WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2023
A sign of a bad economy: Friend, have President Biden and his "Bidenomics" produced a good economy?
Within our blue tribe, we're constantly told that the answer is yes. Beyond that, we're told that it's hard to know why so many people tell pollsters something different.
We expect to explore these questions in more detail next week. It seems to us that this may be one of the areas where blue tribe pundits have possibly agreed to wallow in a bit of incomprehension.
It seems clear to us that our tribe is wallowing in incomprehension with respect to immigration issues. On Fox, the border is flogged around the clock. Within our own blue tribe, we pretend that it doesn't exist.
We expect to explore both topics next week. For today, let's focus on that original topic. How good is the Biden economy? Also. why do so many blue tribe voters give it a lousy grade?
On the front page of yesterday's New York Times, Lydia DePillis explored those very questions. Before long, she offered one of the strangest anecdotal examples we have ever seen.
Why do so many Biden voters "say they’re not impressed with the economy?" Here's the anecdote DePillis offered:
DEPILLIS (11/28/23): The demographics of Mr. Biden’s 2020 supporters may explain part of his challenge now: They were on balance younger, had lower incomes and were more racially diverse than Mr. Trump’s. Those groups tend to be hit hardest by inflation, which has yet to return to 2020 levels, and high interest rates, which have frustrated first-time home buyers and drained the finances of those dependent on credit.
[...]
Mackenzie Kiser, 20, and Lawson Millwood, 21, students at the University of North Georgia, managed to buy a house this year. Mr. Millwood’s income as an information-technology systems administrator at the university was enough to qualify, and they worried that affordability would only worsen if they waited because of rising interest rates and prices. Still, the experience left a bitter taste.
“The housing market is absolutely insane,” said Ms. Kiser, who wasn’t old enough to vote in 2020 but leans progressive. “We paid the same for our one-story, one-bedroom cinder-block 1950s house as my mom paid for her three-story, four-bedroom house less than a decade ago.”
Are we reading that correctly? A pair of undergraduates, ages 20 and 21, actually went out and bought a house—while they're still in college! Somehow, this is supposed to help us see why so many Biden supporters think the economy isn't real strong!
Let's go over that again:
At the ages of 20 and 21, before they even got out of college, they actually bought a house!
That said, Kiser's mother allegedly got a better deal on a different house nine years ago. On that basis, the undergraduate Home Alone Two feel like they got a bad deal!
Single anecdotes are almost always pointless, of course. But with regard to this report, we'll ask you to riddle us this:
Does that basic story make sense? Are housing prices so out of control that a "one-story, one-bedroom cinderblock 1950s house" actually costs more than a four-bedroom house cost less than a decade ago?
Our first reaction would be this. If that's really what it takes to buy one of These Cinderblock Houses Today, then the economy does seem to be awful!
On the other hand, Lawson and Kiser were able to buy their house thanks to his job as a college kid! The economy must be great!
Does that example really make sense? Is that what cinderblocks actually cost?
Meanwhile, we worked on dorm crew back in college. Should we have taken our $23 and bought a four-bedroom Cape Cod?
More insights from the kids: Why did their cinderblock cost so much? When DePillis asked, Kiser answered:
DEPILLIS (continuing directly): Ms. Kiser doesn’t think Mr. Biden has done much to help the economy, and she worries he’s too old to be effective. But Mr. Trump isn’t more appealing on that front.
“It’s not that I think that anybody of a different party could do better, but more that someone with their mental faculties who’s not retirement age could do a better job,” Ms. Kiser said. “Our choices are retirement age or retirement age, so it’s rock and a hard place right now.”
According to Kiser, if Biden had his mental faculties, they could have purchased more house!
So it goes, on page 1A, as the New York Times spans the globe. For the record, we have no idea if that anecdote actually makes any sense.
Some people look at anecdotes, some look at metrics. There are millions of anecdotes, so it's easy to select one to support your point of view. If you look at the metrics, the economy is doing spectacularly well, especially when considering that it is recovering from a pandemic.
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DeleteYou've got employment less than 4%, inflation about 4% and dropping, and GDP growth at about 5% (which I cannot believe is sustainable, and has to moderate to 2-3% at most).
ReplyDeleteThe news just keeps getting better. Inflation rate down to 3.2%.
DeleteUNemployment less than 4%
ReplyDeleteSo, New York Times business page is useless.
ReplyDeleteWhat else is new?
If Somerby really wanted Bidn to win, he would answer some of his own questions to point out how unfair the press is to Biden.
