The Era of rivalry, Biden vs. Trump and their respective parties

Apparently, a large number of grassroots Democrats think that Republicans should win control of Congress In November. Despite the fact that Republican administrations have a history of recessions, these Democrats think Republicans can do a better job with the economy and our President has only 43% approval, which is a large improvement over a few weeks ago.

In addition, these grassroots Democrats disapprove of the Democratic President running again.

I say all this based on the logic that grassroots Democrats are a part of the polling and the low approval rating of Democrats by Democrats will insure a Republican victory in November.

CNN reports, "President Joe Biden insists that he hasn’t made up his mind whether to run for a second term. But the public sure has.

"Almost three in four Americans (72%) said that they do not want Biden to run again in 2024, according to a new national Marquette Law School poll released on Thursday, a striking number – especially when you consider that Biden’s approval rating in the same poll was relatively solid (for him) at 45%.

"It’s not then that large swaths of the American public think Biden is doing a terrible job and want him out. It’s just that people – across the political spectrum – don’t want him to run again in two years’ time. (Obviously, Biden's age is a factor in all this.)

"Among Biden’s Democratic base, his numbers on the question are middling, with 52% saying he should run again and the other 48% saying he should not.

"Polls conducted over the summer from CNN and the New York Times/Siena College found that large majorities of Democrats wanted the party to nominate someone other than Biden for president in 2024.

That is not exactly a strong endorsement for Democrats when control of Congress is at stake.

On the other hand, the polling question is loaded. Joe Biden will be 82 years old come November 2024. What is a grassroots Democrat supposed to say when asked if Biden should run again?

I voted for Biden and I don't want him to run again.

Going into mid-terms it is an unfair question to ask, but the answers will make headlines.

 

As the mid-term elections are nearly upon us, pollsters think they have a problem.

Politico reports. "Pollsters know they have a problem. But they aren’t sure they’ve fixed it in time for the November election.

"Since Donald Trump’s unexpected 2016 victory, pre-election polls have consistently understated support for Republican candidates, compared to the votes ultimately cast."

That last statement is false. The national polls missed Hillary Clinton’s popular-vote margin by just one percentage point.

The Polls Weren't Far off in 2016. They Aren't Wrong Now, Either.

Politico continued, "Once again, polls over the past two months are showing Democrats running stronger than once expected in a number of critical midterm races. It’s left some wondering whether the rosy results are setting the stage for another potential polling failure that dashes Democratic hopes of retaining control of Congress— and vindicates the GOP’s assertion that the polls are unfairly biased against them.

"But most of the changes they have made are small. Some pollsters are hoping that since Trump isn’t running in the midterms, the problems of underestimating Republicans’ vote share will disappear with him. But others worry that Trump’s ongoing dominance of the news cycle — from the FBI seizure of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to litigation against his businesses in New York — effectively is making him the central political figure going into Election Day."

Think, "I can declassify a document by thinking about it."

That kind of stupidity from a former President hits the news cycle every time.

 

Some good news for a change. It is nice to know that, occasionally, Congress can actually get something done when a disaster looms.

CNN reports, "Senate Democrats on Tuesday cleared the way for a key vote to take up a government funding extension to succeed after West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin dropped a request to include in the stop-gap bill a controversial proposal on permitting reform that had come under sharp criticism from Republicans and liberals.

"The vote had been on the verge of failing due to the inclusion of the measure, but now will likely have the support needed for the funding bill to move forward.

"Senators released the legislative text of the stop-gap funding bill overnight – a measure that would fund the government through December 16.

"Lawmakers are expected to pass a short-term funding extension by week’s end and avert a shutdown but they are up against the clock with funding set to expire on Friday at midnight."

 

Are Trump endorsed candidates weak and incompetent? It would seem so.

CNN reports, "This, from a story published in The New York Times on Monday, is a wow:

“Along with [Doug] Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Trump-backed candidates for governor in five other states – Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan – have combined to air zero television advertisements since winning their primaries.”

"To expand – and explain: In six governor’s races – in some of the largest and most competitive states in the country – the Republican nominees had not run a single general election television ad as of Monday. In Arizona, GOP nominee Kari Lake began running her first TV ad since winning her August 2 primary on Tuesday.

