The Biden Boom

To The Editor:

On Christmas Eve a Fayette County Record reader wrote that “he (Biden) has systematically destroyed the improved and (improving) economy, demolished the creation of new jobs…….).”

Maybe it was a busy Christmas season that kept the reader from seeing the following about the economy, jobs and wages.

In Washington Monthly, national economic consultant Robert J. Shapiro catalogued what he called the “extraordinary gains” of the past several months.

“Over the first three quarters of this year (2021), real GDP increased at a 7.8 percent annual rate—that’s adjusted for the current inflation,” he wrote.

“The Federal Reserve expects real growth of 5.9 percent for all of 2021, followed by another 3.8 percent increase in 2022.” In contrast, he says that the real GDP grew by an average rate of 2.2% every year and never actually reached 3% between 2000 and 2019. Reflecting this growth, the stock market is booming, with the S&P Index jumping 21.7% from January 20 to December 7, 2021.

He continues: “Americans’ disposable income grew 3% (after inflation) from January to October; in the same period in 2019 the rate was 0.5% and in 2018 it was 1.7%. Personal savings rates climbed during the pandemic, enabling households to pay off debt and make new purchases.

“Unemployment has fallen by a third since January (2021), Wages, too, have climbed…….”

Considering President Biden’s boom economy in 2021, the new year of 2022 could be an even Happier New Year.

Virginia Leech

La Grange