The White House posted a list of 'accomplishments' for Thanksgiving table debates. We're debunking each one
On November 23rd, numerous White House officials started circulating something…strange…on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/JenMolina46/status/1595405606365630468 https://twitter.com/WHCOS/status/1595414110438662144
The image presented “President Biden’s Top Accomplishments” and provided a subtitle that read, “for when chatting with your Uncle at Thanksgiving.”
Never mind the notion that a person should actually arrive at their family’s Thanksgiving with this attitude (ready to duke it out over politics with their loved ones). This is certifiably cracked. And aside from the point that a person who requires such a list to defend their views is likely so removed from actual political activism that they should probably stay out of debates altogether. The list is sheer propaganda, and it’s easily debunked by anyone who has taken the time to be informed in order to form their opinions.
Because we know you, dear BASEDPolitics readers, are the latter, here’s a quick debunking of each of the image’s claimed “accomplishments” by the Biden Administration.
Disclaimer: We advise you to just spend time loving your family and behaving like a normal person this holiday, but if anyone comes to the table with this list, you’ll be prepared.
Claim One: Tackling Inflation & Lowering Costs
This is perhaps the most bald-faced lie on the list. It’s so blatantly untrue, and so easily disproven, you have to almost be impressed that they tried it.
The Biden Administration is directly responsible for the skyrocketing inflation we’ve experienced over the past year. Predictably, their American Rescue Plan—which pumped almost $2 trillion into the economy on the heels of lockdowns and stimulus checks—is what launched the soaring prices we’ve all experienced. Even left-wing publications have had to acknowledge that.
This segment also claims that Biden has reduced gas prices, saying they fell by $1.35 since June. While this is true, context makes all the difference. Prices fell by $1.35 from June when the national average had shot up to almost $5/gallon. For comparison, when Trump left office, the average price was $2.39/gallon. So prices are still way higher for gas under Biden, and that’s directly because of his policies. His administration has shut down pipelines, refused to renew offshore drilling leases, banned Russian oil imports, and basically limited supply at every turn.
The one true claim under this “accomplishment” on the list is that Biden brought down the price of hearing aids. We commended this action here, as he did so by making a rare pro-capitalist move by allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter (aka cutting regulations and red tape).
Claim Two: Took on Big Pharma - and Won - Lowering Prescription Drug and Healthcare Costs
To back up this claim, the administration claims it achieved this outcome by capping annual out of pocket prescription drug costs, capping insulin co-payments, and lowering health insurance premiums for Americans who buy health insurance through the government.
Whoo boy.
First of all, government insurance is heavily subsidized by us. So if they reduced premiums for those on it, it just means we’re picking up more of the costs.
Furthermore, the Biden Administration has leaned heavily on price caps, and they believe such policies will make healthcare more “affordable.” But history and economics 101 would beg to differ. Price caps succeed at doing one thing and one thing only: creating shortages.
It isn’t hard to see why. Price is merely a signal of scarcity - and when you try to centrally plan it via government edict - messages in the market get highly scrambled. When demand stays equal, or even increases because a product has been mandated to be cheaper, you have a run on a good while at the same time suppliers lose their incentive to make more of it because they can’t make as much money. More people chasing a smaller supply of goods leads to shortages.
Price controls are a favorite of meddling government officials who make products expensive in the first place thanks to their bad policies (please refer back to point #1). But you can’t bend reality to excuse your bad ideas for long, it will snap back and slap you in short order. Prices need to be able to move naturally with supply and demand to ensure we have enough goods and services—especially in life-determining fields like healthcare.
For the record, many have predicted these actions will lead to far fewer drugs being available to patients and will ultimately make healthcare more expensive.
Not to mention the fact that Biden in no way, shape, or form “took on” Big Pharma. The opposite–he was basically their top spokesperson. He violated civil liberties and basic bodily autonomy by mandating millions of Americans take a COVID vaccine they were not comfortable with—even to the extent of trying to have people fired from their jobs if they refused to comply. And he used his bully pulpit to consistently shill for vaccines as well. This man made Big Pharma beaucoups.
Claim Three: Worked with Republicans to Rebuild America's Infrastructure
It is true that the Biden Administration managed to pass a $1 trillion, bipartisan infrastructure bill last year. They wanted a lot more, initially tying this to their atrocious Build Back Better bill but ultimately had to separate the two.