"And then there’s this fact: Every single one of those six candidates was endorsed in their primary races by former President Donald Trump.

"Combine those two points and you see the problem for Republican strategists: Trump-backed candidates are very likely to win GOP primaries given the sway the former President still holds over the party faithful. But those candidates oftentimes appear ill-equipped to run the sort of professional (and well-funded) operation that is required to persuade voters in a general election."

Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Combine those situations with Trump's many problems with the law, the Democrats may actually have a chance to break the mid-term curse.

Take Mastriano’s candidacy for governor in Pennsylvania as an example.

CNN continued, "Mastriano rose to fame/infamy as one of the loudest voices pushing the false notion that the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump. He commissioned several busloads of people to attend the January 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally, although he said he never entered the Capitol building that day.

"Trump’s endorsement – coupled with Mastriano’s strength among the grassroots of the party and a crowded Republican primary field – handed him a primary victory in May. But since becoming the nominee, Mastriano has shown almost no willingness to adapt his campaign to the different challenges posed by a general election. He talks primarily to conservative media outlets and travels in a protective bubble of sorts.

"Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, has flooded the airwaves with ads, painting Mastriano as someone who is too extreme. As CNN first reported Tuesday, Shapiro raised $25.4 million from June 7 to September 19. Mastriano raised roughly $3.2 million during the same period."

Other Trump endorsed candidates have similar problems because the issue was not their competence. Trump's endorsement was based on their support for the Big Lie and loyalty to Trump.

 

Keep in mind that when it comes to media coverage of the war in Ukraine, there is a lot of wishful thinking going on, only exceeded by pro-Ukraine propaganda while Ukrainian setbacks are kept at a minimum. The media often provides data on Russian casualties, but not so much on Ukrainian military casualties, although civilian casualties, particularly children, are told to us daily.

It is a good thing to keep that in mind when reading or hearing the news out of Ukraine.

That said, CNN reports, "Russian President Vladimir Putin has managed the unexpected in just under a week: upending the social contract that has kept him in power for over two decades.

"Putin’s deal with the Russian electorate has long been that they would stay out of politics and he would guarantee a modicum of stability, and that appeared to be the case when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24."

Meaning, Putin lied to the Russian people, and they accepted the lie. In the Russian system, they had to.

CNN continued, "At the time, Putin was careful to emphasize that the military assault – euphemistically referred to as a “special military operation” – would only be fought by military professionals. That was fiction and one that allowed many Russians to be lulled into a sense of normalcy, going about their lives in Moscow or St. Petersburg indifferent to the horrific carnage in Ukraine.

"The “partial mobilization” of 300,000 new recruits declared last week by the Kremlin leader has abruptly ended that and fear is now convulsing Russia’s body politic. The long lineups of cars queuing at Russia’s borders with Finland, Georgia and Mongolia show that thousands of Russian men eligible for military service are voting with their feet. Protests are erupting in ethnic minority regions. And military enlistment offices are being set on fire – and a recruitment officer has been shot.

"The US Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert overnight that again urged US citizens to leave Russia immediately while there are still options for departing the country.

"The alert comes in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for partial mobilization of Russian men to fight in his war in Ukraine."

Is Putin losing control? If so, what happens then?

 

Has Putin lost his mind? Perhaps not, but he may be losing his country. He has made Russia a pariah among nations. Even his allies may be abandoning him. China has already expressed its displeasure with Putin's war.

ABC reports, "Russia planned to annex more of Ukraine on Friday in an escalation of the seven-month war that was expected to isolate the Kremlin further, draw more international punishment and bring Ukraine extra military, political and economic support.

"The annexation — and planned celebratory concerts and rallies in Moscow and the occupied territories — would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed “referendums” that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged.

"Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that four regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — would be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to give a major speech. Peskov said the regions’ pro-Moscow administrators would sign treaties to join Russia in the Kremlin’s ornate St. George’s Hall.

"The U.S. and its allies have promised to adopt even more sanctions than they've already levied against Russia and to offer millions of dollars in extra support for Ukraine as the Kremlin duplicates the annexation playbook it followed when it incorporated Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

"Ukraine has repeated its vows to recapture the four regions, as well as Crimea. For its part, Russia pledges to defend all its territory — including newly annexed regions — by all available means, including nuclear weapons."

