Our country has been traumatized from two things: the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that infected our physical bodies, and four years of Trump’s treasonous actions that have infected our body politic.
With yet another federal indictment of Trump adding multiple federal felonies, and with more state charges and felonies to come, America is exhausted from Trumpitis.
So let’s focus on some good, healing news for Kentuckians and the United States at large.
The Biden-Beshear administrations have been working hard, making changes to the federal government’s role in our economy that are focused on the working and middle classes – an abrupt departure from past administrations, both Republican and Democrat.
But no matter how well our socio-economic system has improved under Biden and Beshear, it seems as if every bit of good news about both administrations is met with “gloom and doom.”
For example, the press is intent on reporting:
- the job market is the best it’s been in more than 50 years … BUT, the price of toilet paper has gone up by 35% since 2019! Come on... really?
- Gasoline prices have dropped to less than they were before the pandemic … BUT, the price of bread has increased.
“It feels as though any positive news is required to be followed by news designed to keep people from feeling too optimistic about the future,” says Heather Digby Parton of Salon.
This is the result of the Republican megaphone on Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax that is designed to weaponize disinformation and convince Americans that all good news is ‘fake news’.
So it's been difficult to make the case that the Biden and Beshear administrations have brought material improvement to most people's lives, even though all the evidence shows tremendous improvement in the economy at large, in jobs, and in Democratic party policy successes.
Joe Biden took office in the middle of a deadly pandemic, after a Trump-led bloody insurrection on January 6.
The Democrats had a razor-thin margin in both chambers of Congress, but as noted by Parton, Joe Biden's legislative achievements miraculously include:
- Passing the American Rescue Plan, which staved off an economic collapse and created a massive rollout of life-saving vaccines, and created 12 million jobs, the most of any single presidential term in history.
- Passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which created progress on domestic manufacturing, infrastructure, climate change mitigation, deficit reduction, corporate taxes, and out-of-pocket health costs.
- Passing the first bipartisan gun safety bill in 30 years. (!)
- Building a coalition to back Ukraine as it defends its democracy against the Russian totalitarian invasion.
The Biden-Harris reelection campaign is touting “Bidenomics,” described by Parton as “an overturning of trickle-down economics to focus federal money in ways that benefit the middle class.” And by the way, Biden is taunting all the Republicans who are racing to take credit for these projects after voting against them by saying, “I’ll be at the ground-breaking.”
And about that inflation
“We have all heard about the rate of inflation dropping to an annual rate of 3% while unemployment numbers continue to drop overall. Jobs have been growing for 29 consecutive months. … Perhaps it is no coincidence that inflation has began to decrease after the Democrats passage of the Inflation Reduction Act,” writes Ken Wolf, Democratic columnist for the Ledger and Times of Murray.
That’s a good sign for the national, state, and local economies that should lead to voters rewarding the Biden and Beshear campaigns with their votes.
Beshear-onomics
Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear touts economic gains and stewardship as his theme for reelection in GOP-heavy Kentucky.
Citing general fund receipts that totaled $15.1 billion in the just-concluded fiscal year, Andy Beshear said the state was ‘poised to record its largest-ever revenue surplus of roughly $1.4 billion,’ observes Bruce Schreiner of the Associated Press.
“Put simply, we’re booming,” the governor said at a recent news conference. “And this revenue figure shows how much we’re booming at unprecedented levels.”
As noted by Schreiner, the general fund pays for most state services, including education, health care, and public safety. Although Beshear announced the surplus in his official capacity as governor, the massive surplus reinforced his campaign strategy of touting his economic stewardship.
Continues Schreiner, “Overcoming the severe jolt from the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky has posted record economic development numbers and historically low unemployment rates during Beshear’s term. His administration has reeled in massive projects tied to the electric vehicle sector. The state finished the fiscal year with a general fund surplus topping $1 billion for the third straight year, the governor said.”
Republicans, of course, are loathe to give Beshear any credit for the state’s improving economy. In fact, according to them, Beshear has made things worse. In the annual disinformation campaign straight from the Republican Playbook weaponized by the Republican candidates and the right wing media, Cameron’s campaign has stated “Kentuckians are being crushed financially in Joe Biden’s economy.”
Now THAT is “fake news.”
The case for Beshear-onomics
Here are the facts of the Beshear economy, straight from Jason Bailey of the KY Center for Economic Policy:
- Brought in $26.8 billion in new private-sector investments
- Helped create more than 860 private-sector new locations and expansion projects that created approximately 47,000 full-time jobs
- Made Kentucky the Electric Vehicle Battery Capital of the United States
- Brought in $6 billion investment at BlueOval SK Battery Park in Hardin County (5,000 jobs)
- Brought in $2 billion investment at AESC Gigafactory in Warren County (2,000 jobs)
- Brought in a billion-dollar high-tech battery recycling and production center in western Kentucky (400 jobs)
- Saw the best two-year period in state history for economic growth
- 2021 – $11.2 billion in planned investment and commitments to create 18,000 jobs
- 2022 – $10.5 billion in new investments and 16,000 jobs
- Obtained $1.6 billion in federal funding for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project. Construction will be completed with no tolls.
- Set a Kentucky record for lowest unemployment over the longest period
- Expanded access to healthcare for over 400,000 additional Kentuckians, including denntal, hearing, and vision care benefits
Be careful what you wish for, Republicans. Go ahead and paint Andy Beshear with the Bidenomics/Beshearonomics brush. It looks good from a foot away and from 30,000 feet above!
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Written by John James Alexander, a pseudonym for a long-time Kentucky educator.