ReplyDeleteCollege students should be able to afford mansions. Most can't. That's not Speaker Mike Johnson's fault. It's not Leader Mitch McConnell's fault. It's not Chief Justice John Roberts' fault. It sure as heck isn't former president Donald Trump's fault.
ReplyDeleteIt's President Joe Biden's fault. Thanks for reading this comment. I am Korbi.
Korbi spells his name with a tiny heart over the i.
DeleteIn what world does someone who works on "dorm crew" (whatever that is) get paid as much as someone who works in IT?
ReplyDeleteIf you don’t know what dorm crew is, how do you know it isn’t as valuable as IT?
DeleteTrust me, it is some sort of dorm maintenance job requiring no expertise or training. You can’t call them cleaning ladies because these are the sons of society’s elite.
DeleteThat sounds more valuable than IT.
Delete“ information-technology systems administrator”
DeleteI did this in college as well, it’s a fancy title for data entry, like “custodial engineer” for janitor.
I was on the dorm crew when I was in college, and now I make $750 a day at home in my spare time.
DeleteThis has to be one of the stupidest essays I've read here in a long time. Houses cost different amounts in different parts of the country and also in different neighborhoods within a single city. Property near universities tends to cost more than in the suburbs or in a semi-rural area wherever this anecdotal kid's mother lived. Somerby knows that -- he lived in Palo Alto for God's sake! We had this discussion back when Somerby suggested that those "little boxes on the hillside" made of ticky tacky were worker housing and not for the middle class (he was wrong, just based on the song lyrics).
ReplyDeleteSomerby selected this anecdote for post about and he has decided it means something weird about housing or the economy, but he doesn't quite say what and he isn't interested in seriously discussing any topic, except that perhaps [liberal] college students have wrong expectations, but do they really? What a huge waste of time this is!
The NYT published it. Bob thinks that means something weird about the media.
DeleteYes, I think Somerby is suggesting that the reason blue tribe voters believe the economy is bad is because they read pointless anecdotes like this one in media outlets like The NY Times.
DeleteThe Freedom Caucus accepts the current level of spending.
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/freedom-caucus-caves-in-on-spending/
Bob is on solid ground here. An obvious question about the story is ignored by the journalists.
ReplyDeleteNitpicking journalism isn’t helpful unless it suggests some larger problem with the media. That’s where Somerby always fails to make a case.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:46pm, Bob was successfully making the case about the media when anonymices thought he was doing a fine job on behalf of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. He’s still doing that now.
DeleteTDH has argued that the media’s willingness to sell us soap power is bad for both parties and that it would result in his own side being dumbed down, rather than just those other guys.
That’s when Bob started to fail in your eyes.
Since then, your vision has diminished to the point of benightedness.
What is soap power?
DeleteHe started to fail when he tried to sell liberals on Trump instead of Hillary.
DeleteAnonymouse 5:37am, it’s what they sell us.
DeleteThe media sells us what it sells us. Good to know. Thanks, Cecelia.
DeleteHenry Kissinger has died. I am Corby, not Korbi.
ReplyDeleteErik Loomis reviews Kissinger’s career:
Deletehttps://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/11/kissinger-is-dead-finally-something-good-has-happened-in-2023
At least his suffering is over, hard to imagine what kind of trauma he went through to turn into such a ghoul of a human; the suffering he caused will live on.
DeleteRussians, including Putin, liked Kissinger.
Deletehttps://www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-praises-henry-kissinger-wise-pragmatic-statesman-2023-11-30/
Since the big win for Dems this November, Somerby’s tone has shifted to a slightly kinder and gentler one. For now…
ReplyDeleteI agree that Biden's polling is nothing to worry about and that his popularity was a driving factor in the big win for Dems this November.
DeleteYou’re pretty much spot on with the polling, since the polling inaccuracy was recently exposed.
DeleteBiden’s popularity is a non issue, regardless of how unpopular Biden is, voters are still motivated to come out and vote blue, largely due to issues like abortion and Trump’s corruption.
The fun thing about Biden is that opinions about his age and ability are only going to get better and better as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteThings are looking up in Ukraine though. It has been reported that the Ukrainian Army has advanced 10 feet.
DeleteIf Biden loses it because of his age, and starts babbling bigoted statements, will Republican voters write him in as their Presidential nominee?
DeleteI'd say only if Biden's bigoted statements are really, really bad.
Ukraine is racking up outsized wins by slowly gaining back territory but also by causing devastating losses to Russian troops and equipment.
DeleteIt would be more amazing, except for the context of Russia in fact being nothing more than a paper tiger, really any nation at this point could defeat Russia, with marginal effort.