Experts have said that last is very remote. It's just another Putin bluff. On the other hand, it is not likely the allies will send in combat troops to retake the provinces.

 

Biden and the American people can't catch a break.

First, we had the pandemic followed by serious supply problems. This was coupled with an overheated economy with full employment, job growth, and robust spending. Then came Putin's War, all of which made inflation worse.

Then along came super Hurricane Ian.

My sympathies to the people of Florida and South Carolina, as ABC reports, "As elevated prices for oil and gas strain U.S. households, the country faces a weather event that some fear will send the costs of these essentials even higher: Hurricane Ian.

"The category 4 hurricane on Wednesday sustained wind speeds of 150 miles per hour as it made landfall on Florida's west coast."

Note: It has since crossed Florida, entered the Atlantic, reconstituted itself as a hurricane, and will slam into South Carolina on Friday.

Now comes the good news for everyone not living in Florida and South Carolina.

ABC continued, "Americans need not worry about price increases for gasoline as a result of the hurricane, industry analysts told ABC News, noting that the path of the storm has averted key oil-producing states, such as Texas and Louisiana.

"The storm will not cause widespread food price hikes, either, since Florida isn't a major producer of food, analysts said."

 

He did it. The fool actually did it. Putin will rule a nation that is considered a pariah by all other nations on the planet.

Now it is likely he will consider this part of Ukraine to be Russia, and if Ukraine attempts to fight Putin's aggression, What will Putin do next?

Reuters reports, "A defiant Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia's annexation of a swathe of Ukraine in a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony, promising Moscow would triumph in its "special military operation" even as he faced a potentially serious new military reversal.

"The proclamation of Russian rule over 15% of Ukraine - the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two - was roundly rejected by Ukraine and Western countries as illegal. The United States, Britain, and Canada announced new sanctions.

"Putin's proclamation coincided with Russian forces in one of the four regions being annexed facing encirclement by Ukrainian troops, showing how tenuous Russia's grip is on some of the territory it is claiming.

"In one of his toughest anti-American speeches in more than two decades in power, Putin signaled he was ready to continue what he called a battle for a "greater historical Russia", slammed the West as out to destroy Russia."

The speech was meant strictly for home consumption. The thing is, are the Russian people that gullible, that stupid?

We shall see, but Russia's economy just took another major hit.

 

We are not the only ones hurting from inflation. This puts matters into perspective.

ABC reports, "Inflation in the European countries using the euro currency has broken into double digits as prices for electricity and natural gas soar, signaling a looming winter recession for one of the globe's major economies as higher prices undermine consumers' spending power.

"Consumer prices in the 19-country eurozone rose a record 10% in September from a year earlier, up from an annual 9.1% in August, EU statistics agency Eurostat reported Friday. Only a year ago, inflation was as low as 3.4%.

"Price increases were beyond what market analysts had expected and are at their highest level since record-keeping for the euro started in 1997. Energy prices were the main culprit, rising 40.8% over a year ago. Food, alcohol, and tobacco prices jumped 11.8%."

To hear Republicans tell it, Biden is responsible for the inflation in Europe, too.

 

CNN reports, "In a Truth Social post attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for helping Democrats to pass a bill to keep the government funded and open, Trump wrote this:

“Is McConnell approving all of these Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat sponsored Bills, without even the slightest bit of negotiation, because he hates Donald J. Trump, or is he doing it because he believes in the Fake and Highly Destructive Green New Deal, and is will take the Country down with him? In any event, either reason is acceptabl. He has a DEATH WISH. Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow.”

Apparently, Trump wanted the government to shut down.

Apparently, too, the education challenged, uninformed farmers and shopkeepers in the rural counties of America -- Trump's base, in other words -- also wanted the government shut down indefinitely. After all, Trump is speaking for them. The farmers and shopkeepers want Trump elected President in 2024, and they want his party to win control of Congress in November.

It is understandable that these rural voters stay from this thread. They are an uninformed bunch and they want to keep it that way. They don't know, and they don't want to know.

 

Is it possible Ukraine could actually win this war? Through it all, Putin remains silent.

