Some Inconvenient Facts Behind Our Most Important Presidential Election Since Lincoln

We are just under a month away from perhaps the single most important presidential election since Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas in 1860 with quite possibly a similar outcome. Of course, it's typical of marketing hyperbole to claim one election or another is more important than any other when, in truth, each election puts the future of our constitutional republic at stake (albeit in name only at this point), but in this case, the claim is not being overstated.

Vice President and Democrat nominee, Kamala Harris, has been speaking about the need to "move America forward" and to "restore the American Dream", which, I think, we can all agree, are worthy (albeit unrealistic) goals. Of course, the underlining message is that former President Donald Trump is somehow personally responsible for throwing the switch that put our "democracy" in peril . Lastly, Ms. Harris has promised a "opportunity economy" for all.

The problem, however, that Ms. Harris is overlooking is that her administration along with President Biden are the one's responsible for whatever track America is on, be it good or bad. After all, they've been in charge of the economy as well as domestic and foreign policy for the last four years. Anything Trump did, good or ill, has been of no real consequence since the Biden/Harris ticket won in 2020. 

So, any complaints or compliments is all theirs. For instance, the rate of inflation (which jumped by 3.24% shortly after Biden took office). It was a frightening 8% in 2022 before eventually settling to 2.4% in September falls squarely on their shoulders, not Trump's. Same goes for prices, from gas and groceries to appliances, cars or houses. 

Since February 2020 to now, overall prices have gone up 21.4%. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that's far above the national average. According to another economic report, thanks to inflation, what you could buy for ten dollars in 2020 would now cost $11.31 in 2022.

That may not sound like much, but when you look at a the cost of a tank of gas, heating oil, or a week's worth groceries for a family of four, that's quite a hunk of change, forcing the average American to pay more with less purchasing power. 

For example, since 2020 the price of margarine, which nearly everyone uses in cooking, has increased 56.8%. Eggs have gone up 40.1%. Sugar and sugar substitutes have seen a 39.1% increase. Meats, depending on type and cut, have seen a increase of between 39.2% and 44.2%. Car insurance raced upward to 47.5% while vehicle repair (already high) went higher to 47.1%. Gasoline prices almost doubled from January 2020 to June 2024; a increase of 89.5%.   

On the other hand, the prices of Smartphones dropped by 53.9%. 22.4% for televisions. Computers and related items went down by 15.9%, while other electronic equipment (like video cameras, microphones, etc.) dropped in price by 14.1%.The costs of non-electronic toys were 7.1% less as of June 2024 compared to January 20202.

Finally, men's clothing (such as suits, coats and jackets, as well as pants and shirts) saw a decline in price of 6.3% (but apparently not where I shop!).  So, while prices on some items cost consumers less, prices on other items cost more, some significantly more. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective. 

What about housing? How much has the cost of keeping a roof over your head changed since 2020? According to a report ResiClub of the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, since 2020 until present, the cost of homes rose 47.1%, which they said "easily outstripping the gains of recent decades". That apparently includes not just the Trump years, but the Obama and George W. Bush years as well.

Some of the reasons cited for the increase in housing prices are the lack of housing in general (remaining down 34.3% from pre-2020 availability), the upswing in mortgage rates and jump in the price of construction material.  As an aside, a related RedFin report said that house payments are up 11% over 2023 prices. The average house payment is now $2,775.00. I can certainly see what Ms. Harris means by a "opportunity economy". But then, these are numbers based on her and Biden's policies.

While we're speaking about housing, what about the homeless? In 2020, the number of reported homeless was about 580,466. By 2023 that number had jumped to 653,104, up 12%, the highest year-to-year increase and the second highest total since 2007. Of that, 324,854 were white. 243,624 were black.  According to the VA, there was homeless 35,574 veterans as of 2023, representing an increase of 7.4% over 2022. A single homeless veteran is one too many for the nation to tolerate.

The unemployment rate is at 3.7%, which is higher than expected due to the drop in individuals who are no longer self employed. If underemployed and dissatisfied and looking are factored in, that number nearly doubles to 6.7%.  Note too that unemployment rates don't include those who've given up on looking or serving in the military. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said as of August 2024, overall job growth was weaker than anticipated with 818,000 fewer jobs than in March as previously reported.

