Joe Biden stronger than ever, 101% strength and mental acuity

[BidenPresident]

Just curious gramps, just how old are you?

Old enough to know you're mentally incompetent.

[Lionfish]

Old enough to know you're mentally incompetent.

Just a guess here but I'd say very close to 90. Correct?

[BidenPresident]

Just a guess here but I'd say very close to 90. Correct?

You need to get your brain fixed.

[Geeko Sportivo]

Not that it matters for 1100 days. He's the big cheese no matter what.

Biden still jogs, works out, and rides his bicycle at every chance.

Can you see Trump ever doing anything except sitting on his fat ass- unless he is standing up at one of his clown show/Shit Show Trump speeches running his BIG FAT MOUTH- OR DRIVING ACROSS THE GREENS IN HIS GOLF CART BECAUSE HE CAN'T EVEN WALK THE DISTANCE OF A GOLF GREEN!

[Mina]

"Whip Smart"?

I'll grant that you don't need to be whip-smart to kick the ass of a doddering old fool like Trump, the way Biden did. Really, the average seventh-grader could have given Trump a serious beat-down, so that was no huge accomplishment when Biden did it. So, what's more impressive is Biden's performance in the various Democratic primary debates, where he was the foremost target of an array of candidates, including world-class wonks and a Rhodes scholar. Although Biden didn't utterly dominate them the way he did Trump, he did hold his own, which is impressive in its own right against such elite competition.

That's why it was so obvious that the right-wingers would wind up being humiliated when they bought into the "Biden's Locked in the Basement' talking point. If they'd just watched the Democratic primaries they'd KNOW Biden was about to destroy Trump in their debates, and they wouldn't have climbed out so far on that limb claiming he'd declined mentally. Biden's easy wins in those debates was something those of us outside the right-wing echo chamber saw coming a mile away, but it took the imbeciles totally by surprise, because they'd only seen what their media handlers wanted them to see.

[Lionfish]

You need to get your brain fixed.

90 plus how much?

[Lionfish]

I'll grant that you don't need to be whip-smart to kick the ass of a doddering old fool like Trump, the way Biden did. Really, the average seventh-grader could have given Trump a serious beat-down, so that was no huge accomplishment when Biden did it. So, what's more impressive is Biden's performance in the various Democratic primary debates, where he was the foremost target of an array of candidates, including world-class wonks and a Rhodes scholar. Although Biden didn't utterly dominate them the way he did Trump, he did hold his own, which is impressive in its own right against such elite competition.

That's why it was so obvious that the right-wingers would wind up being humiliated when they bought into the "Biden's Locked in the Basement' talking point. If they'd just watched the Democratic primaries they'd KNOW Biden was about to destroy Trump in their debates, and they wouldn't have climbed out so far on that limb claiming he'd declined mentally. Biden's easy wins in those debates was something those of us outside the right-wing echo chamber saw coming a mile away, but it took the imbeciles totally by surprise, because they'd only seen what their media handlers wanted them to see.

I am reading your post and it is all about the past. NOW tell us how great things are going for the average working American.
A list would be nice so we can discuss each item of improvement one at a time.

[Mina]

NOW tell us how great things are going for the average working American.

Sure. We have extraordinarily low unemployment right now, which has given working Americans like me incredible bargaining power against our employers. Not only is this driving up wages and convincing many employers to offer new and expanded benefits to try to hold onto people (e.g., more parental leave, tuition/student-loan assistance, etc.) but it's also resulted in a lot of them setting aside plans to force workers back into the office, giving us massive amounts of additional free time, thanks to no longer having commutes sucking away our time.

How about you? Has your employer boosted your pay and benefits? Are they more accommodating of flex time and work-from home arrangements?

[Lionfish]

Sure. We have extraordinarily low unemployment right now, which has given working Americans like me incredible bargaining power against out employers. Not only is this driving up wages and convincing many employers to offer new and expanded benefits to try to hold onto people (e.g., more parental leave, tuition/student-loan assistance, etc.) but it's also resulted in a lot of them setting aside plans to force workers back into the office, giving us massive amounts of additional free time, thanks to no longer having commutes sucking away our time.

How about you? Has your employer boosted your pay and benefits? Are they more accommodating of flex time and work-from home arrangements?

Have you tried to buy a car, fill a grocery cart, been able to find the materials needed to build a house let alone pay the 3x cost of wire if it is available at all, fed a newborn, put fuel in your vehicle, been to a fast-food restaurant and eaten for under a $10 bill, heated your home at the new 50% price increase, been able to find tires for your car, bought any meat lately, try living on a fixed income where not only are those individuals hampered by inflation but the value of their 401k's have tanked, waited in line for hours to do simple tasks at a government office, heard your top government officials say things like "things will get worse", "lower your expectations" expect rolling blackouts", "there will be food shortages", cargo ships are lined up for months waiting to be unloaded, everything involving the use of oil (which is most of the items we all use daily) are in short supply or unavailable, frickin printer paper is in and out of supply, and I am just getting started.