CNN reports, "As Vladimir Putin lost more of the Ukrainian territory he is seeking to annex, his government on Tuesday sought to finalize the formalities of its claim to four Ukrainian regions, none of which are fully controlled by Russia anymore.

"The upper house of Russia’s rubber-stamp legislature, the Federation Council, on Tuesday unanimously approved the decision to annex the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia in defiance of international law and a day after the lower chamber had done the same. President Putin was expected to sign the legislation later in the day, his spokesman said.

"Kyiv’s military, however, has continued to advance into several of the areas Russia now claims as its own, spurring questions about whether the Kremlin can hold the parts of those territories it currently controls – and even what Russia would consider its new border after the annexation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Moscow needed to “continue consulting” with the local populations before establishing its boundaries.

In other words, Putin is not even sure how much land he is stealing from Ukraine. Moreover, the goalposts keep moving.

 

Uh-oh! This could be trouble with a capital "T."

CNN reports, "The Biden administration has launched a full-scale pressure campaign in a last-ditch effort to dissuade Middle Eastern allies from dramatically cutting oil production, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

"The push comes ahead of Wednesday’s crucial meeting of OPEC+, the international cartel of oil producers that is widely expected to announce a significant cut to output in an effort to raise oil prices. That in turn would cause US gasoline prices to rise at a precarious time for the Biden administration, just five weeks before the midterm elections.

"For the past several days, President Joe Biden’s senior-most energy, economic and foreign policy officials have been enlisted to lobby their foreign counterparts in Middle Eastern allied countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to vote against cutting oil production.

"Members of the Saudi-led oil cartel and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, are expected to announce production cuts potentially up to more than one million barrels per day. That would be the largest cut since the beginning of the pandemic and could lead to a dramatic spike in oil prices.

"Some of the draft talking points circulated by the White House to the Treasury Department on Monday that were obtained by CNN framed the prospect of a production cut as a “total disaster” and warned that it could be taken as a “hostile act.”

Note: The U.S. has plenty of oil, but our European allies, NATO, in other words, do not. It is not surprising that Russia has a hand in all this. She is losing the war Putin started.

 

ABC reports, "The OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries decided Wednesday to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could deal the struggling global economy another blow and raise politically sensitive pump prices for U.S. drivers just ahead of key national elections.

"Energy ministers cut production by a larger-than-expected 2 million barrels per day starting in November after gathering for their first face-to-face meeting at the Vienna headquarters of the OPEC oil cartel since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The group said the decision was based on the “uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.” Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman stressed the group’s stated role as a guardian of stable energy markets."

“We are here to stay as a moderating force, to bring about stability,” he told reporters.

American politicians aren't the ones that can espouse B.S.

ABC continued, "U.S. President Joe Biden considered the OPEC+ decision “short-sighted while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One."

“It’s clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia with today’s announcement,” she said.

Note: The U.S. has plenty of oil, but our European allies, NATO, in other words, do not. It is not surprising that Russia has a hand in all this. She is losing the war Putin started.

 

CNN reports, "New CNN polling in two critical Senate battlegrounds finds that Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly holds a narrow lead over Republican challenger Blake Masters, while there is no clear leader in the race in Nevada between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and her GOP opponent, Adam Laxalt.

"The Arizona poll finds that 51% of likely voters are behind Kelly, with 45% backing Masters. In Nevada, 48% of likely voters support Laxalt, with 46% behind Cortez Masto.

"The polls suggest the underlying political climate in each state favors the GOP. Voters in both states are more likely to say the country will be better off than worse off if Republicans are in control of Congress (among registered voters, 44% to 35% in Nevada, 44% to 38% in Arizona), and President Joe Biden’s approval ratings break negative (39% approve and 60% disapprove in each state)."

It is surprising that a majority of American voters think Republicans can do a better job. The last time the GOP got to choose our President we got Trump. He thinks he is still President, and many Republicans in Congress agree with him. 147 Republicans voted to overturn the election results. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html

Most Americans think Republicans can do a better job with the economy.