While much of the job openings were service industry or low income, work hours correspondingly decreased from the traditional 40 hour work week to a current 34.3 hours. Nevertheless, employees are still expected to do the same amount of work as they would in a traditional 40 work week.

In 2022, the most recent year data was available, over 12% of the nation was living at or below the poverty level. 13% were "food insecure", which is a polite way to say they didn't have enough to eat on a regular basis. School provided meals are commonly the only regular nutritional food kids get. Data also indicated that the figures were trending upward, so by 2024 that number is likely to be considerably higher.

Wages have generally done well since 2020, exceeding inflation by roughly 2% overall. In April 2020, wages dropped by 6% but then jumped to a record high of 15.40% by April 2021. In 2014, when Trump took office, wages had been trending upward. Starting in 2014, the average wage was $24.33. In 2016, it was $25.38. By the time Trump left office, the average hourly wage was $28.44. Under Biden, it had increased to $31.63 as of January 2022. By September the average hourly wage was $35.36%. Social Security, disability payments, and other compensation are all tied to the rate of inflation.

It should be noted that the once untouchable Social Security Trust Fund has been repeatedly raided by Congress to the tune of $17.5 billion dollars. The Social Security Administration predicts that the trust fund will be empty by the end of 2034. Starting in 2035, recipients will see a 23% reduction in benefits. 

Although wages have done well in keeping up with inflation, that can't be said of everyone as the percentage of those falling behind has been increasing dramatically. Since 2009, wage inequality become has a serious issue, leaving the U.S. with the dubious distinction of having the worse wage differences of any industrialized country in the world.

 In 2022, despite federal laws to the contrary, women between ages 25 to 34 still earned 92% as much as men of the same age. Between ages 35 and 54, that number drops to 83%.  Finally, those from 55 and over, it's 79%! For minorities it's worse. Is this the "progress" or "change" Kamala Harris is talking about?

How well do employees do compared to management? Not surprisingly, not very well. For several decades, the incomes of senior corporate officers have far outperformed that of their employees. Ironically, the margin of difference has increased when tracked against the decline in union membership.

In 2021, the median employee to CEO wage gap was 235%, meaning that for every dollar a worker earned, a CEO received $235 dollars. A year earlier,  it was slightly better with a 212:1 ration between CEO and employee. In 2023, that ratio was now 268:1 among S&P 500 Index companies. I guess it really is good to be king!

In 2021, the Top 1% saw their percentage of wealth continue to grow by 9.1% while the bottom 90% saw theirs decrease.  During the same period, the Top 0.1% saw an income growth of 18.5%. The bottom 90% had a drop in real (after tax) income of 0.2% in 2020 and 2021. By the way, the Top 0.1% is what comprises the ruling oligarchy with a individual power index of 882.9 compared to the bottom 90% which has a power index of 1%.

The bottom 90% also saw just 58.6% of all wages earned, the lowest on record (in 1979, it was 69.8%), demonstrating that over time, workers have been losing ground compared to the upper 20%. Those in the rarified air of the Top 1% took in 14.6% of all wages generated (by comparison, in 1979 it was 7.3%).

To put it another way, from 1980 through 2021, the bottom 90% of Americans saw an increase in wages of 28.7%. The upper 1% saw their wealth increase by 206.3% over the same period while the upper 0.1% (aka: the ruling oligarchy) saw their wealth grow by 465.1%. Feeling nauseated yet?

It bears mentioning that Vice President Harris allegedly said Hurricane Helene victims would be eligible for a $750 "loan" from FEMA which would have to be paid back with interest or face a seizure of their property. That's false. FEMA is offering victims up to a $750 dollars onetime payment for baby food, diapers and incidentals., but it's part of a larger relief package.

Another rumor is that illegal immigrants can receive over $2000 from the government. That's also not true. The federal government provides immigrants classified as "asylum seekers" (pending determination) with up to $459 monthly to help with the cost of food, transportation, and shelter for up to 12 months. Still, financially, doesn't it appears these "asylum seekers" are making out better than U.S. citizens in trouble?

