In the aftermath of the recent State of the Union speech, many conservative news outlets and websites have pointed out that there were several untruths in Joe Biden’s remarks. Parts of the speech also caught the attention of Joe From Texas, so he decided to offer commentary on the portions that stood out to him - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good:
Joe From Texas consistently talks about the need for America to manufacture more of the products we use, rather than buying these items from foreign countries. In his speech, Biden called for American-made materials to be used in all federal infrastructure projects. Joe From Texas agrees that this should be a goal; however, the problem, as pointed out by the CEO of the National Utility Contractors Association in an interview, is that some of the necessary products are not currently produced at home. If we are to achieve Biden’s goal, we need to plan the steps that must be taken to create an environment where domestic companies can produce these products and do so at a competitive price. (Source: https://www.international-construction.com/news/biden-us-infrastructure-to-be-made-with-us-construction-materials/8026529.article)
Biden also called for strengthening anti-trust laws to promote competition. Although we don’t yet know Biden’s specific proposals, Joe From Texas is a big believer that free market competition is the key to American economic success, and he generally supports anti-trust laws. However, the devil is always in the details, and he looks forward to learning more about Biden’s proposal.
The Bad:
In his speech, Biden bragged that prescription drug costs will come down because of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. In making this claim, he specifically referred to the part of the law that will allow Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs, and he also pointed out that this provision will help reduce the deficit. Although the part about lowering the cost of the drugs to the government is true, Joe From Texas invites you to read his post on prescription drug prices on this website. It was there that he pointed out these savings to the government that could mean increased costs of prescription drugs for Americans not on Medicare or other government insurance. Why? Because drug makers will likely make up what they lose from the government by charging everyone else more. In 2021, the United States had an estimated population of 327 million people. Of this number, 224 million were covered by private health insurance and 28 million were uninsured. That is roughly 77% of the population. This means that 252 million Americans could potentially see drug price increases as a result of the new law that Biden likes to brag about. (source on statistics: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10830)
Biden also bragged that, because of a law he signed, corporations will now have to pay a 15% minimum tax. Although this may sound good on the surface, there is more to the story than Joe Biden told the American people. In 2019, the Tax Foundation, an independent and well-respected policy organization, outlined the problems with legislation proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) that was very similar to the law Biden was referencing. At the time, the Tax Foundation said of Warren’s legislation “the current definition of taxable income is far from perfect, but it surely beats the alternative,” meaning the alternative proposed by Warren. Although it is easy for Joe Biden to beat up on corporations, we must remember that they are predominantly owned by U.S. citizen stockholders and that they employ great numbers of our fellow citizens. About 150 million Americans own stocks, with many being in retirement accounts. Additionally, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) points out that providing employees with stock is a popular form of compensation. PRI further states that 78% of this stock is owned by employees below the executive level. They further report that between 50% and 100% of corporate taxes are ultimately born by labor. They conclude that corporate stock appreciation is a path for workers to attain prosperity
and that Biden’s 15% tax will be a major roadblock to this. So, when Biden raises taxes on those corporations, it is not impacting some faceless entity, it is impacting real people. (Sources: https://taxfoundation.org/why-corporations-pay-no-income-tax/, Who Owns US Stock? Foreigners and Rich Americans. | Tax Policy Center, https://www.fool.com/research/how-many-americans-own-stock/, https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/biden-corporate-taxes/,https://www.pacificresearch.org/bidens-15-corporate-minimum-tax-hurts-workers/)
During the speech, Biden also proposed quadrupling the stock buyback tax on corporations. The law allowing the current 1% tax is only a few months old, and he is already back to asking congress to raise it. Although arguments can be made for or against whether stock buybacks are a good thing, Joe From Texas tends to focus on the free market aspect of this. Those who argue against stock buybacks act as if corporations are doing something underhanded. The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth. In such a transaction, you have a willing buyer, the corporation, purchasing stock from willing sellers, just as the free market is intended to function. If you don’t regularly pay attention to corporations and are unsure of what a stock buyback is, you can check out this link to learn more: What is the Stock Buyback Tax? - Foundation - National Taxpayers Union (ntu.org)
Biden tried to blame Donald Trump for running up the national debt more than any other president and claimed that he has reduced the deficit during his first two years. Although it is true that Trump ran deficits during the years preceding the pandemic, those deficits were not necessarily out of line with previous presidents. However, pandemic spending, which was passed with bi-partisan support, caused spending to balloon under Trump. Even MSN.com, which generally supports Biden and is no fan of Trump, disagreed with Biden’s insinuation that Trump spent recklessly. They also said that it was Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice-president, who holds the distinction of accumulating the most debt during a presidency in U.S. history. (source: Fact-checking Joe Biden's 2023 State of the Union address (msn.com)
