902

Summary

President Joe Biden’s economic achievements—lowering inflation, reducing gas prices, creating jobs, and boosting manufacturing—are largely unrecognized by the public, despite his successes.

His tenure saw landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act, and major infrastructure investments.

However, Biden's approval ratings remain low, attributed to inflation backlash, weak communication, and a media landscape prone to misinformation.

Democrats face a “propaganda problem” rather than a policy failure, with many voters likely to credit incoming President Trump for Biden’s accomplishments due to partisan messaging and social media dynamics.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] PortoPeople@lemm.ee 277 points 1 month ago

Because Americans are some of the stupidest people in the world.

[-] Soup@lemmy.world 150 points 1 month ago

What, the country with all the resources but still ranks 36th in literacy and 54% of their adults can’t even read above a 6th grade level?

Literacy info.

[-] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 49 points 1 month ago

And we thought the internet would solve or at least help this. Little did we know...

[-] Soup@lemmy.world 37 points 1 month ago

I feel like it’s simply widened the divide that was already present. There have always been people that care and people that don’t but now the people that care have the resources to do something about it and the people that don’t have easy access to that which reinforces their lack of caring.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 61 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

By design. About a century ago, Rockefeller turned the public school system into a mindless factory worker production machine. Republicans have been reducing funding for decades since.

They only want high school graduates to be smart enough to run the machines. College tuition paywalls real education. As AI improves, the bar lowers further. Public schools will be continually defunded or converted to a voucher system in order to exclude even more citizens.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

Republicans decided back in the late 70s and early 80s that the public was too educated (and too hard to control) so they decided to do something about it. 45y of slashed education funding and standards later here we are.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago

Fun fact, the average American public school education doesn't include critical thinking skills in the language curriculum. You either get your introduction to this in AP English (if you're a high scoring highschooler) or during your first year of college/university.

It's mind blowing how many people can't pick apart a given piece of media and think about what message it conveys and why it conveys it.

So yeah, Americans are ripe for manipulation.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

I'm sorry to have to upvote that.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 119 points 1 month ago

The issue with politics is that you don't just have to address a problem, you also need to publicize what you did.

Maybe the dems did effectively address some problems, but they did a poor PR jobs out of it.

[-] oyo@lemm.ee 98 points 1 month ago

Outrageous lies are what make the news.

[-] blattrules@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago

Yeah, somehow trump doesn’t have a credibility problem despite being a pathological liar and I don’t think it was possible for the democrats to effectively counter that when he’s not being held accountable. We need live fact checking in debates and he needs to be publicly called out every time he lies, but then he just won’t agree to the debate and will go hold a town hall on Fox News.

[-] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 month ago

He does have a credibility problem, AND is a liar. His base doesn't care. People idolize celebrities, musicians, even models. I feel like this is the first time I've seen people swoon this hard over a politician, and it blows other fandoms away in fealty and dedication.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (13 replies)
[-] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world 117 points 1 month ago

Basically every American I personally know lives paycheque-to-paycheque as megacorps move in to bleed them dry on every front.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago

And people with exactly that mindset voted for Trump, despite his vowing to make everything worse with every single policy stance.

  • Raise your taxes while cutting for the Rich (AGAIN)

  • Tariffing many sectors and countries, making goods more expensive and destroying US manufacturing

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] pjwestin@lemmy.world 109 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I am so God damn sick of reading articles from pundits who think they can just numbers-and-statistics away people's financial experience. Listen to this shit:

America has recovered more quickly and more completely than almost any comparable country. As The Economist put it, “The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust.” Real wages have risen fastest for those at the bottom of the income scale. Today, inflation is at 2.4%, compared with the 9.1% peak in June 2022. The fight against rising prices has essentially been won.

But few in the electorate seem aware...

Wow, the electorate sounds like a bunch of dipshits. But just for the hell of it, let's check their source for the wages of the bottom income scale. According to the Economic Policy Institute, real wages grew 13.2% between 2019 and 2023. Now, inflation was 19.2% during that period, but "real wage," means, "wage adjusted for inflation," so I guess the author is right. The lowest income earners got a raise during the Biden years. Guess the poor are a bunch of dipshits.

But which of Biden's policies led to these increases in wages? Well, the Economic Policy Institute says:

Between 2019 and 2023, state-level minimum wage increases along with a tight labor market have translated into faster real wage growth for low-wage workers, particularly faster growth in states (and D.C.) that increased their minimum wage during this period.

So, it sounds like the wages went up because of a competitive labor market (which the Fed intentionally killed to combat inflation) and minimum wage increases at the state level, and that states that increased their minimum wages saw more of that growth than others. So, you could make an argument that Biden deserves little credit for this increase, but let's not even worry about that. Let's see look at the minimum wage by state.