I had a liberal talk show on the radio yesterday and some idiot was mouthing the same crap you are and touting that the local Chicken Shack was now paying $16/hr and with the same breath tried to blame republicans because the bill for his 12 pieces of chicken was $18.

None of this shit did I hear during the Trump administration.

[Mina]

Have you tried to buy a car

No. Thanks to this fantastic shift of power to employees, I seldom have to drive to work, which is going to allow me to go a whole lot longer without buying a car. Based on the IRS mileage rate of $0.585 and a 25-mile drive each way, it's saving around $500/month, in reduced cost. If that continues for a year, that's going to be about $6,000 saved, just in a year, in terms of fuel savings and just less wear and tear on the vehicle. Whenever my lightly used vehicle eventually wears out, my savings will easily cover any increased cost on the new one. How about you? Do you find you're driving as much as you used to?

fill a grocery cart

Of course. I understand that on average that costs about 8.3% more than a year ago. However, a lot of that is just the run up in meat costs, so if you consume a lot less meat than a typical American, the increase has been smaller. And at least for those with higher incomes, food was already a really small part of the budget, so changes there don't hit too hard. Really, the only one that's hit me meaningfully hard is higher price of heating a house over the winter.

None of this shit did I hear during the Trump administration.

Yes, with the economic collapse in 2020, that really held inflation down for a while. Fortunately, we've bounced back strongly from that disaster.

Anyway, I've seen a divide on this issue. Among those of us who work for a living, the bigger factor is our relative bargaining power against employers. We're willing to face somewhat higher consumer prices in exchange for that power, because it ends up making far more difference in our quality of life. So we'd absolutely prefer, say, 8.1% inflation and 3.6% unemployment over the contrary (3.6% inflation and 8.1% unemployment). But for those who don't work for a living -- like old people living off the Social Security dole and other forms of welfare, the bargaining power of employees doesn't help them at all. If anything, it hurts them, by getting them worse services when they're customers. So, they're much more worked up about the inflation than they are jazzed about the job market.

[Lionfish]

No. Thanks to this fantastic shift of power to employees, I seldom have to drive to work, which is going to allow me to go a whole lot longer without buying a car. Based on the IRS mileage rate of $0.585 and a 25-mile drive each way, it's saving around $500/month, in reduced cost. If that continues for a year, that's going to be about $6,000 saved, just in a year, in terms of fuel savings and just less wear and tear on the vehicle. Whenever my lightly used vehicle eventually wears out, my savings will easily cover any increased cost on the new one. How about you? Do you find you're driving as much as you used to?




Of course. I understand that on average that costs about 8.3% more than a year ago. However, a lot of that is just the run up in meat costs, so if you consume a lot less meat than a typical American, the increase has been smaller. And at least for those with higher incomes, food was already a really small part of the budget, so changes there don't hit too hard. Really, the only one that's hit me meaningfully hard is higher price of heating a house over the winter.




Yes, with the economic collapse in 2020, that really held inflation down for a while. Fortunately, we've bounced back strongly from that disaster.

Anyway, I've seen a divide on this issue. Among those of us who work for a living, the bigger factor is our relative bargaining power against employers. We're willing to face somewhat higher consumer prices in exchange for that power, because it ends up making far more difference in our quality of life. So we'd absolutely prefer, say, 8.1% inflation and 3.6% unemployment over the contrary (3.6% inflation and 8.1% unemployment). But for those who don't work for a living -- like old people living off the Social Security dole and other forms of welfare, the bargaining power of employees doesn't help them at all. If anything, it hurts them, by getting them worse services when they're customers. So, they're much more worked up about the inflation than they are jazzed about the job market.

I love how you deflect. I don't care if you drive a broom or a bicycle, literally everything you and the rest of America uses comes from a truck and those are not working from home. 8.3% more at the grocery store? Don't give me that crap. Food is up nearly 20% and climbing, government plays with the numbers and you mouth them like a good little liberal. I hope you are not thick enough to understand "bargaining with our employers" is bullshit. Every penny you get in "bargaining" is reflected in the price paid by thce consumer.

I am guessing you are young and really have no experience with what happens when inflation starts running and your feeble attempts to blame this on the Trump administration are right out of the CNN playbook. Look cookie, NONE of this bullshit happened under Trump.

I wiss you well but fear you will be the first to screech when you can't buy a loaf of bread for under $5.

Here is REALITY,

Inflation is at a 40 plus year high, rising interest rates, 401ks down 7 trillion (a new record) and continuing to decline, highest gas prices in history, crime and murder rates are on the rise in major cities, other countries are laughing about our president behind his back and won't even answer the telephone when Brandon calls them.