Lastly, what about foreign aid? Under President Biden, the U.S. has sent $95 billion dollars overseas in the form of foreign aid. The majority of that money went to Africa, the Middle East (mainly Israel), Taiwan, and to Ukraine, which got the most at $60 billion dollars for weapons and other military aid.

Under President Trump, he attempted to get a 21% cut in foreign aid (including eliminating aid for 27 countries) with a requested foreign aid budget of $44.1 billion. However, Trump was overridden by Congress and much of his proposed cuts were restored. It should be noted that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and practically all of the major defense contractors publicly and privately urged Congress to reinstate Trump's military budget cuts, and why not? War is a very profitable business.

Biden has no such qualms. His continued support for arming Ukraine, Taiwan, NATO, and Israel (despite public hand smackings) assures all that the money will keep on rolling in. Besides, war or the appearance of war is a good thing. Besides, it helps to artificially simulates the economy.

The Defense Industry continues to build, spend and hire which in turn helps numerous peripheral businesses and that trickles out to the rest of the interconnected economy. It reduces the appearance of the unemployment numbers despite a reduction of jobs by enlisting individuals (many of whom are under or unemployed and whose numbers aren't included in employment statistics).  

This is the economic picture Kamala Harris and the mainstream media, in its subtle promotion of Ms. Harris, isn't telling you about. Instead, we're being offered generalities and distortions. While this blog is neither Democrat or Republican and strives to simply provide nonpartisan facts as it find them, it would appear that in the real world Biden/Harris, devoid of the script writers, teleprompters, and cheerleading, things aren't so rosy for the country.

Ms. Harris offers a campaign message of "progress", "opportunity", and "change" for a faltering economy and political state of affairs it helped create. It's like the lookout on the Titanic offering to take the wheel after it struck the iceberg.  Our "ship of state" is already bow down, badly listing and taking on water with its engines open full throttle. Not exactly the right strategy if you can't swim.   

This election is one of the rare occasions where we can look at Trump's past term in office and gage how he will perform if reelect. At the same time, we know what Harris has done and what four more years would like accomplish. Can Trump do better? Maybe. He's previously managed to hold his own while fighting the media, Congress, and the political/economic status quo. It certainly wouldn't hurt!  

 

Thank you for reading Another Opinion! We hope you enjoyed this article and will pass it along. Please don't forget to subscribe. It's free! Lastly, please "like" us on whatever platform you use to read anotheropinionblog.com. It helps beat the algorithms and keeps our articles in circulation. Please find below the links we consulted in researching this article. 

 

Eggs, gasoline and car insurance: Where inflation has hitAmericans hardest

US home prices have surged 47% since the start of 2020

Veteran homelessness increased by 7.4% in 2023

The number of homeless people in America grew in 2023 ashigh of living took its toll

Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Private

The Enduring Grip of the Gender Pay Gap

Inequality in annual earnings worsens in 2021

AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch

Comparing Biden and Trump's Immigration Policies in 12 Charts

Living the (Broken) American Dream: Rebuilding the Middle Class

The middle class in the United States is in serious trouble. The aggregate earnings of the middle class has been in decline since 1970. The same goes for those at the lower end of the economic ladder while the upper 10% have seen a steady rise in their wealth. Even with 59.8% of two parent families both holding down full time jobs, it's not enough.

It used to be that a high school education was enough to guarantee you a comfortable living, usually in some blue collar job, a high school diploma nowadays would barely get you  beyond an entry level position somewhere. Even a four year college degree is no assurance of middle class lifestyle.

Of course, most of the good paying blue collar jobs have been exported overseas where corporations can exploit the need for jobs at any price while avoiding those pesky unions and OSHA requirements. Where for every opening there are literally thousands waiting in line to be hired.

It doesn't help that the quality of public schools have significantly declined over the decades to the point where many graduates have the academic equivalent of an eighth grade education.  America was ranked 11th of 79 countries in science.  While we ranked 30th in math,  the top five ranked countries in math were all Asian. But, we're still tops when it comes to basketball!

