating everything from health and education to how you raise your child or what media you are allowed to read.

Also, if the Fed knows the right interest rate and quantity of money, why aren’t they able to prevent economic crises and bank failures?

When it comes to most other products in the economy—shoes, cars, clothing—the price is determined by the market, and the market never gets it wrong. If the market price goes too high, people stop buying; if it goes too low, companies lose money.

So, we wind up with a market price that consumers are willing to bear and that companies can live with.

Most importantly, in our capitalist/democratic system, the only people who pay for those shoes, cars, and clothing are the people who buy them. If you think the price is too high, you don’t have to buy, and the government doesn’t force you to pay for your neighbor’s shoes.

Or at least, that is how it is supposed to work. Some administrations are more socialist than others, and you do find yourself paying for your neighbor’s shoes through taxes, but that is the subject of another article.

Today, we are discussing how the Fed distorts the economy by artificially controlling interest rates, which leads to inflationary booms, depressing busts, and ultimately results in taxpayers bailing out wealthy bankers.

Until the self-imposed destruction of the COVID lockdowns, the most recent economic crisis was in 2008, which resulted in over 8 million Americans losing their jobs.

Additionally, the U.S. Treasury Department used nearly $1 trillion of taxpayer money to buy up banks’ toxic assets and to make emergency loans to banks teetering on the brink of collapse.

These were private, for-profit companies that received payouts from public funds. From a free-market standpoint, the reason why toxic assets plummeted in value was that the risk was too high and the public didn’t want to buy them.

So, the banks effectively made a terrible product that consumers didn’t want, but which the government purchased with taxpayer money.

Even worse, in order to stimulate a failing economy, the Fed artificially suppressed interest rates until two years ago. As of December 2021, the federal funds rate target range was 0.00% to 0.25%.

And that low rate, along with dramatic increases in government spending and borrowing and the creation of money, resulted in the 9% inflation during the Biden administration. To rein in the inflation, the Fed began raising the federal funds rate, which currently stands at 5.25% to 5.50%.

This figure is the federal funds rate, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans. The rate you pay for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards will be much higher.

The Fed artificially keeps the interest rate low when politicians want to give the illusion of economic growth. In 2023, after the Fed began raising interest rates, the low Fed rates of the preceding 15 years resulted in banks like Silicon Valley Bank sitting on investments that paid 1.79%, while new treasuries were paying 3.79%.

This meant that the banks had to pay more to borrow money than they were earning on their portfolio of loans and investments. SVB and several other banks went bankrupt, resulting in a $25 billion bailout.

Meanwhile, the entire banking system is estimated to be sitting on $620 billion in similar, unrealized losses because of artificial interest rate manipulation by the Fed.

The COVID lockdown economic crisis caused 120,000 businesses to close and 30 million Americans to lose their jobs. To compensate, the Biden White House, working with Congress on fiscal policy, and the Federal Reserve, implementing monetary policy, the deficit skyrocketed, the debt hit record levels, and interest rates were kept low.

As a result, Biden claimed the largest growth and job creation in history, as well as the highest inflation in 40 years.

Now, in addition to enduring years of lost wages, depleted savings, and mounting personal debt, Americans are grappling with the combination of inflation and high interest rates. All of which was enabled by the Fed’s policies,

The post From Policy to Pain: How the Fed Impacts Your Wallet appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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By Gryffindor - File:33 Liberty Street IMG 9058.JPGThis is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: This panorama has been automatically stitched using commandline tools, and the end result hasn't been validated by any humans for any accuracy or beautifullness. The original can be viewed here: 33 Liberty Street IMG 9058.JPG: . Modifications made by AzaToth., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17173323
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