By Kevin Henning
For the “Progressive Views” column, Boerne Star, October 20, 2024
James Carville’s prophetic remarks to George H. W. Bush in 1992 ring true for all Republicans throughout modern history and more so today. Herbert Hoover left the Great Depression, the worst worldwide economic mess in modern history, to President Franklin Roosevelt to fix. Nixon and Ford handed President Jimmy Carter a huge mess with skyrocketing oil prices and inflation. George H. W. Bush left Clinton a recession that could have been avoided with better regulation of the savings and loan industry. Clinton, with help from Congress, turned it around and actually balanced the budget. George W. Bush left the great recession caused by poor banking regulations and dishonest corporate executives to President Barack Obama to clean up.
Thanks to Obama’s economic policies, Trump inherited one of the strongest economies in history. Even before the pandemic, Trump lost 200,000 jobs, as confirmed by PolitiFact, then his mismanagement of the pandemic caused inflation to soar and unemployment to skyrocket. President Joe Biden was left scrambling to turn things around. A recent BBC analysis confirmed that the U.S. economy is one of the strongest in the world with 16 million new jobs, inflation under control, and the stock market booming. Unfortunately, those in middle- and lower-wage earning jobs are suffering from high prices and long-term disparity in income. The rich have gotten richer and lower income folks have fared poorly due to Republicans’ “trickle down” economic policies.
According to the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics, over the past four decades, average household income grew by 80%; sadly that growth was not equal. Average income in the highest-earning one-fifth of the population was 135% higher in 2020 than it was in 1980, over three and a half times the growth in average income in the lowest one-fifth of wage earners.
Since the end of WWII, GDP growth, job creation, and stock market returns have all been better under Democrats. Data compiled by the Washington Post shows that the last seven Democratic Presidents created a little over 70 million jobs while the six Republicans, who were actually in office longer, created about 29 million jobs. GDP growth has averaged over 4% when Democrats were in office versus less than 3% under Republicans. Stock market returns have averaged 11% under Democrats versus 7% for Republicans.
Manufacturing states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have been devastated by decades of Republican policies that allowed corporations to skirt labor laws and environmental protections in search of cheaper labor markets. Despite big promises and major trade actions, the manufacturing recovery stalled under Trump due to policies that tend to favor the rights of multinational companies over ordinary workers, thus paving the way for more outsourcing of jobs overseas and thwarting workers ability to bargain for better wages. President Biden’s pro-labor positions have reversed that trend.
Economist Mark Zandi recently confirmed that the U.S. economy is one of the best performing economies in the past 35 years. Meanwhile Trump continues to reiterate his view that the United States is a hellscape. He insisted that the nation’s booming economy is actually hemorrhaging jobs, that the FBI statistics showing crime falling are all lies, and that inflation, which has fallen dramatically, is at an all-time high.
The New York Times recently had this to say: “It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks.”
Time to bring decency back to Texas and the United States. Moderates must stand up to extremists and restore trust in our nation. Let’s all work to end the deception that threatens our democracy. Time to elect Kamala Harris whose policies will drive the nation toward high-wage and sustainable manufacturing and reverse the income inequality plaguing our middle and lower income workers.
To find out more about how to get involved with the Kendall County Democratic Party, visit www.kcdems.us.
Kevin Henning is a local Democrat.
