by Toddy Perryman, Corvallis
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. economy is genuinely a world-beater. The U.S. economy has expanded at a 7% rate over the last three months, up by 5% from the beginning of 2021.
Biden pushed through the American Rescue Plan which provided emergency payments to every American, an increase in the Child Tax Credit, extended unemployment payments for those nearing the end of their benefits, lowered the cost of health care subsidies, picked up 100% of COBRA costs, and offered a host of benefits for small businesses that included outright grants.
Unemployment numbers have been cut by a full 2% due in large part to a renewed confidence from business leaders after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed and a robust rollout of vaccines against COVID-19. These are Biden’s policy priorities….get people healthy and make it safe to go back to work.
According to CNN, President Biden enjoys just a 44% approval rating despite the best economy in 50 years. This may be because a disaster-addicted media will find disaster, even if it has to create it.
The New York Times gives us dire warnings about supply chain issues and what seem to be obligatory features on the threat posed by inflation but nothing about the record pace of the economy. And the bit that really gets me is that outlets repeatedly ran stories in which they quoted people making outrageous claims of 30% or 40% inflation without bothering to correct those claims. After screaming headlines about the price of gas going up by pennies, there are no headlines to report that gas prices are down.
Five years of dealing with Trump demonstrated to the media that there was no better way to grab eyeballs than reporting the daily lies, insults, and disruptions. But what to do when there is no stream of verifiable lies?
Well, America is enjoying an economy that is the envy of the world. And a press that isn’t.
In the meantime major U.S. ports processed almost one-fifth more container volume in 2021 than they did in 2019, even as volumes at major European ports like Hamburg and Rotterdam are roughly flat or lag behind 2019 levels. The busiest U.S. container ports are leaping ahead of their counterparts in Asia and Europe in global rankings as volumes surge.
So, Happy New Year to all!