In one of his biggest whoppers, Biden claimed that Republicans want to cut social security and Medicare. Although no one knows for sure, he was apparently trying to make the case that a proposal by Senator Rick Scott to sunset and re-authorize all federal programs every 5 years is a call to get rid of social security and Medicare. It was a big lie and Biden, along with every congressperson watching the speech, knew it. Republicans are not always bright, but even the dullest Republicans realize that attempting to make any changes to these programs without bi-partisan support is a political suicide mission. Another part of Biden’s lie on this subject is what he knows and is not telling the American people. The fact is that these programs will soon begin running out of money, and it is a lie to say that doing nothing is protecting them. According to a February 2023 CNN story, Medicare will run out of money in 5 years, and social security will be short of money by 2034. It is true that some Republicans are looking at these programs and trying to analyze options, short of raising taxes, for saving these programs; however, if you do a Google search of Democrat plans for saving these programs, you find very little other than raising taxes on what they call “the wealthy.” Unfortunately, they seem more interested in using these programs as a means of trying to gain a political advantage over Republicans than truly trying to solve the problem. Unless Democrats stop trying to gain an advantage and agree to work with Republicans to find a solution, the very people that Biden says he wants to protect will be harmed. Perhaps some targeted tax increases will have to be part of the solution, but consideration will also have to be given to other options, such as making changes to the programs for younger workers who are still far from retirement. Both parties agree that saving these programs for those who are already retired, or nearing retirement, is a must and that agreement is something they should be able to build on. (Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/politics/medicare-social-security-what-matters/index.html, https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-signal-cuts-social-security-175927429.html)
Biden’s claim about fast food workers being forced to sign non-compete agreements, as well as his claim that he created 12 million jobs, both missed the mark according to MSN.com. You can find more details here: Fact-checking Joe Biden's 2023 State of the Union address (msn.com)
The Ugly:
Using a worn-out Democrat talking point, Biden (a past his prime politician) made yet another call for an “assault weapon” ban. As a man knowledgeable about guns, Joe From Texas was completely confused during this portion of Biden’s speech because it is more difficult for him to provide a definition of an assault weapon than it is for a Democrat to provide the definition of a woman. Thankfully, Joe From Texas was relieved when he read that the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has the same problem. According to NSSF: “A so-called ‘assault weapon’ is NOT a machine gun or automatic firearm. Automatic firearms were severely restricted from civilian ownership under the 1934 National Firearms Act. A so-called ‘assault weapon’ is functionally no different than any other ‘legal’ firearm. These guns fire in the same manner as any other semi-automatic firearm (one shot per trigger pull — no spray firing), they shoot the same ammunition as other guns of the same caliber and are no more powerful.” The NSSF went on to add some additional common-sense food for thought on this topic. “Every possible object that can be used to assault someone (e.g. rock, hands, feet, chainsaw, bat, etc.) could fall under the definition of an ‘assault weapon,’ which is why it is a divisive and political term. An inanimate object doesn’t assault on its own.” If Joe Biden wants to get serious about taking weapons away from criminals, who by definition should not have them anyway, then he will get the support of Joe From Texas. However, his proposal to take guns away from law abiding citizens is a non-starter. (sources: https://www.nssf.org/articles/why-ar-15s-arent-machine-guns-shouldnt-be-assault-weapons/, https://townhall.com/columnists/johnnantz/2022/06/14/democrats-cant-define-a-woman-but-theyre-sure-about-violent-white-supremacist-n2608682)
Another ugly and outright false claim by Biden is his assertion that his “new border plan” is working on curbing immigration, but the real way to fix the problem is through immigration reform. Our border is absolutely not secure and fortified barriers or walls and stepped-up enforcement are the necessary ingredients to fix this problem. Although it may make sense to review and perhaps reform our immigration system, this should be done AFTER our borders are secure, not before.
In yet another comical statement, Biden said of the recent Chinese spy balloon that was shot down, “as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did.” Despite Biden’s claims that he did something great by ordering the balloon shot down, he has been widely criticized for allowing it to travel all the way across the U.S. before finally giving the order. Critics claim that the delay displayed weakness and Joe From Texas is inclined to agree with this assessment. (Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-failed-china-spy-balloon-test-mike-pompeo/ar-AA17a9Hk)
Near the end of his speech, Biden made the case that fentanyl is killing too many Americans. When he said this, some Republicans shouted out “it’s your fault.” Joe From Texas agrees with them because Biden’s unsecure border is the problem. As Joe From Texas has pointed out in other posts, it has been documented that most fentanyl and other drugs are coming across a porous southern border that Biden has done absolutely nothing to secure. Trying to address the fentanyl problem without securing the southern border is like repairing the sheetrock ceiling in your home that was damaged from a leaky roof - without first repairing the roof. The leak is the problem and if you don’t fix it first, the sheetrock will soon be damaged again. In a similar way, we must address things in order of importance if we are to solve the fentanyl problem. We must secure our border and attack the flow of fentanyl into our country. We have already lost too many lives to this problem, and we will continue to lose people until we take appropriate action. (Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-jeers-biden-calls-fentanyl-solution-your-fault-border-isnt-closed)