A typical college graduate with four year bachelor degree hit the street looking for a job with an average debt of over 30,000. For a professional degree, like from medical or law school, the average debt is around $250,000 and $160,000 respectively.  It takes the average college graduate 21 years to pay off their college loan debt. 

The downside is that a substantial minority chose majors with little or no job demand, leaving them stuck with a huge financial burden and no way to pay it off. These and other graduates are now wanting taxpayers to pick up the tab  under the misleading term of "forgiving" or "canceling" their academic debt. Why? We didn't pick their major. We didn't sign their loan papers or accept responsibility for their debt. That's their responsibility. It's called being an adult. 

But it doesn't end there. With all the additional expenses of simply "living"  amid rising prices and stagnate wages, the average American household debt is $101,915 as of the end of 2022. The total national household debt is $17 trillion dollars as of the end of the first quarter of 2023. That effectively makes the majority of Americans literally indentured serfs. They are literally working to pay off a debt owed to someone else, which is almost always a corporation.

As an aside, 60% of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck, including 49% of those with an income of over $100,000 along with 70% of millennials, and it looks like Gen Z is trending the same way.  30% of Americans have enough money in savings to cover an emergency for no more than 30 days. 22% have no financial safety net which includes 27% of those 59 and older. 

Once they find a job, it's worth noting that wage inequality between genders remains a problem. Women are still earning, on average, just 82% of every dollar their male counterpart earns, which makes me curious about those who "identify" as transgender in the workplace. I wonder if they're going to be satisfied with their reality of their smaller paychecks?

Meanwhile, those at the top of the corporate ladder seem to be doing just fine. The CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 399-to-1 as of 2021. That means that for every dollar a average employee earns, a top executive will get $399.  From 2010 through 2021, wages grew by 31%, which sounds pretty good. However, thanks to the rate of inflation, wages have lost on average 4.5% of their purchasing power.

As if that's not bad enough, the top richest 1% own twice as much as the bottom 99% of the entire world's population! To put it another way, they've acquired over half of all the new wealth created over the last decade while the poorest half own just 0.75% of the wealth.  

In the United States, the top 1% own over one third of the nation's total wealth. Did I hear someone say "let them eat McDonalds"? Meanwhile the bottom 90% control just 30.2% of the wealth. In 2021, the top one percent's wealth grew by $6.5 trillion dollars...just in that one year! Their total stock portfolios were worth $23 trillion dollars.

As wealth increasingly becomes concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals and their corporations, so too does their political power. There have already been several academic studies showing America's shift to a government of, by, and for the oligarchy (or kleptocracy if you prefer). Wall Street's mega corporations now so controls Washington that we've become a defacto neo-fascist corporatocracy. 

It shouldn't need pointing out, but we've also become a surveillance state thanks to the knee jerk reaction of Congress following 9/11 and its failure to read or comprehend the "Patriot Act" in 2001. We need wonder no more how or why the Germans succumbed to Hitler and the Nazis following the passage of the "Enabling Act" by members of the Reichstag on the heels of Reichstag fire in 1933.  

Thanks to the Supreme Court's 2010 "Citizens United" blunder, Big Money literally owns the Democratic and Republican parties. They not only underwrite the two parties and their political candidates, they've pushed the cost of running for office almost entirely out of reach of the average citizen, thus making politics the virtual domain of the very rich.

Congress isn't about "the business of the people" as Speaker Nancy Pelosi so caustically said following the January 6th protest, as corporate lobbyists now routinely write or help draft legislation and advise legislators on how to vote on which bills.

Consider this too. Millionaires, who make up just three percent of the total U.S. population, overwhelmingly control all three branches of government, including the Presidency, regardless of party affiliation. Middle and working class office holders have never dominated any branch of the federal government and are increasingly becoming rare at the state level.

Members of the Supreme Court together are worth an estimated $24 million dollars, and at least six of the nine Justices are multimillionaires. Even most federal judge positions are occupied by individuals who are at least in the top 5% financially. Of course, these positions come with their wealthy and powerful connections, making it even more difficult for the ordinary American to get a fair shake.

So, regardless of whether you vote Democrat or Republican, the wealthy win. It's just a matter of whether it's the blue corporate clique and their agenda or the red corporate clique and their agenda.

