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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.

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[-] PortoPeople@lemm.ee 190 points 5 days ago

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

[-] Soup@lemmy.world 91 points 5 days 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 28 points 5 days ago

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

[-] Soup@lemmy.world 24 points 5 days 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.

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[-] Nougat@fedia.io 8 points 5 days ago

That's why emojis are so popular.

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[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 40 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days 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 18 points 5 days 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.

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[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 30 points 5 days 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.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

I think not stressing critical thinking skills is not a bug, but a feature, of schools that were designed to crank out factory workers.

It's sheer lunacy in today's world, but it also happens to be a feature for the qon/Republican agenda.

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[-] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 21 points 5 days ago

I'm sorry to have to upvote that.

[-] blattrules@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

I’m American and have to agree with it; it might be because I’m stupid though.

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[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

and like 90% of our media is owned or controlled by republicans.

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[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 75 points 5 days 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 72 points 5 days ago

Outrageous lies are what make the news.

[-] blattrules@lemmy.world 32 points 5 days 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 12 points 5 days 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.

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[-] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 9 points 5 days ago

It's high time the Dems stooped to this level. That and promote ragebait podcasts pushing their agenda. It's sad, but you can't argue with the results.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

So many of the problems Dems want to address are so easy to sell too. It's like they don't actually want to win or achieve anything, they're content to be a permanent minority opposition party that continues fundraising and campaigning ad infinitum.

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[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 66 points 5 days 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 24 points 5 days 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 19 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days 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.

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[-] ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world 67 points 5 days ago

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

[-] pjwestin@lemmy.world 42 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days 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 16 points 5 days 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 10 points 5 days 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?

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[-] Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

As you rightfully note the relationship between federal economic policy and economic outcomes is complex and it’s not easy to tease apart cause and effect. Having said that Democrats have through history presided over MUCH better economic outcomes than Republicans, and Biden is no exception. Yet, voters consistently believe that (generic) Republicans are better for the economy than generic Democrats.

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[-] danc4498@lemmy.world 32 points 5 days 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 16 points 5 days 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.

[-] treefrog@lemm.ee 16 points 5 days ago

Fear was what they used. They used fear of Trump. Fear of democracy ending, etc.

What she needed was outrage at those responsible. Corporations.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

What she needed was outrage at those responsible. Corporations.

The DNC isn't allowed to bite the hand that feeds them their funding

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[-] treefrog@lemm.ee 10 points 5 days ago

She should have been blaming those responsible, corporations. And outlining how she was going to go after them.

But that would have likely cost her campaign funds...

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[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 5 days ago
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[-] bloup@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 5 days 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

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Opinion: Authors that proclaim voters "need to be more educated" should maybe be forced to buy a book on how politics work... have always worked, since the beginning of time.

Then: as they quite clearly don't know how to use a book properly they should shove that book as far up their asses as it can go.

The only way forward for the people of America is to leave both corrupted corporate parties behind.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yes and no. I agree they solved the problems, but there was no fixing high prices even if inflation rate was brought down.

It's like when Kamala was asked "was there anything you'd do differently?" The problem was she actually answered the question. The administration made the right choices, so there was little different she would have done. She should have done the politician thing and answered adjacently how she's going to solve high prices.

[-] krashmo@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

This is not a messaging problem it's a measurement problem. The metrics we use to gauge economic progress and/or health are not effective indicators of anyone's experience but the wealthy. When Dems tell me wages have gone up so income inequality is getting better what they mean is that new jobs are on average offering slightly higher pay to new hires.

They don't say that slightly higher pay is 5 cents an hour which is practically useless. They don't acknowledge that this tiny wage increase is dwarfed by the impacts of inflation over the last 4 years. Worst of all, they don't say that because this wage increase only applies to new hires, anyone working the same job for more than a couple of years hasn't seen a wage increase at all, but that price gouging has definitely impacted them. That last one is important because it applies to a huge chunk of people.

This is just the way it works out with wages but basically everything these pundits are saying is great under Biden could be described the same way. They're talking about averages which when applied to 330 million people produce numbers that sound significant, but when you look at almost any individual it doesn't make a practical difference in their lives. Sure, you may have slowed the rate at which things are getting worse, but are you honestly surprised at this reaction? You're telling people you solved their problems and they're responding "no, you absolutely did not and fuck you for saying that"

[-] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yeah this shit is insane. We fixed inflation! Great, that's great, but where are our, meaning the working class, 25% raises to offset the inflation that already happened? I'll be up for my second raise in three years in 6 months. It's already promised to be 7% which will beat inflation (and I plan to fight for more), but I would need 25% to get my pay to be worth the same as it was three years ago before my first raise.

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[-] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Marginally addressed. Like I get it. He's better than Trump, but so is 50% of the average person I see outside. There is no effectively addressed, when we know the tested, studied, and actually implemented solutions.

For example: The ACA. Yes an improvement from what came before but a quarter baked bandaid on the bullet wound of a health care system. We know universal health care system is the answer. It's a fact. The Democratic party never once made that a core part of their platform. Even if you know you won't get everything when working in a democracy you still have to argue from a far left position so when you compromise it's a stronger shift. The middle ground between universal health care coverage and 100% free market is the public option. Where Americans can decide between government coverage or private. But the ACA essentially forced everyone above the poverty line into private insurance held up by government subsidies.

Another example: instead of being 100% anti genicide the Democrat leadership landed on reducing the sizes of bombs given to Isreal?! What's the middle ground between the 100% pro genicide party and the 75% genicide party? Ya ones better but if we land on a compromise of 87% genicide, did we really achieve anything?

Income inequality: Republicans 100% pro oligarchy Democratic party leadership is 75% pro oligarchy. The party of facts and science knows our economy with collapse every 20 to 30 years to keep the jinga Tower from crumbling to the foundation so what do they do? Bail out the companies that destroyed the economy in the first place and reset the lopsided tower. If we bail out a company why shouldn't it also be nationalized?!

I can keep going on. Every issue the Democratic party's solutions are little more than the queen saying, "let them eat cake."

I live in a solid blue state and surround myself with far left people because we've realized, expecting the federal government to improve your life is a fools errand. We're building our own bubble of compassion, science, and facts. Yes we vote blue but know the only change we can truly make starts by getting involved in our community and surrounding ourselves with those that will fight from a strong position and not a already right leaning position. If we're going to die it'll be with a Molotov cocktails in one hand and surround by those that actually care about each other. Opposed to at the feet of the oligarchy begging for crumbs.

[-] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 11 points 5 days ago

It's funny you mention the ACA, since what we have now came from Republicans absolutely gutting the original ACA proposal which should surprise absolutely no one since the GOP is bought and paid for by insurance companies.

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[-] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

Biden (and the rest of us) is being punished for the mistake of not making prosecuting trump and overturning his last 4 years the #1 priority.

[-] 01011@monero.town 6 points 5 days ago

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

[-] roguetrick@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Well their next candidate, Newsom, certainly has done a lot in regards to the visibly homeless. The future looks bleak no matter how you slice it. I hope to God the neolibs can't make that shithead stick as the anointed candidate.

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this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2024
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