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JAMES CARTER: The Standard Of ‘Are You Better Off?’

The most memorable moment from the only debate between President Jimmy Carter and Governor Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election was when Reagan famously Asked Ask the American people: Are you richer than you were four years ago?

Less well known is that then-Senator Joseph R. Biden Disgusting response. (Related article: Diana Ferchtgott-Ross: The Democratic Party is on another planet)

In a video released during Biden's 1984 reelection campaign, Biden blasted Reagan, saying, “The candidates running for president today are saying, 'Are you happier today than you were yesterday?' What kind of standard is that for getting this country back on its feet?”

“What standard is that?” Really? Mr. President, that is the only standard that ultimately matters. As you often say, it is nonsense to argue otherwise.

But for President Biden's reelection, he'd be better off hoping the American people agree with him.

(it's not.)

No polling agency has asked Americans whether they value a better life. Why would they? The answer is clearly a resounding “yes.”

So the question is: do Americans believe they'll be better off under a Biden administration? And who do they believe will lead them to a better life in the future?

Consider the following poll.

  • According to the Associated Press Report from earlier this year“Only 24% of Americans say things are better than when Biden took office, compared with 41% who say things are worse and 34% who say they're neither better nor worse. Majorities also say the country as a whole and the national economy are worse off than when Biden took office.”
  • According to a Gallup report, twenty one% 70% of Americans are satisfied with the “current state of America,” further evidence that most Americans don’t think their lives have gotten better.
  • a vote A University of Michigan poll conducted this month for the Financial Times found that a majority of voters (45%) said Trump's reelection would make their lives “a lot” or “somewhat” better.

This raises the question: Where is the prosperity the country enjoyed under the Trump administration before the pandemic?

Biden is sadly learning that expanding government and rising inflation are no substitute for prosperity.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) currently averages just 1.8% It will increase every year until 2034. Average real growth rate: 3.6% What America enjoyed from 1947 to 2000!

While the U.S. economy is sluggish, federal spending is exploding under the Biden administration.

The CBO said last month that federal spending would total $6,805 billion — Approximately $216,000 per second — This fiscal year (2024) February 2021Shortly after President Biden took office, the CBO projected total spending would be just $5.258 trillion in fiscal year 2024. In other words, the federal government will spend 29.4% more this year than the CBO had projected when Biden began his administration.

Considering the trillions of dollars the federal government spends each year, a 29.4% increase is huge.

This enormous, unjustified and harmful increase in federal spending is the result of the Biden Administration's extravagant spending policies and the resulting soaring inflation and interest rates.

Also, recall that inflation was just 1.4% (year-over-year) when Biden took office in January 2021. Price levels have skyrocketed since then. 20.1%This far exceeds the 7.7% inflation rate that occurred during President Trump's four years in office.

Forty years ago, Senator Biden told Americans that a president should not be judged on whether he made the country “better,” which explains why the Biden administration has been such a spectacular failure.

James Carter served in the White House for two years as vice chairman of the National Economic Council and then served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Assistant Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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