Yesterday, March 16, Arizona Congressman Elijah Crane (R-CD2) delivered his latest newsletter to me by email.
The first several sections or blurbs in Crane's newsletter seem to exclusively contain both unverified/unverifiable and clearly unsupported claims which, on the surface, insult the intelligence of every reader who possesses critical thinking and analysis skills. Case in point:
"Record-high inflation..." really? Data reported by US Inflation Calculator, sourced from US Dept of Labor on March 12, 2024,
The annual inflation rate for the United States was 3.2% for the 12 months ending February, compared to the previous rate of 3.1%, according to U.S. Labor Department data published on March 12, 2024. The next inflation update is scheduled for release on April 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET, providing information on the inflation rate for the 12 months ending March 2024
Shown graphically also on the same US Inflation Calculator page,
Nevertheless, Bidenomics IS working for small businesses and working Americans, as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spelled out in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed which demonstrates and backs up her claims.
The American economy has improved significantly over the past year, especially for the middle class. In December 2022, I shared my optimism in these pages about our country’s economic trajectory: We had gotten our economy back on its feet after weathering significant shocks and were poised for growth. It’s now clear that optimism was justified. While some forecasters predicted a 100% chance of recession this year, that didn’t happen. During the first three quarters of 2023, annualized growth averaged around 3%. Americans are applying to start businesses at a record pace, consumers are buying more, and inflation has come down substantially.
Regarding Biden administration responsibility for inflation, consider that Fed chair Jerome Powell began raising interest rates two years ago this month. As reported by NPR,
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday for the first time since 2018, kick-starting its efforts to tackle the country's highest inflation in four decades.
The central bank raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point, marking the beginning of the end of the ultra-easy money policies that have been in place since the early days of the pandemic.By the way, who was the chief executive of the US federal government in the early days of the pandemic?
Regarding "senseless regulations" crushing small businesses, that's an incredibly VAGUE claim. Due to vagueness, it would be senseless for me to even begin to rebut here.
Regarding "rising crime in Biden's America," the Washington Post in an editorial today (gift article), noted that crime is falling throughout the country, except in Washington, D.C. (Read the well documented argument for free because I subscribe) Briefly, however, the editorial makes these points.
Violent crime declined in nearly every major U.S. city last year. The District was a tragic outlier. [and]
Many perpetrators apparently believed they could get away with breaking the law, and they were somewhat correct. The D.C. police force was the smallest in half a century.
Effective law enforcement requires that those who have the authority to combat crime also take responsibility for doing so. This is hard to achieve in the unusual hybrid system of government in the nation’s capital, with multiple federal and local agencies (and differing elected officials) in control of various aspects of criminal justice.
Can a case be made showing the D.C. police force staffing problem being related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection? I don't know.
However, rather than Mr Crane flippantly pointing fingers at the Biden administration, maybe he would do well to direct whoever writes his newsletters to be a bit more diligent about backing up specious allegations of policy concerns. That is, IF Crane's "one in the chamber" hopefully metaphoric newsletter title really wants to hit his rhetorical targets at all.
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