Category: Economics

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Congress Economics GOP WTF?!

Republicans Mocked For Claiming It Takes ‘Your Whole Paycheck’ To Eat At The Cheesecake Factory

Did you know that if you decide to have lunch or dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in New York, your tab will likely use up your entire paycheck?

You didn’t know that? There’s a good reason you didn’t: Because it’s a blatant lie.

And yet, that lie is being peddled by House Republicans on social media, with a posting from the House Judiciary Committee.

So let’s take a few minutes to deconstruct and debunk the numerous lies in that tweet.

Flying to New York affordably is still possible, with a fare from Atlanta to the Big Apple costing less than $150. According to Expedia, you can do so for as little as $111.

As for getting robbed in Times Square, the latest crime figures from New York show that major crimes are down, with nearly 500 fewer major crimes in April of this year when compared to 2023.

Hotels overrun with illegal aliens? Also a lie, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams issuing an eviction order for such residences in January.

That brings us to the cost of eating at the Cheesecake Factory in New York, where a quick look at the menu shows you can have a Bistro Burger for $17.95, which is certainly not the average American’s pay for the month or even for a week.

It didn’t take long for online mockery to reach a fever pitch.

Categories
Business Donald Trump Economics Elections GOP

J.D. Vance Gets Busted For Lying Like A Rug About Trump’s Record On Jobs And Tariffs

Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance got a brutal fact-check on live television earlier today when he attempted to lie about job creation and tariffs on imports during an appearance on Face the Nation.

Vance, who is also a leading contender to be former president Donald Trump’s running mate in this year’s election, was asked by host Margaret Brennan how more tariffs would make American products less expensive.

“So how is the Trump-Vance idea here going to help make things more affordable for people if you’re putting taxes on goods they’re purchasing from overseas?” she inquired.

“Well, I don’t necessarily buy the premise there, Margaret,” Vance responded. “If you apply tariffs, really what it is is you’re saying that we’re going to penalize you for using slave labor in China and importing that stuff in the United States.”

“What you end up doing is you end up making more stuff in America, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, and in Michigan,” he insisted.

“That did not happen in the Trump administration, though,” Brennan noted.

“Well, it actually did happen in the Trump administration, Margaret,” Vance claimed. “Manufacturing jobs came back.”

Nope. That’s not even remotely true.

As a matter of fact, manufacturing jobs have just begun to come back in large numbers since President Joe Biden was elected, with PolitiFact noting that some 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been added since he took office:

  • Official federal data shows President Joe Biden, in office 45 months, is right on the number of manufacturing jobs created, although presidents do not control the economy single-handedly.
  • The first three-quarters of those job gains represented a return to pre-recession levels.
  • Comparing historical patterns 45 months out from a recession’s onset reveals Biden-era manufacturing employment to be the strongest in 72 years, and the second strongest since the end of World War II.

Trump, on the other hand, saw massive losses in the manufacturing sector, due in large part to the tariffs he imposed on China, Politico reported in September 2020.

Four years after he won the Midwest by vowing to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing workforce, President Donald Trump is campaigning for reelection on a job well done. The numbers tell a different story.

Trump’s anti-trade agenda and a pandemic-induced recession have combined to shutter factories and accelerate decades-old trends toward automation, eliminating hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs, many for good, including in the Rust Belt states he needs to win in November.

The Biden-Harris campaign also joined in fact-checking Sen. Vance, who is willing to kiss Trump’s fat ass 24/7 if he thinks it will secure him a spot on the 2024 GOP ticket.

Nice try, senator, but you’re just as full of shit as the lying rapist you’re praying will choose you to be his VP.

Categories
Congress Economics GOP Taxation

WATCH A CNBC Host Tell Kevin McCarthy He’s A Hypocrite For Refusing To Repeal The Trump Tax Cuts

CNBC host Sara Eisen repeatedly asked Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) why he’s refusing to repeal the Trump tax cuts as part of the ongoing debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

McCarthy was in New York to discuss the debt ceiling and stabilizing financial markets, and he wondered if Eisen would allow the country to continue to tax and spend: “Would you just raise the limit?”

Eisen replied, “Well, if it meant playing with America’s standing and full faith and credit of U.S. government debt, I feel like you can deal with the spending in other ways, which is totally legitimate.”

When McCarthy said debt can only be reduced with massive spending cuts, Eisen wondered, “You did it (raised the debt ceiling) three times in the Trump administration.”

The Speaker protested, “We never raised the debt ceiling by itself.”

Eisen: “And tax cuts. That was like $2 trillion in deficit.”

When McCarthy said those tax cuts had been good for the economy, Eisen countered, “So I was going to ask you about taxes because I wonder, because you want to extend the Trump tax cuts, correct? But isn’t that a little hypocritical when you’re talking about finding savings everywhere and being on an unsustainable fiscal path?”

In response, McCarthy resorted to his favorite trick: He lied.

“How’s that hypocritical when it’s bringing tax cuts, tax savings? I will always advocate for the idea that we are streamlining our tax policies, that we’re also streamlining our regulation.”

Someone please explain the basics of economics to Kevin McCarthy. It’s clear he has no damn idea what he’s talking about.

Here’s the video from CNBC:

Categories
Economics Fox News

WATCH Fed Chairman Powell Dress Down A Fox Reporter For His BS Claims About Inflation

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell set a reporter from Fox Business straight on the basics of the U.S. economy and inflation Wednesday during a press conference.

During the press conference, reporter Edward Lawrence suggested that government spending was partially responsible for inflation, remarking:

“Inflation has been rather sticky, so do you need help from the fiscal side to get inflation down faster?” 

Powell replied:

“We don’t give advice to the fiscal authorities, and we assume that we take fiscal policy as it comes to our front door, stick it in our model along with a million other things, and we have responsibility for price stability. And we will get inflation down to 2% in time.”

Lawrence tried again to link spending to inflation:

“But the spending that’s happened is working against what you are doing, right? So it’s prolonging inflation?”

That led Powell to dress down Edwards:

Categories
Economics Fox News The Trump Adminstration

Karine Jean-Pierre Sets Peter Doocy Straight When He Whines Biden Is ‘Bragging’ On Falling Gas Prices

Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy absolutely hates when good news arrives for President Joe Biden and the administration, as proved today when he whined that the president had been “bragging” on falling gas prices earlier in the day.

Specifically, the president noted:

“You know, we’ve seen some progress. Gas prices are coming down. They’re down almost a dollar a gallon where—from where they were just a month ago.”

That led Doocy to ask White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

“Why is the president bragging today about gas prices?”

The press secretary responded:

“Because it’s gone down.”

Doocy:

“It’s still $1.72 higher than when he took office.”

Jean-Pierre:

“It is come down in a way that we haven’t seen–its trajectory coming down in over a decade.”

The Fox reporter continued to press:

“So, over $4 a gallon, is that good?”

Jean-Pierre:

“You want to talk to a nurse or a teacher or a firefighter if having that little bit of breathing room doesn’t matter to them?”

Still trying to provoke Jean-Pierre, Doocy asked:

“Are nurses and teachers and firefighters saying, ‘Gas prices are only $4.11?'”

That’s when Jean-Pierre shut down Doocy with facts:

“I’m saying that even that little bit of breathing room matters to families, especially during the summer when people are traveling, when people are trying to do what they can for their families.”

She then added:

“To say that the changes, the drop that we have seen at the pump per gallon does not matter, I think that is wrong. I think that is not true and I think that does give a little bit of space and breathing room for families and is important.”