While infrastructure spending is one of the few types of spending libertarians like me can sometimes agree to, this bill was hardly just that. And it also contributed to inflation by spending money without cutting spending elsewhere all while our deficit was already ballooning.
Additionally, rather than just directing money towards airports, bridges, roads, and investments that enable high speed internet development, this bill spent a lot of money on public transportation (always a money loser and only accessible to a small percentage of the population), and gave $7.5 billion to try to push everyone into electric vehicles.
Granted, it could have been a lot worse had progressives gotten their wishlist for this bill. But as is, it's a mixed bag.
Claim Four: Worked with Republicans to Make More in America, by Passing the CHIPS AND SCIENCE ACT
Most Americans are not familiar with the CHIPS Act, but it was among the biggest L’s of the year. Meant to address the chip shortage in the country, which is impacting the supply chain for everything from cars to computers to cameras, the bill is a $52 billion misstep.
The core argument behind the legislation is that China controls too much of the chip market and the US needs to resume production domestically so as to not be vulnerable to an increasingly aggressive communist country. Ok, yes, agreed so far.
But the solution to that would be to obviously make it easier and more affordable to make things in the US—which requires cutting regulations, taxes, immigration controls, and other red tape. That’s not what this bill does at all. Instead, it’s a bunch of corporate welfare that forces taxpayers to front the bill for the government’s pet companies. Terrible public policy.
Claim Five: Brought Together Republicans and Democrats to Pass the First Meaningful Gun Safety Legislation in Nearly 30 Years
To back up this statement they claim they removed firearms from dangerous individuals, expanded mental healthcare in schools, and supported school safety by narrowing the “boyfriend loophole” to keep guns out of the hands of convicted dating partners.
These are pretty fluffy examples and for a reason: the Biden administration’s bonkers anti-gun agenda has failed (because again, it’s bonkers).
And thank God for that because, as we’ve detailed here, here, and here, guns save far more lives than they take. Gun control fails, consistently, to make a meaningful difference in preventing violence while also turning people into sitting ducks. Read this comprehensive piece against gun control here.
Claim Six: Despite Global Challenges, We’re Making Progress
This one is a doozy, so we’ll just go line by line through their talking points.
10 million jobs created, unemployment near record lows
Yes, unemployment is currently really low. Though all indications point to that changing soon as the Federal Reserve needs to put 3 to 5 million people out of work in the near future to actually get a hold of inflation.
And you can’t claim to have created 10 million jobs when the bulk of those are just jobs coming back from when you SHUT DOWN THE ECONOMY FOR OVER A YEAR.
On top of those factors, the Biden Administration is working overtime to shut down freelance work in the country, which would impact 70 million people. They’re doing this at the behest of labor unions and crony corporations, and it’s one of the most vile attacks on individual liberty occurring at the moment.
More Small Businesses Launching Than Ever Before
The lockdowns and corporate welfare spending under the stimulus acts pummeled small businesses and were the largest wealth transfer from the working class to corporations in history. You can’t celebrate the entity you initially crushed being able to put itself back together, dude.
Furthermore, as I detailed in this comprehensive piece, the Biden Administration is waging a massive war on small businesses via antitrust legislation, the FTC, and other subversions to the Bill of Rights.
Rallied the world in defense of Ukraine
Yes, you’ve involved the US in an unconstitutional proxy war, shipped billions of our dollars we desperately need here overseas, paid off their debt instead of our own, helped create a global energy crisis, and destabilized global peace.
Great going, my dude.
No taxes on people making under $400,000 (they have a typo here that says “above,” but we think this is what they meant)
This is another bold faced lie. Inflation is in and of itself a tax and it is hitting the low and working classes the hardest.
Claim Seven: Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are EXTREME
To back this up they say their opponents are pushing a total ban on abortion (a few are, and that is extreme), trying to cut Social Security and Medicare (we WISH as they’re insolvent and we’d all be better off keeping our money, but there’s no real evidence of this), and trying to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act (good, because the bill’s name is misleading and it does nothing of the sort).
While these points are highly debatable, the other side being “extreme” isn’t a good talking point—especially when your own side is equally off its rocker as detailed here.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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