$354 More Each Month

That may seem like a lot, or a little, but for the average American worker, it is pretty good. And did you know (I didn’t) that according to Katie Porter, the brilliant Congresswoman with the famous whiteboard, whose figures are almost never even contested, that this additional amount is what the American worker is averaging since the beginning of the Biden Administration? $354 more each month, even allowing for inflation?

Of course not, because the media not only never tells us, but they are obviously engaged in an unceasing disinformation campaign, to make it look like the average American cannot make ends meet, because of inflation, for which they of course blame Biden. Now of course inflation is not ideal, and 7% inflation year over year is too high, even when it is offset by a gain of 5.5% in GDP, which we have. But note that the 7% is compared to a year ago, not rising 7% each month, as is implied. If inflation in the price of food is 7%, that means that a family which spent $800 a month on food a year ago, is now paying $856. But again, even allowing for inflation, the average worker has $354 more at the end of the month.

Porter pointed out that of the G-7 countries, the world’s most advanced economies, none outside of the United States even has reached a positive gain in GDP since the pandemic. I do remember when Trump had one quarter of 4% gain, in his second year, and his people were going wild with celebration, before it sank down to 1.5% or so. But 5.5% under Biden is ignored, or even hidden, by the American media.

The most important factor in someone’s economic situation, is how much money he or she has in pocket each month, with inflation taken into account. $354 means about $4248 more per year. Not a bonanza, but most would take it. A raise of $4,000 in a year is good for most people; and this is on average, so the workers making $30,000 a year might be getting something like a 10% raise, as I assume that the average of $354 skews to a somewhat higher median wage.

This is not nirvana, but it is darn good for most. And yet the media would have you think that people are being submerged by the economy. The Republicans pretend that, and it is a lie. The media is either too obtuse or too deliberately biased against Democrats to tell the truth. I didn’t even know that figure, though I knew that the GDP growth was 5.5%.

Does it not greatly anger one to know that every single day, on virtually every single news show, the story is the “dreadful economy,” and all those people who are furious at Biden for the inflation, and the fact that they cannot make ends meet? Well, the economy is almost never ideal, and we do have further to go. But it is hardly a miserable economy, with unemployment down to 3.9%, job growth this year at 6.3 million, and an average of $354 more a month, allowing for inflation, in the average worker’s pocket.

So we are being duped. We are being sold lies for a certain purpose. This is worse than we have even seen before. This is an iron curtain of falsity. If a Republican wins the White House, will the media make up numbers, hide others, and pretend that the Dear Leader is doing a wonderful job?

If we cannot believe the mainstream media even with things as objective as economic data, then what can we believe them on? How can they live with themselves, the anchors and field reporters, who get on the air every day, and are basically giving us Republican corporate and right-wing propaganda? This is the converse of the upbeat lies told to Iron Curtain citizens, and in Orwell’s “1984.” I don’t think that I am making too much of this.

Porter also noted that if we passed a few of the things in the BBB bills, we would save hundreds of billions of dollars, but that all the focus is on the initial cost. There is Joe Manchin complaining about costs every day, and inflation; and the Republicans put up a bill which says that the government cannot spend anything more on any social program until the rate of inflation is below 4.5%. I well remember when the rate of inflation was low, but wages were completely stagnant, with the average American not getting anywhere financially, but did the media make a big deal out of that? Absolutely not.

For many years, the corporations which owned most but not all of the major newspapers, kept selling their story that government could not spend, that social programs were bankrupting the country; that businesses should be able to have a very low tax rate, because they were the “job creators” which were keeping the country afloat. And that the average people should buy, buy, buy, because that made the economy grow (put more money in the rich businessmen’s pockets). And now we get this same line every hour from every news outlet, and those awful outfits like Axios, The Hill, and Politico, which are all run by right-wing money, but pretend to be neutral observers fascinated by the “horse race” aspect of things.

I would like to see Katie Porter on TV every day, giving the economic facts, and explaining them. Put someone from the other side against her, she will run rings around him. I would actually like to see Adam Schiff and Porter as President and VP, in whatever order, but they are both from California, so they could not be. Some people are going to have to get through to the the average American workers and voters, and tell them the truth. Because the media, with very rare exception, such as Lawrence O’Donnell, who had Porter on his show tonight, is not telling them those truths, and are obviously trying to put the Republicans and their big corporate supporters back in power. And I think that this should be talked about every day, all of it, the facts and the lies.