During the Reagan-to-Trump timeline, the Republican presidencies had four recessions start in their terms: one each under Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and two under George W. Bush. By contrast, Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had zero. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...versee-recessions-dems-recoveries/5235957002/

The Biden economy is on fire. With full employment, job growth, and robust spending, it is why we have inflation.

The GOP gives heavy emphasis on crime when attacking Democrats, claiming the Democrats are soft on crime.

It is safe to say most criminals use illegal guns. The NRA-sponsored Republican Party is strongly opposed to meaningful gun control legislation. The Democratic Party strongly supports meaningful gun control legislation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill, and lost teenagers. Go figure.

Republicans avoid certain issues, such as their leader supporting a coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2021, to overthrow our elected government because he lost reelection by seven million votes.

The coup failed, so Trump had to pack up and leave the White House. He took with him hundreds of pages of classified documents.

The majority of Americans think Republicans can do a better job???

Still another factor, Republicans don't talk. As this thread attests, Republicans refuse to discuss the issues such as the issues presented here. They are good at lying, creating fantasies, lobbing personal insults, and providing cartoons, but the issues and what their party is doing are taboo.

Want proof? let's see if any Republican addresses the issues in this report.

 

The Russian army is going backwards, advancing toward the rear, retreating, or whatever you want to call it.

Through it all, Putin is not saying a thing.

CNN reports, "The head of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee demanded officials report the truth about developments on the battlefield in Ukraine, telling a journalist that senior figures need to "stop lying."

“First of all, we need to stop lying. We brought this up many times before… But somehow it's apparently not getting through to individual senior figures," Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said in an interview with Vladimir Solovyov, which was posted on Solovyov's Telegram channel on Wednesday.

"The reports from the Ministry of Defense do not change in substance. They say they destroyed 300 rockets, killed Nazis and so on. But people know. Our people are not stupid. But they don’t want to even tell part of the truth. This can lead to a loss of credibility,” he continued, using Russian President Vladimir Putin's false accusations of Nazism to justify his war in Ukraine."

 

Why is it politicians, business leaders, and the media try so hard to scare us?

The possibility of Putin using nuclear weapons out of desperation is extremely remote. Why? We can assume he has no wish to see Mother Russia annihilated. Even if he gave such an order in a moment of insanity, his military would not carry out the order, having knowledge of the dire consequences.

Yet, we have our President saying this. "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis."

CBS reports, "President Biden said Thursday the risk of "Armageddon" is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials allude to the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in Ukraine."

"We've got a guy I know fairly well," he later said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He's not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons, or biological or chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming."

"As recently as this week, though, U.S. officials have said they have seen no change to Russia's nuclear forces that would require a change in the alert posture of U.S. nuclear forces," CBS.

Biden's statements were unwarranted. They caused concern and served no purpose.

Then we have business leaders and the media telling us a recession is coming. We are being told that 70% of Americans think a recession is coming.

CNN told us, "Around the world, markets are flashing warning signs that the global economy is teetering on a cliff’s edge.

"The question of a recession is no longer if, but when."

Sure, recession is inevitable. It is called the economic cycle -- prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery -- but why is it that business leaders and the media moguls think it is smart to create anxiety and lower confidence?

In the meantime, the Biden economy is on fire.

ABC reports, "U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5% from 3.7%." That is the lowest unemployment rate in fifty years.

In addition to full employment and job growth, we have robust spending. That is why we have inflation. Only a fool would think inflation was caused by government spending.

What is not to like? With prosperity comes inflation, we have to take the good with the bad. It's like eating your peas with your sirloin steak.

Business leaders and the media should keep their mouths shut about recession and our President should stay away from Armageddon nonsense.

 

Although this thread attests that Republicans never talk, I will not say they are stupid.

But, one has to wonder. Why is it they never say anything when their party is being denounced?

That said, here are a few examples as to what the leading Republicans in Washington are saying.

CNN reports, "During a private meeting last summer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told two police officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 that former President Donald Trump had no idea his supporters were carrying out the attack. McCarthy maintained Trump was unaware of the violence inside the Capitol when he spoke with Trump by phone that afternoon."

Who is more foolish? McCarthy, who may be lying to cover for his boss, or Trump as President was unaware that our capitol was being attacked by far-right extremists loyal to him? Either way, it does not look good for the Republican Party from an intelligence point of view.

