We were told to lower our expectations by The Washington Post, and that’s certainly the story of the latest GDP numbers.
Expectations were missed by a full 25 percent, as the third quarter figure came out to just 2.0 percent growth in what is supposed to be an organic recovery. That’s down a whopping 70 percent from the 6.7 percent the country saw in the second quarter. Consider this another “let them eat ice cream” moment for the Biden administration.
This follows a string of bad economic news, including the current supply-chain crisis which is only furthering the inflation issues hitting middle-class families. As RedState previously reported, inflation hit 5.4% year over year last month, which represented a 13-year high. High-volume items for consumers like gas and meat products helped lead the way on higher prices, putting a strain on budgets across the nation. The jobs market has also stumbled recently, with expectations being missed by wide margins at times.
What’s so infuriating about all this is how preventable it was. Had the president not kneecapped the energy sector and supported job-crushing “reforms” like AB5 (something Biden now wants at the federal level), which has California’s port industry melting down, the recovery would be moving apace. The hysterical messaging on COVID-19 has not helped either. Florida’s ports are booming without major delays, because they did things differently on both fronts.
This supply chain crisis could be solved. The energy crisis could be solved. The jobs crisis could be solved. But it would take a mentally capable president who is willing to do things that work, instead of doing things that please the far-left.
In response, you are starting to see concern from even Biden’s biggest allies. CNN fretted about the stagnating economy this morning.
They shouldn’t be shocked. This was all predicted by people who bothered to pay attention. Economies grow when the government largely gets out of the way. But Biden wanted to be FDR and “fundamentally” change how our economy works. Well, we are getting a taste of what that looks like. I can’t imagine any of it is playing well with voters.