Donald Trump doesn’t sound like he consistently lives in actual reality.
“With what is happening to our economy, and with the proposals being made on the LARGEST AND DUMBEST TAX INCREASE IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA, TIMES FIVE, JOE BIDEN WILL GO DOWN AS THE HERBERT HOOVER OF THE MODRRN AGE,” Trump yelled online early Sunday via his personal account on his knock-off social media platform Truth Social. “WE WILL HAVE A GREAT DEPRESSION FAR BIGGER AND MORE POWERFUL THAN THAT OF 1929. AS PROOF, THE BANKS ARE ALREADY STARTING TO COLLAPSE!!!”
To use the familiar expression, Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. One bank went through a rhetorical implosion, and a series of banks suffered actually similar fates while Trump himself was president! It’s a thing that happens, for which the federal government has safeguards ready. As for taxes, Joe Biden has been very consistent in committing to the ideal of not raising taxes on those making many everyday incomes, instead targeting higher-earners — often much higher-earners. Trump’s claims are so ridiculous that you barely even need a fact-check more comprehensive than that. Unemployment remains generally low, and large numbers of jobs, beating expectations, keep getting added to the U.S. economy month by month as the country only further recovers from the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A recent federal Labor Department report said the leisure and hospitality industry hadn’t reached its employment level seen before the pandemic threw the economy into disarray, but it’s getting there. Elsewhere, inflation, although still high, is plateauing amid an overall decline rather than rocketing upwards in an uncontrollable spiral, and in general, it’s something that’s affected much of the economically advanced world rather than just the U.S. The rate of increase to personal incomes has sometimes significantly outpaced inflation, meaning the rate at which costs are generally rising. For January, the Commerce Department said disposable personal income went up by two percent from the previous month in current dollars. The overall jump in prices in the same span of time was 0.6 percent. Atop these signs of progress, the Biden team also continues its support for various domestic industries like clean energy and technology, besides others.
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