Then we have Senator Scott who claims the Democrats are out to destroy our country. In a statement to NBC News, Scott said, “The Democrats want to destroy this country, and they will try to destroy anyone who gets in their way. Today it’s Herschel Walker, but tomorrow it’s the American people.”

Huh! Double huh! Incidentally, the Democrats are not saying a thing about Walker, not even Walker's opponent, Raphael Warnock. They don't have to. Walker and the Republicans are doing it for them.

Then we have the comments of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). Speaking to an all-white audience in Minden, Nev.. the Republican Senator said, "They’re [Democrats] pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that,” adding profanity.

Note: The General Services Administration (GSA) is a small government agency that helps Presidents move in or out of the White House, depending on the circumstances. It has nothing whatsoever to do with classified documents. It moves furniture and belongings.

Saving the best for last, Trump's latest fantasy. This guy has no problem at all lying to the American people. Trump and his allies are now claiming that the government agency is to blame for packing the boxes containing classified documents that were later recovered by the FBI during the search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in August.

Why do Republicans like McCarthy, Scott, Tuberville, and Trump make such ludicrous remarks? Rational voters will only laugh at such statements.

They say those things because grassroots Republicans will believe them. They are speaking to their base, the educationally challenged rural voter, not the general public.

Republicans are incapable of addressing the issues in this report.

Grassroots Republicans chose our President in 2016, helped along by Vladimir Putin. Are we going to allow them to take control of our Congress in November?

 

Sandy Shanks said:
Then we have business leaders and the media telling us a recession is coming. We are being told that 70% of Americans think a recession is coming.

New York CNN Business — The Federal Reserve’s fight to squash inflation will cause the US economy to start losing tens of thousands of jobs a month beginning early next year, Bank of America warns.

Although the jobs market remained surprisingly strong in September, the Fed is working hard to change that by aggressively raising interest rates to ease demand for everything from cars and homes to appliances.

The pace of job growth is expected to be roughly cut in half during the fourth quarter of this year, Bank of America told clients in a report Friday.

New York CNN Business — So much for a sleepy Columbus Day on Wall Street. Stocks weren’t doing much Monday morning but took a turn lower in the afternoon following stark comments from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who warned that the United States is likely to enter a recession within the next six to nine months.

Meanwhile, despite Republican complaints, the Biden economy is on fire.

ABC reports, "U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5% from 3.7%." That is the lowest unemployment rate in fifty years.

In addition to full employment and job growth, we have robust spending. That is why we have inflation. Only a fool would think inflation was caused by government spending.

Americans can't stand prosperity. They blame the Democrats for inflation and economic woes (?) and think Republicans can do better even though Republicans have a history of recessions.

Do Americans want a recession?

 

During the presidency of Barack Obama, the United States began providing Saudi Arabia with critical support to "sustain" the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in the Yemeni Civil War,[1] later expanded during the presidency of Donald Trump.[2] U.S. arms sales to the coalition have continued. From 2015 to 2019, Saudi Arabia was reportedly the largest importer of U.S. arms. Wikipedia

The White House is re-examining our relationship with Saudi Arabia for obvious reasons. The Saudis sided with Russia on the matter of oil production with the intent to severely harm the war effort in Ukraine while causing harm to Western economies.

CNN reports, "Senate Foreign Affairs Chairman Bob Menendez tied the US-Saudi relationship to Russia’s war as he argued the US should end the relationship. The New Jersey Democrat called for an immediate freeze in US-Saudi relations after OPEC announced decreasing oil production last week, pledging that he “will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine.”

"Another top Senate Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia “clearly” wants Russia to win the war in Ukraine and told CNN’s John Berman on ‘New Day’: “Let’s be very candid about this: it is Putin and Saudi Arabia against the United States. I think it’s time for us to imagine a foreign policy where we do not count on Saudi Arabia,” Durbin said.

"President Joe Biden feels that the US’ relationship with Saudi Arabia needs to be re-evaluated in the wake of the OPEC+ decision last week to decrease oil production, a National Security Council spokesman said .

"In an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Biden is “willing to work with Congress as we think about what the right relationship with Saudi Arabia needs to be going forward.”

