Recent metrics on the economy and the virus reflect a burgeoning American renaissance that is unfolding across our land. This reality is grasped by citizens who can cut through the cacophony of negativity and prevarications propagated by the Democrats and their allies in corporate media.
This is an unprecedented year in so many respects, and most of them unfortunate. The malfeasance and deception of the Chinese Communist Party led to changes in our society that would have been unthinkable just months ago. America was hit by an epidemiological Pearl Harbor. In addition, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death, an intense Supreme Court nomination battle looms.
Peril . . . and Promise
But despite these important, volatile, and unusual factors, in the end, the electoral decision for most Americans will default to the typical presidential voter calculus: “Which candidate will make me—and the country—more prosperous?”
A dispassionate look at recent data on the virus and the economy reveals an incredibly optimistic trajectory for our nation. The numbers paint a picture of a country rising and coalescing.
In this regard, the scene today largely resembles the 1984 backdrop, when Ronald Reagan’s famous “Morning in America” campaign commercial perfectly captured the essence of a resurgent nation. Not long before that ad, Reagan’s chances for a second term seemed imperiled. The GOP was routed in the 1982 midterms, and Reagan’s approval numbers languished around 40 percent. Sound familiar?
Reagan is a lionized figure today but he, like all truly transformational leaders, was highly divisive during his term and especially reviled by the Washington establishment which viewed him as a dangerous, unpredictable outsider.
As in 1984, the current trend lines point to a robust renewal for America. Specifically, the latest statistics on the Chinese virus point clearly toward health. While no one would dare yet proclaim a virus “all clear,” it is certainly increasingly evident that our current approach succeeds, and we are indeed rounding the corner. Most parts of America have smartly reopened. Our country grows cognizant of managing virus risks, protecting the most vulnerable, and aggressively pursuing therapeutics, especially a vaccine.
Because of these efforts, Health and Human Services testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir, remarked to CNN on Sunday that “from the peaks in early July and late July, the number of cases are down by 41 percent.” Giroir continued: “the number of people in an [intensive care unit] is down 62 percent. The number of deaths are down almost 30 percent.”
These constructive trends on the virus undoubtedly provide a key part of the incredible economic revival that now flourishes across America. Just last Friday, the widely-watched University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index far surpassed expectations, rising to 78.9 points, the highest level in six months as America’s ascent from the lockdown lows continues. Those optimistic consumers continue to fuel an astounding housing boom. Reflecting the home sales and home construction expansion, last week the National Association of Home Builders reported another new all-time high for builder sentiment.
Who Can Deliver on the Economy?
Regarding economic data, last week the Census Bureau also released its final reports on the year 2019. The deluge of data reinforces the incredible economy our country enjoyed before the artificial interruption of the CCP virus, especially for working-class labor.
For the full year, median overall incomes grew an astounding 6.8 percent, by far the highest yearly wage acceleration ever. In actual dollar terms, the median household saw one-year gains of over $4,300. To put that number in context, 2019, by itself, represents over $1,300 more new income than the entire eight years combined of the Obama-Biden Administration.
Plus, the benefits of the first Trump boom flowed largely to the economic underdogs, the strivers who languished during the slow growth Obama-Biden era. During the Vice-President Biden years, economic elites captured the rewards, as asset inflation rewarded the holders of stocks and real estate. In contrast, Trump’s policies reward both capital markets and laborers. In 2019, for example, blacks and Hispanics saw even higher income growth than the overall stellar numbers. Such income gains drove the poverty rate to a 60-year low, and the first three years of Donald Trump in the White House saw an incredible 2.8 million children lifted out of poverty.
A Recovery Well Underway
But the best news about 2019, is that the past is prologue . . . because the economic surge is happening again, right now. The present economic resurrection of America gains steam, as backed by recent data.
In addition to the housing and consumer sentiment news, income gains reassert here, too. In August our country added back a massive amount of jobs, with over 1.37 million new hires. The jobs report also detailed a robust 4.7 percent average annual wage growth. In addition, as was the case before the pandemic, some of the biggest rewards accrue to the economic strivers.
For example, average hourly earnings for factory workers just hit an all-time high in August, and the pace of manufacturing income gains since Trump took office is a full 3 percent higher than the last four years of Obama-Biden.
Of course, corporate media mavens fixate on negativity and give scant attention to these many encouraging data points. Despite the frantic fear-mongering and divisive tactics of the Democrats and their allies in the press, Americans embrace a very different reality—a country that welcomes progress on the virus and an accelerated, “super V-shaped” economic renewal. It’s morning in America.