We are already in a recession, but it won't be officially called until the 2nd quarter GDP is announced in July. our dollar is headed down the toilet, and all of this in his first 15 months in office.

The sad part is it is going to get much worse, especially for our economy, How can any rational person with at
least two functioning brain cells think the current President is better then the last one?

[Hawkeye10]

Joe Biden is a symbol of the collapse of America.

Buckle Up.

[Minister of Truth]

Not that it matters for 1100 days. He's the big cheese no matter what.

The thread title wasn't even true in October of 2019.

[Matt Dillon]

I'll grant that you don't need to be whip-smart to kick the ass of a doddering old fool like Trump, the way Biden did. Really, the average seventh-grader could have given Trump a serious beat-down, so that was no huge accomplishment when Biden did it. So, what's more impressive is Biden's performance in the various Democratic primary debates, where he was the foremost target of an array of candidates, including world-class wonks and a Rhodes scholar. Although Biden didn't utterly dominate them the way he did Trump, he did hold his own, which is impressive in its own right against such elite competition.

That's why it was so obvious that the right-wingers would wind up being humiliated when they bought into the "Biden's Locked in the Basement' talking point. If they'd just watched the Democratic primaries they'd KNOW Biden was about to destroy Trump in their debates, and they wouldn't have climbed out so far on that limb claiming he'd declined mentally. Biden's easy wins in those debates was something those of us outside the right-wing echo chamber saw coming a mile away, but it took the imbeciles totally by surprise, because they'd only seen what their media handlers wanted them to see.

TL; DR

[Mina]

I love how you deflect.

What you misperceive as deflection is what others recognize as a specific response. You asked about my particular situation, then when I answered, you insisted you don't care about my situation. Do you see how that might come across as, well, a bit unhinged?

8.3% more at the grocery store? Don't give me that crap.

It looks like it's up from 8.3% when I last checked, but not a whole lot:

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

Click on "food" in the chart, then hover over "food at home." It's been 10.8% in the last 12 months. Click on that and you'll see components vary quite a bit. Fruits and vegetables are up 7.8% in that time, while meat is up 14.3%

Food is up nearly 20%....

Which indicator, specifically, are you referring to?

Every penny you get in "bargaining" is reflected in the price paid by thce consumer

Some will get passed through to the consumer. Some could come out of executive pay, dividends, or capital gains. But this goes to the point I was making. How much that bargaining power is worth to you depends a lot on your position. When you work for a living, like I do, that's one of the most important considerations in your prosperity level. If, on the other hand, you're an elderly person living off Social Security, or anyone else who lives on welfare, then the bargaining power has no value to you, since you're not actually bargaining for your services, and all that matters is the price of what you buy with those government checks.

401ks down 7 trillion (a new record)

From when, exactly? See here:

https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/

Using a pretty generic S&P 500 index fund as a proxy, if you bought in January 2021 (the month Biden took office), and dividends were reinvested (as they are in a 401k), then you'd be up 10.055% right now. Factoring in inflation, you'd still be positive right now, but not by a lot.

other countries are laughing about our president behind his back...

One of the great things about the Biden era has been the huge improvement in America's image under his leadership. Trump was seen around the world as a clown. Biden is respected. Now of course, the wingnut provincials out in the American sticks assume that foreigners laugh at Biden, since that's what they do, and that's what Fox News assures them others do. But there are actual polls that track this stuff. We know that the percentage of people abroad who have confidence in the US president doing the right thing regarding world affairs has soared from just 17%, under Trump, to 75%, under Biden, while those with no confidence fell from 83% to 22%:

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2...rump-to-biden/

Fox News won't tell you about those things, nor will you learn about them sitting around griping with other rubes at the local diner, which is why it's important to break out of the echo chamber to get some fresh air, from time to time.

We are already in a recession

What makes you think that? The NBER declares recessions and hasn't done so, yet. Possibly they will in the future and will back-date it, but with sub-4% unemployment, right now, it sure doesn't look like anything else they've ever called a recession in American history.

it won't be officially called until the 2nd quarter GDP is announced in July.

The old-fashioned definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage. It remains to be seen whether the economy will be down in second quarter, but the latest estimate is 2.4% up, by the Fed, and a little more bullish than that using the Blue Chip consensus:

https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/gdpnow

How can any rational person with at
least two functioning brain cells think the current President is better then the last one?

As a reminder, our last president inherited a strong and growing economy and left a nation in absolute free-fall, despite being handed huge interest rate cuts by the Fed, to try to stimulate the economy, and despite Congress trying to stimulate growth with massive increases in the budget deficit. By comparison, since Biden took office the Fed has raised interest rates and the deficit is down, too, yet we had the strongest year of GDP growth in almost 40 years in 2021, and after a slightly weak first quarter in 2022, it looks like things are growing again. What kind of idiot WOULDN'T think the current president is doing a better job?