So, where does all this leave us? Historically, it's been the middle class which has held democracies together. The Founders  envisioned  the United States as a nation of  yeomen farmers and small businessmen. Ideally, a democratic society should be shaped like two inverted diamonds---narrow at the top and bottom and wide in the center with a relatively few at the top and bottom with the majority of individuals located somewhere in the middle.

Of course, that's not what we have today. The United States used to be a majority middle class country. In 1971, over 61% of the nation was middle class. Today, just under half are. The lower middle class comprise approximately 25% of the population with another 25% making up the working poor and perpetual unemployed. In 2022 just 11.3% of workers were unionized. In 1960 it was almost one third of the country--31.9%. By 1975 it was 26.3% as technology replaced some workers and employers began sending other jobs overseas.  

America also used to be the place where someone could start from scratch, start a business, and through hard work make their way up into the middle class. It was part of the "American Dream". It's what many newly arrived immigrants hoped for. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the "American Dream" may now be just that---a dream.

 20% of all new businesses fail within their first two years of operation. 45% within their first five years, and 65% within ten years. Just 25% survive beyond that. The main reasons? A lack of cash flow, poor management, a lack of organization, and inadequate marketing.   

When a society's economic system becomes unbalanced and where wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of small minority, social unrest is almost always the result, be it revolutions, civil wars, coups, or whatever. This is especially true when approval levels drop below 55% for any length of time, again, such as in the United States. 

Currently, Congress has an approval rating of just 20%, or to put it another way, a disapproval rating of 76% with 4% having no opinion. In fact, the last time Congress had a positive approval rating over 50% was 2001---22 years ago!

As an aside, 77% of those surveyed said that the current members of Congress should not be reelected again, and yet thanks to corporate funding and partisan gerrymandering, some 95% of them will be reelected.  The Supreme Court has an approval rating of roughly 40% and 66% of Americans have little or no confidence in the mainstream media to provide fair, honest and balanced news.

This is what a broken political  and economic system looks like, especially if you're one of few Americans clinging on to their middle class status. Rising prices, stagnant wages, the widest income disparity of any industrialized nation, poor healthcare (we're ranked 21st in the world with the highest infant mortality rating of any developed nation), a underperforming educational system.

 At 76, our life expectancy is among the worse of any industrialized nation, coming in 40th in the world. In Japan it's 84. We have the world's highest national debt rate at $31.4 trillion. To put it another way, our national debt exceeds the next four countries---China, Japan, France, and Italy---combined, which as most economist will agree, is unsustainable, and yet we spend more on the military than the next ten nations combined.

Is there anything the American middle class can do? Maybe. Although the United States is in decline, perhaps terminally, we can still alter the existing political system to make it more responsive to the needs of its citizens and get corporate money and control out of politics.

We can bring jobs sent overseas back home or penalize those who don't. Let's make it more expensive to ship jobs overseas than to build it here. We can raise the tax rates on the wealthiest individuals and impose a minimum tax on big businesses. No more mega corporations earning more than some countries paying zero federal taxes or billionaires paying less taxes than fast food store manager.

We can increase our investment in R&D projects and cut the red tape on new businesses, especially in the area of technology. We can---and must---improve our education and healthcare. We need to reduce our military budget to free up more money for social services and infrastructure.  We need to put focus on all Americans, not just an elite few, and that means rebuilding the middle class once again.

 

If you enjoyed the article, please consider passing it along to others and don't forget to subscribe. It's free! Lastly please be sure to "like" us on whatever platform you use to read anotheropinionblog.com. It helps with the algorithms and keeps our articles in circulation. Thank you! 

 

Average American Household Debt in 2023: Facts and Figures

Average Student Loan Debt

U.S. Education Rankings Are Falling Behind the Rest of theWorld

 

Two Working Parent Households 2023: A Look at the Statistics

How the American Middle Class Has Changed in the Past FiveDecades

At Least 6 Supreme Court Justices Are Multimillionaires,Report Reveils

These 19 Fortune 100 Companies Paid Next To Nothing---orNothing At All---in Taxes in 2021