“I think the President’s been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to reevaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit. And certainly, in light of the OPEC decision, I think that’s where he is, and he’s willing to work with Congress to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward,” he said.

The problem is, we need all the friends we can get in the oil-producing Middle East.

Nothing is simple in today's world.

 

Since the U.S. is self-sufficient in oil and natural gas, Saudi Arabia needs us more than we need them.

CNBC reports, "President Joe Biden is angry at Saudi Arabia for its decision to slash oil production along with its OPEC allies against U.S. wishes, and he’s made no secret of it.

"With the global economy on a knife-edge and energy prices high, Washington sees the kingdom’s move – which it made in coordination with Russia and other oil-producing states – as a snub and a blatant display of siding with Moscow.

"The oil producer group in early October announced its largest supply cut since 2020, to the tune of 2 million barrels per day from November, which its members say is designed to spur a recovery in crude prices to counter a potential fall in demand.

"For this, Biden said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that there would be “consequences.” He did not go into further detail as to what those consequences might be."

 

This is weird. I mean really weird.

CNN reports, "Americans’ views of President Joe Biden have rebounded slightly from their dismal outlook over the summer, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. But public assessment of the economy remains grim, and Americans remain largely unconvinced that Biden, Congress or the government as a whole are meaningfully addressing major issues facing the country."

Are most Americans aware of the fact that have a free enterprise system in this country? What does that mean exactly? It means that Americans control our economy, not Congress or the government.

It means that Congress and the government have very little control over our economy.

Do Americans in these polls prefer an autocratic government? In a dictatorship, the government controls the economy, not the people. Is that what these Americans want?

That is only part of the story.

People living in other western countries would kill for an economy that is as successful and as powerful as ours.

We have full employment, job growth, and robust spending. Someone explain to me, what is not to like?

An answer to that question, albeit a poor one, is inflation. Inflation is why Americans are bitching. But there is absolutely nothing Biden or Congress can do about inflation except raise interest rates to slow the economy. Hypothetically, let's say we had a Republican President, and a GOP-controlled Congress. There is absolutely nothing a Republican President and Congress could do about inflation, either. Besides, they have a history of recessions.

Is that what Americans want, a recession? We don't know what they want. All they do is bitch.

What most Americans do not know, is that inflation is a by-product of prosperity. What is meant by prosperity? Answer: Full employment, job growth, and robust spending.

In a very real sense, the American people are bitching about prosperity, bitching we have it so good.

I seriously doubt any of those Americans will respond to this report. Like I said, they just bitch.

 

Trump loses again. This is getting to be a habit with him, but the educationally challenged members of his cult will stand by him. We know this even though they don't say a thing.

With the exception of Trump's judge, 41-year-old US District Judge Aileen Cannon, it would appear that the justices want no part in Trump's delay tactics, wish not to reward him for his tactics, and are reluctant to get involved in a DOJ criminal investigation.

The AP reports, "The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump’s plea to step into the legal fight over the FBI search of his Florida estate.

"The justices did not otherwise comment in turning away Trump’s emergency appeal.

"Trump had pressed the court on an issue relating to classified documents seized in the search authorized by a federal judge of Mar-a-Lago.

"The Trump team was asking the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.

"The move Thursday appears to greatly reduce the potential impact of the special master process to the ongoing Justice Department criminal investigation into the classified documents."

ABC reports, "The Justice Department has submitted its brief arguing for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to shut down special master Raymond Dearie's review of more than 11,000 documents seized by the FBI in its August raid of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

"They argue that district Judge Aileen Cannon took "unprecedented" action in granting the "extraordinary relief" sought by Trump in the appointment of Dearie."

I wonder if Cannon is sorry she ever met Donald Trump.

Through it all, Trump's supporters remain silent.

 

Many wonder if this will do any good. Resolutions do not stop missiles and zombie drones.

CNN reports, "An assembly of representatives drawn from 46 national parliaments across Europe voted overwhelmingly in favor on Thursday for a resolution calling on European countries to “declare the current Russian regime as a terrorist one.”

"A total of 99 out of 100 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted in support of the resolution. Only a Turkish MP from the Republican People’s Party abstained.

