All research and comments courtesy of Christoph Cording
This is a post that has shown up several times on my timeline from Trump supporters embittered still by the election results. (all things in parentheses are my notes added to the post based on my own research. Feel free to check the data yourselves; I strive for factual reporting, and would like to be corrected with evidence, if I am wrong)
"For
all of you Biden voters, I am making this post so it will show back up as a future memory on my timeline:
- Today is 8 days after Biden electoral confirmation (1/20/21 at the time when I first saw this). Gas is currently $2.69 per gallon (US average is actually $2.386 according to AAA, so not sure where they got that number. The first time I saw this post was from a friend in Nebraska, where that average is $2.15 according to NDEE's website. The second and third times, they listed gas at $1.96 and $2.08, so not sure why they seem to be making it up when it's so easy to look up). Interest rates are 2.95 percent for a 30 year mortgage (interest rates are different depending on the lender, location, etc., and I couldn't find any direct, averaged information on this, and the poster didn't know where the number came from, either)
- The stock market closed at 30829.40 though we have been fighting COVID for 11 months (the market was still open at the time of this original posting, and it's actually higher now according to the current DOW listings, reportedly spiking as the election and inauguration increases investor confidence, and it has risen through Covid-19 thanks to government assistance and so many stocks being tech and housing, both of which are booming in a relocation-rich, locked-down, work-from-home pandemic. They don't mention that the stock market is a metric for how the rich are doing rather than indicative of the overall economy, which is in a global recession).
- Our GDP growth for the 3rd Qtr. was 33.1 percent (33.4, according to CNBC's website, so again, not sure why they're undercutting their own message, but maybe they had a different source. They didn't cite anything, but we'll come back to this).
- We had the best economy ever until COVID and it is recovering well (objective, just as 400,000 dead Americans sacrificed on the altar of the economy just feels a bad deal to me, anyway. Claiming that Trump is responsible for the great economy ignores the trends that had started in the last three years of the previous administration, where growth was about 2.3% and continued to grow until it hovered around 2.5% in the first three years of Trump. Coming back to the 33% GDP growth point, that was a rebound after a 33% GDP drop; it was -33.4% in the 2nd Quarter, giving it no place to go but up, so it's misleading. As for how we did compared to other countries, Neil Shearing, chief economist at Capital Economics, points out what the US did worse than China and someother Asian markets).
- We have not had any new wars or conflicts in the last 4 years (the assassination of a top Iranian general has reinvigorated Iran's opposition to the US, the Russians achieved another major hack of federal servers, the 2020 summer was all but defined by BLM protests against police brutality and murder, and there was an insurrection at the Capitol eight days ago). North Korea has been under control and has not been testing any missiles (since March 2, 2020, anyway, around when COVID-19 was popping up).
- ISIS has not been heard from for over 3 years (they've claimed murders in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Chechnya this month alone. Just because the US doesn't seem to be listening doesn't mean they "have not been heard from").
- The housing market is the strongest it has been in years (really had nowhere to go but up after the 2008 recession and housing market collapse, and the current rising prices are likely to lock out new buyers in the near future).
- Homes have appreciated at an unbelievable rate and sell well (both subjective statements, both made without citing sources, both entirely dependent on location, but I suppose ostensibly true, though prices now are likely to be too high and lock out prospective buyers while rents remain high).
- And let’s not forget that peace deals in the Middle East were signed by 4 countries—unprecedented! (Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt did formally recognize and normalize relations with Israel, an excellent step forward that also achieved the administration's goal of distracting from the continued failure to achieve the promised Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement)
- Unemployment sits at 6.7% in spite of COVID (it was 3.5%pre-pandemic. The "in spite of Covid" is deliberately misleading phrasing given that it doubled almost entirely because of Covid and millions are still out of work and losing their homes).
#Biden takes over on 1-20-21. Let's see how things line up in the next 4 years. (Other iterations of this post have said "Let's see how long it takes Biden to screw this up", an admittedly less bipartisan sentiment, but more honest in its directness, one must admit.)"
All research and comments courtesy of Christoph Cording