The EPI has a handy Minimum Wage Tracker that color-codes states by their state minimum wage against the federal minimum wage. A quick glance shows you the states with the highest minimum wage are mostly states that went to Harris. But what's really interesting is that, of the 7 key battleground states that Harris lost, 4 of them (Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) have the same minimum wage as the federal minimum of $7.25, a starvation wage that hasn't been raised since 2009. So it's not unreasonable to assume that in more than half the key states Harris needed win saw the smallest share of that 13.2%, but did see prices increase by 19.2%.

Now, I'm not an economist, and I don't have hours to research this shit, so it's entirely possible that I'm missing a lot of nuance regarding cost of living and non-minimum wage increases in these states. But that's not the point. The point is that I've already spent more time and energy examining why people might not feel good about the economy than the sneering chud that wrote this article. And I'll end this tirade with one last quote from the EPI report he cited:

Wage rates remain insufficient for individuals and families working to make ends meet. Nowhere can a worker at the 10th percentile of the wage distribution earn enough to meet a basic family budget.

[-] NadiaNadine@lemmy.world 49 points 1 month ago

Young people have no hope of buying a house in my area.

In my neighborhood all the drug store shelves are bare (Rite Aid) and there's soon to be only one grocery store to choose from (Kroger).

When I'm getting groceries the checkers are talking about how the store is going to close if the merger happens and they'll all lose their jobs.

No 'media' lied to me and convinced me that the economy is wack. I see it every day.

What I'm not hearing in the media is recognition of working folks' struggles. Failure to address this kept Dems home.

[-] pjwestin@lemmy.world 49 points 1 month ago

I'm really sorry to hear that. Would it help if I showed you a graph that shows the stock market is actually doing great?

[-] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The DNC wants to know your location and give you a strategic voter outreach job.

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] statler_waldorf@sopuli.xyz 21 points 1 month ago

Jon Stewart just discussed some of this on The Weekly Show podcast with Heather Cox Richardson as guest. Discussing whether the metrics that define economic success are outdated and also how poorly any of Biden's "successes" were shared by his White House and the media. It was all framed much better than this article.

load more comments (10 replies)
load more comments (16 replies)
[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 93 points 1 month ago

Honestly Democrat are absolutely horrible at talking to people.

I'll be the first to admit, Biden did actually do a lot for workers but just like the leader of the painters union said, y'all fucking suck at telling people that.

I mean look at the rail workers strike, Biden stopped the rail workers strike and didn't address one of the biggest things they were looking for, just to be treated like humans and have sick leave.

There was lots of talk about "doing this for the best of the nation", which okay I could get behind, sure they got a wage increase but I did as shit could understand why rank and file would feel betrayed when they were asking additional to be treated as humans that get sick.

What I didn't hear him or anyone say to them directly, that he was still going to work with the unions afterwards to get sick leave in. Why would you not say that at the same time as you announce your blocking the strike? Cost you nothing to say you have their back.

So then months later, with Biden administration support finally got the workers PTO but no one really knew about it because the moment was gone and honestly union leadership also did a shit job of getting that word out too.

It's not the only thing but it certainly is a big factor in things.

[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 48 points 1 month ago

Biden and the Dems saved the teamsters' pensions against the GOP's best efforts and it didn't even earn them an endorsement from the teamsters' union.

This was highly publicized, especially if you yourself were in the union

Internal polling of Teamsters members showed:

  • In an electronic poll conducted after the Republican National Convention, 59.6% of rank-and-file Teamsters favored endorsing Trump, while 34% supported Harris.

  • A more recent poll indicated a similar trend, with Teamsters backing Trump 58% to 31%

Having the backs of labor and the working class amounted for jack shit in actual results for dems.

You know why? Because these teamsters spend two hours a day sitting in a car listening to right-wing radio jockeys telling them how Democrats are only interested in policing their language and getting them in trouble for flirting with women.

[-] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You know why? Because these teamsters spend two hours a day sitting in a car listening to right-wing radio jockeys telling them how Democrats are only interested in policing their language and getting them in trouble for flirting with women.

Bingo.

Or scrolling their feeds. Or swiping. Depending on the age. Every single Democrat leader needs to see that statistic, so they can stop whining about how policy was their problem.

Democrats are messaging like it's 1950. And hot take, but the only thing that elected Biden was COVID-19, only because it wedged itself into people's lives like absolutely nothing else can.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[-] ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world 69 points 1 month ago

Voters are pretty stupid. Seriously, the misinformation and willful ignorance on display is breathtaking.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 66 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

…no.

The DNC brain trust thought they could get away with ignoring an absolutely fucking HUGE part of their base. And they were fucking WRECKED for it.

