MIDLIFE [EDITORIAL]-19, Friday, February 23, 2024 – Biden: Mhe, “Make America [Good Enough …].”
Biden: Mhe, “Make America [Good Enough …],” just good enough to where it does not completely collapse under the weight of unbridled grift.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is up, a Biden “win,” right.
Numerically, yes, but only as a grossly misleading metric.
The DJIA is, “[t]he Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a stock market index that tracks 30 large, publicly-owned blue-chip companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq. The Dow Jones is named after Charles Dow, who created the index in 1896 along with his business partner, Edward Jones. Also referred to as the Dow 30, the index is considered to be a gauge of the broader U.S. economy1” (1.).
Catch the last part, “[…] the index is considered to be a gauge of the broader U.S. economy” (1.). It does not represent the economic lives of the average American; it aggregates the performance of those thirty (30) companies as an average. It also represents the performance of a stock position owned by an individual, or entity, in one or more of those companies, or a position in a DJIA-index investment.
That is mostly it, but a little more on the subject.
“The DJIA is the second-oldest U.S. market index after the Dow Jones Transportation Average. The DJIA was designed to serve as a proxy for the health of the broader U.S. economy. Often referred to simply as the Dow, it is one of the most-watched stock market indexes in the world. While the Dow includes a range of companies, all of them can be described as blue-chip companies with consistently stable earnings 2” (1.).
Again, catch the part, “[…] all of them can be described as blue-chip companies with consistently stable earnings 2” (1.). The country could be on fire, and these thirty (30) companies are going to be the least affected by the flames.
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Let us look at some of the individual companies; they are some of many behemoth companies benefiting on the backs of Americans paying inflationary prices for goods and services: gas (Chevron Corp.), pharmaceutical, healthcare, and consumer goods essentials (Amgen Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble Co., Merck & Co. Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc.) (2.). Also notice the credit card companies included, where a large amount of the historic consumer debt lies (American Express Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Visa Inc., CI A) (2.).
So, yes, Biden gets full "credit" for crushing the American consumer, starting with early-Administration executive action that shuttered the oil & gas industries, a precursor to increased fuel prices that grossly and adversely impacted the downrange transporting of raw materials, the manufacturing of consumer goods, transporting of those final goods to market, wholesales costs on the backs of retail sales outlets, and ultimately the on the backs of the American consumer.
Biden’s executive actions against the oil & gas industry were swift, and deafening, “second day in office” (3.).
“On his second day in office, President Biden signed Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis. The biggest takeaway from the Executive Order was the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline permit. The project had been rejected by President Obama in late 2015, fast-tracked by President Trump in 2017, and now once more rejected by President Biden in 2021” (3.).
But wait, there is more.
“Last week [inauguration week, January 2021] the administration also issued Secretarial Order No. 3395, which implemented a 60-day suspension of new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits for federal land and water.
“This week [week of Monday, January 25, 2021] President Biden followed that action up with Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The biggest takeaway from this order was an indefinite ‘pause on new oil and natural gas leases on public lands’ until a comprehensive review on the climate change impacts can be completed” (3.).
Side-note irony?
Pay close attention to the last sentence relative to the stated intent of the Biden Administration’s subject and propagandist executive orders about “climate change,” “Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” and, “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” (3.).
“[Stacey Morris, who is Director of Research for midstream index and data provider Alerian] added that some states that could be most impacted longer term are New Mexico, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Colorado. In the long run, she said that a ban on drilling on federal land could lead to more imports. In that case we could end up using oil that is produced with more associated carbon emissions than if it had been produced in the U.S.” (3.).
The resulting effects of these actions alleging to tackle climate change, is making it worse, but I digress.
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Back to the DJIA.
Biden will get even more "credit" when fiat-EBT money, “SNAP” benefits (4., 5.), continues to enter the economy, and financially benefits those DJIA companies, through illegal-alien consumer purchases, which also includes driving the housing industry.
Just ask yourself, where do you put 15 million trespassers? Again, I digress.
In addition to federal aid … cough, cough … “[t]hese efforts, while helpful, were not sufficient to meet the need or to address the longstanding racial disparities in access to care, support, and opportunities. Understanding that our lives, health, and economic security are interconnected, several states are expanding access to health care for immigrants and are exploring new strategies for ensuring that all community members can thrive” (5.).
Interim-summary, there are billions of dollars of fiat-EBT money pouring into the U.S. economy. These are monies that were created with paper and printer ink, not labor and the resulting collected tax revenue. It is unsustainable debt.
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So sure, the performance of the DJIA as a metric, a, “a gauge of the broader U.S. economy” (1.)., is performing historically well, but at what expense? This editorial is not a complaint about capitalism, this is a dissection of the abuse of the U.S. immigration system by a rogue government. Understanding the performance of the DJIA, is a matter of understanding where you fall economically during times like these – pun intended – which are reflected in disproportionate class outcomes.
If the lower-economic demographic segments of society are getting excessive federal and State benefits, and the wealthiest are inherently insulated from excess taxation, the average middle-class American citizen – the lawful taxpayer – is paying the ultimate and lion’s share of the price.
Consumer prices are up because of inflation, causally in great part a result of the downrange effects of poor policy decisions starting with the immediate adverse actions by this Administration against the oil & gas industries. Additionally, part of the performance of the companies underlying the DJIA, is a risk premium for market uncertainty, basically resulting in big companies making windfall profits, while lower and middle-class consumers see relatively stagnant wage growth (6.), but considerable higher inflation (7.), and consumer prices (8.), since Biden was installed … cough, cough … I mean, “took” Office … cough, cough … I mean, got elected.
The larger companies will reasonably always make profit margins regardless of where prices are, including mass layoffs if necessary to get there. Then there are how those prices affect a consumer's income proportionately, which is currently at great cost, a very high proportion of income goes towards living expenses.
For example, listening to Mark Levin discuss U.S. economic conditions specific to inflation, yesterday on, “Mark Levin Audio Rewind,” The Mark Levin Show, on AM radio, Thursday, February 22, 2024, starting at approximately 00:30:00 (9.). Levin was reporting that household food costs were at their highest proportion of household income in thirty-three (33) years, since 1991 (9.) According to that reporting, in 1991, U.S. consumers spent 11.40% of their disposable income on food, while in 2022, U.S. consumers were spending 11.30% of their disposable income on food (9.).
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The entire fiat currency system is at risk of collapse due to the excessive printing of an over-leveraged U.S. dollar, monopoly money at this point, on top of excessive federal debt.
Though I am bullish on America, that we can and will pull out of it, that will not happen under this Administration, and certainly not after four more years of Biden’s anti-American policies.
Sure, "America" will ultimately survive if Biden “wins” … cough, cough … in November, but it will be their version of it. It will not be pretty; it will be a nationwide banana Republic, Mafia-run, with geographic pockets of Conservative resistance, and a lot of Gotham City, and Mad Max, outcomes mixed in – a real dystopian reality.
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Regarding illegal immigration and its cultural and economic impact on the country, there have been 7,550,836 “Southwest Land Border Encounters,” FYI2021-FYI2024 (January 2024, or, Biden Election and inauguration-to-date), as reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and 9,155,458 “Total Enforcement Actions” (10., 11.). Since the beginning of the Biden Administration, another 1.7 million illegals have been confirmed, as of March 2023, but the actual number of total “gotaways” could be as much as twenty (20) percent higher, or plus 340,000, totaling approximately 2,040,000, through March 2023 (12.). Extrapolated over approximately the following year, would add another 816,000, or 2,856,000 total gotaways – Biden-Administration-to-date. A more likely accurate number of total trespassers under Biden, would be a number floating around 12,011,458 (10., 11., 12.), or 4.03% of the 2024 U.S. population of 336,091,577 (13.). By the end of FYI2024, this number will be floating around 15,443,303, or 5.19% of the U.S population.
Four (4) more years of this, and we will be looking at about 1-in-10, or 10%+ of the U.S. population, at minimum, of people on the streets, in our country, will have just been led across the U.S. southern border and indentured by Biden-enabled criminal cartels in that hypothetical eight-year period. Few of whom will care about the historical system of freedom born out of the bloodshed of war, that drew them here in the first place. They will have been living off the fiat-welfare system that fed them when they arrived, and again, on the backs of American taxpayers.
The reality is that, even a culturally, economically, and militarily, degraded America is a better land of opportunity for them than from where these millions came. It is self-evident, otherwise, why come? It is an America that is good enough, and one shouldered on the backs of others.
Then GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s 2016 Election win, stopped what was already happening in Europe during that time, forced global mass migration. Had then Democrat Party presidential candidate Hillary R. Clinton won, we would have already been seven years into this invasion, which is really a lawless transformation of America into a quasi-welfare State.
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Biden: Mhe, “Make America [Good Enough …].”
- Matfucius
1.) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/djia.asp
2.) https://www.barrons.com/market-data/indexes/djia?fbclid=IwAR0obCjKb8UUFediwdgw3fUMWE5VDKDHBPl7-kj56GsvVAESHE19s5BrMFc
3.) https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2021/01/29/how-president-bidens-executive-orders-impact-the-oil-industry/?sh=28090a0f4ef4
4.) https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility/citizen/non-citizen-policy
5.) https://www.nilc.org/issues/economic-support/overview-immeligfedprograms/
6.) https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wage-growth
7.) https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/core-inflation-rate
8.) https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/consumer-price-index-cpi
9.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lIv9S8FdSk
10.) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters
11.) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics
12.) https://homeland.house.gov/2023/12/20/border-sector-chiefs-confirm-operational-impacts-of-border-chaos-increased-gotaways-closed-checkpoints-and-empowered-cartels/
13.) https://www.census.gov/popclock/