"The resolution called on Russia to “completely and unconditionally withdraw its occupying forces.”

"PACE is a parliamentary body of the Council of Europe, an international organization separate from the European Union."

 

Are voters uninformed? The reader will decide.

The Times reports, "A variety of data suggests that the electorate’s attention is shifting back to issues where Republicans are on stronger ground in public opinion, like the economy, inflation, crime and immigration, and away from the summer’s focus on democracy, gun violence, and abortion, where Democrats have an edge.

During the Reagan-to-Trump timeline, the Republican presidencies had four recessions start in their terms: one each under Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and two under George W. Bush. By contrast, Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had zero. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...versee-recessions-dems-recoveries/5235957002/

With full employment, substantial job growth, and robust spending, the Biden economy is on fire. Inflation is a by-product of prosperity. To change that, unemployment must increase causing less spending. That will result in lower prices. It is called a recession. Does the voter want a recession? That's what they are saying. Is that why they think Republicans can do a better job with the economy?

The truth is, in a free enterprise system there is very little the federal government can do about the economy.

Four Republican Presidents, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and Trump could not solve the immigration problem.

Bad guys use illegal guns. The NRA-sponsored Republican Party is strongly opposed to meaningful gun control that would keep guns out of the hands of bad guys and lonely teenagers with mental problems.

The Republican Party supports government control of a pregnant woman's body. What else do they want to control?

The Republican Party is led by Donald Trump. Not only did Trump incite a riot in our capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, but he is attacking the basis of American democracy by challenging the results of a free election. He is joined by countless Republicans running for office and/or members of Congress.

In addition, "During Donald Trump’s presidency, Trump hotels charged the Secret Service as much as $1,185 per night, more than five times the recommended government rate, and the high rates continued after he left office," NBC, thus providing a clue as to the personality of the Republican leader.

The Hill reports, "Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) took a shot at Republican challenger Herschel Walker for skipping a debate held by the Atlanta Press Club on Sunday.

"Warnock was introduced along with Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, while Walker was represented by an empty lectern."

Republicans will remain totally silent on the issues presented.

We have the result of our third New York Times/Siena College national survey of the midterm cycle to go with your coffee this morning: 49 percent of voters say they back the Republican congressional candidate in their district, compared with 45 percent backing the Democratic one," the Times.

 

With respect to educationally challenged rural voters, do they wish to keep it that way? It would seem so. They don't say much.

The man below, with the help of Vladimir Putin, was the Republican choice for President in 2016. He currently is the leader of the Republican Party. He is the leading Republican for the Presidency in 2024.

Republicans are expected to win control of Congress in November.

CNN reports, "During a December 2019 Oval Office interview with then-President Donald Trump, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward asked whether his bellicose rhetoric toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been intended to drive Kim to the negotiating table."

“No. No. It was designed for whatever reason, it was designed. Who knows? Instinctively. Let’s talk instinct, okay?” Trump said. “Because it’s really about you don’t know what’s going to happen. But it was very rough rhetoric. The roughest.”

Trump then instructed his aides to show Woodward his photos with Kim at the DMZ. “This is me and him. That’s the line, right? Then I walked over the line. Pretty cool. You know? Pretty cool. Right?” the President said.

The American President going to Kim in North Korea was complete embarrassment for the United States.

Trump thought it was cool.

Trump gave Woodward the classified letters from Kim.

“And don’t say I gave them to you, okay?” Trump told Woodward.

"Trump shares his views about the strongmen he admires – including Kim, Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan," CNN.

Trump declared himself the “president of law and order.”

Regarding his speeches, “I get, I get people. They come up with ideas. But the ideas are mine, Bob. The ideas are mine. Want to know something? Everything is mine. You know, everything. Every part of it.”

Concerning a highly classified weapons system, “I have built a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before.”

The [Republican] Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday [4/21/2020] reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/...rms-russia-aimed-to-help-trump-in-2016-198171

“I like Putin. Our relationship should be a very good one. I campaigned on getting along with Russia, China and everyone else. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing, all right? Especially because they have 1,332 nuclear f***ing warheads.”

Trump, along with Hershel Walker and Dr. Oz, represent the Republican idea of political leadership!

Don's forget to vote.