Trump got just about the same number of votes as he did in the last election. Harris got 11M less votes than Biden got. ELEVEN. MILLION. PEOPLE. STAYED THE FUCK HOME. BECAUSE THEY SAW THE ESTABLISHMENT CIRCLEJERK. AND HARRIS FUCKING LEANED INTO IT. AND IGNORED THE VERY FUCKING REAL LIVED EXPERIENCE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS GETTING HOLLOWED OUT, AND THE LOWER CLASS CONTINUING TO GET CRUSHED TO DEATH.

And now we get to listen to pundits and DNC leadership and Biden admin people and Harris campaign people circlejerk themselves about how it wasn’t their fault, it was those goddamn progressives and the stupid Arab Americans who cared about Gaza too much.

Genuinely: fuck all the way off with that narrative. the Democratic Party snatched this defeat from the jaws of victory. There was a path to victory. They simply didn’t fucking take it.

[-] Dragonstaff@leminal.space 25 points 1 month ago

The DNC is working for their rich donors and doing a pretty decent job for them. They shouldn't act so surprised that people who aren't benefiting from the economy don't come out to support them.

[-] kiljoy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 month ago

Exactly, who thought it was a good idea to campaign with the fucking Cheneys???????

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 56 points 1 month ago

Consider this.

A few weeks before the election Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a little circle jerk podcast interview with each other. They spent time talking about how anti-union they are and how much they hate worker’s rights. Then working class Americans went out in droves and voted for those two rich assholes who openly talked about wishing workers had less rights.

We made a guy who was the first president in U.S. history to stand on a picket line with striking workers step down because he was old. Then we hired another equally old rich guy who openly talks about wishing workers had less rights.

Americans. Are. Stupid.

Our situation isn’t going to get better any time soon. For those of us who aren't boomers, we're basically locked into a lifetime of economic hardship.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] splonglo@lemmy.world 51 points 1 month ago

Americans are misinformed because the media has been destroyed by financial incentives and the capital class.

[-] Juigi@lemm.ee 48 points 1 month ago

Average american seems to be easily manipulated, especially if its about politics. No fact checking, just going with "gut" feeling.

[-] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago

Always has been.

Problem is their "gut" feelings are now from conservative radio/podcasts and facebook feeds, instead of a mix of papers and friends like before.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] danc4498@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago

Democrats need to be louder in blaming the people at fault. Harris should have been screaming about the economy Obama left Trump vs the economy Trump left Biden. She should have been screaming that from day 1!

[-] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 month ago

They wouldn't trust the messenger. We need to come to terms with the fact that a not so small group of people need fear to be motivated to believe anything.

We need a rage baiting group of influencers pushing the Left's agenda. It's sad, but it's needed.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] vordalack@lemm.ee 39 points 1 month ago

Let voters get what they deserve.

Republican voters are the biggest simps for big business that I’ve ever seen. It’s like if slaves in America cheered on the confederacy during the Civil War.

[-] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 32 points 1 month ago

It's not even a propaganda problem, per se, because most people aren't obsessively following the news and economic reports.

It's how they feel about money.

That was the biggest single issue.

People looked at grocery store prices and said, this is nuts, I was paying half this just four years ago.

It doesn't matter to them that global inflation skyrocketed along with inflation in the US, or that we're doing better than the rest of the world right now. They want to see prices go down, even though that would be deflation, which is incredibly bad for an economy.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 27 points 1 month ago

We need more political literacy in this country.

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 month ago
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] 2ugly2live@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Yeah, because Americans are dumb and willfully ignorant.

[-] BMTea@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Opinion: I Lost Because I Didn't Do Anything Wrong and Have no Lessons to Learn

[-] 01011@monero.town 23 points 1 month ago

Effectively addressed? Like the housing crisis and the visibly homeless?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

Same shit as always, the (relative) left actually does make an attempt to keep its promises but no on hears about it because the right wing own 90% of the media.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 22 points 1 month ago

Isn't that true for just about any democratic president? The bushes ruined the economy, Clinton and Obama fixed it. Republicans receive an awesome country, take credit for it, ruin it, then blame a democrat president for the mess they left behind.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] bloup@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 1 month ago

Opinion: trying to teach tens of millions of people enough basic statistics and economics so that they understand that Joe Biden wasn’t actually as bad as they think is not actually a serious strategy for defeating conservative populism in elections

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] TheBananaKing@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

"Am I out of touch? No, it's the voters who are wrong"

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

Voters have shifted right because they're hurting, and the Dems promised 4 more years of the same. Trump promised to remove the elites and actively tear the country they created apart. That's why they voted for him. The fact that's it's a lie and they're stupid to believe it doesn't matter. Telling people the economy is doing great while they are poorer than they were 4 years ago pushes them away.

Liberals lost ~15 million former voters and handed America to a fascist dictator, and all they've done is blame the left and stick their head in the sand, as though the population didn't just vote to tear the status quo apart. They did the same thing in 2016. They won't get another chance, and they still don't understand that.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2024
902 points (90.3% liked)

politics

19244 readers
3169 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS