A whispery president, Joe Biden, rejected that his tax increases are “unreasonable” because “liberal nutcase” Ronald Reagan had the same corporate rate, while claiming that “MAGA Republicans” are putting the US economy at risk over threats of debt ceiling.
Biden made remarks in the Roosevelt Room midmorning Friday, praising the February jobs report, while also touting his budget proposal and asking House Republicans to see theirs.
“I’m ready, I told the speaker, as soon as you’re ready to present your budget, I’m ready to sit down,” Biden said. “And now I’m hearing things like we won’t have our budget until April or May, maybe even June,” the president said, hitting the Republican majority in the House.
Biden also held up an article saying the conservative House Freedom Caucus would not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless he cuts non-military spending by 25 percent across the board.
“That means cops, firefighters, it means medical care,” Biden noted.
The president called threats not to raise the debt ceiling “reckless talk” and said making such statements puts the economic recovery at risk.
A whispery President Joe Biden pushed back that his tax increases are ‘unreasonable’ because ‘liberal crackpot’ Ronald Reagan had the same corporate rate, while claiming that ‘MAGA Republicans’ are putting the US economy at risk for threats to the debt ceiling
“So I urge our extremist MAGA Republican friends in Congress to put their threats aside and join me in continuing the progress we’ve built,” Biden said.
On Thursday, Biden presented his budget proposal during a trip to Philadelphia.
The Democratic president said he wanted the corporate tax rate raised from 21 percent to 28 percent.
Biden joked that Republican President Ronald Reagan was a “crazy liberal kid” when he defied the GOP’s objections to raising the corporate tax rate.
The corporate tax rate for most of Reagan’s term was 28 percent.
Also, when Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the top tax rate went from 50 percent to 28 percent.
“You know, when we talked about a 28 percent tax rate, Ronald Reagan had a 28 percent tax rate, you know, that crazy liberal guy,” Biden told reporters in the room, using his trademark whisper.
“The idea that that is an unreasonable amount,” he said.
Biden’s budget uses tax increases on the wealthy to reduce the national debt, while also funding Democratic priorities, including child care, paid family leave, offshore wind farms and support for refugees.
He also wants to increase the wages of federal workers by 5.2 percent.
Republicans have fought tax increases, even passing a bill, which died in the Senate, to take funds from the Internal Revenue Service that were part of the Cut Inflation Act for new hires, for so the IRS could go after the taxes. traps
Biden used his whisper voice again when he mentioned that.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, which includes Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (pictured), said they would vote to lift the debt ceiling if Biden cut non-military spending 25 percent across the board.
You know all those IRS agents we had? They’re going to go through the accounts of the super-rich, which takes a lot of time, a lot of agents to go through it. They want to get rid of them,’ the president said of the Republicans.
“I don’t know, we just have a very different set of values,” he said.
Biden also commented Friday morning on the monthly jobs report.
“I think we have a good jobs report,” he said. “It means our economic plan is working,” she added.
The United States added 311,000 jobs in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which beat estimates but still represented fewer jobs than were added in January.
Dow Jones had estimated 225,000 hires would be made last month.
The unemployment rate dropped from 3.4 percent to 3.6 percent, which remains historically low, as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic that rocked the economy three years ago this month.
The government report on Friday made it clear that the nation’s job market remains fundamentally healthy, with many employers still eager to hire.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress this week that the Fed would likely increase its rate hikes if signs continued to point to a robust economy and persistently high inflation.
The US added 311,000 jobs in February, again beating estimates, but still accounting for fewer jobs than were added in January.
A strong labor market typically leads companies to raise wages and then pass their higher labor costs on to customers through higher prices.
Last month, the government reported a surprising increase in hiring for January – 517,000 added jobs – although that gain was revised down slightly to 504,000 in Friday’s report.
Consumers also increased their spending in January, suggesting that the economy had strengthened earlier in the year.
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge also accelerated.
With February’s sizable job growth following January’s expansionary gain, the Fed may accelerate its rate hikes to combat inflation.
When the Federal Reserve tightens credit, it typically leads to higher rates on mortgages, car loans, credit card loans, and many business loans.
What the Fed may decide to do about interest rates when it meets later this month remains uncertain. The decision will be based, in part, on his assessment of Friday’s jobs data and next week’s report on consumer inflation in February. Last month, the government report on inflation for january it had set off alarm bells by showing that consumer prices had accelerated again month by month.
The robust job growth for January, reported early last month, was the first in a series of reports pointing to an accelerating economy early in the year.
sales in retail stores and restaurants also jumped, and inflation, by the Fed’s preferred measure, rose from December to January to fastest pace in seven months.
The strongest data invested a cautiously optimistic narrative that the economy was cooling modestly, enough, perhaps, to control inflation without triggering a deep recession.
Now, the economic picture is more confusing.
High debt rates have caused craters in the housing market, and home sales have fell for 12 months straightconsequence of the fact that the average mortgage rate almost doubled during that time.
Manufacturing is also showing signs of weakness. Higher rates have made it harder for businesses and consumers to borrow to buy major factory goods, from machinery to cars and appliances.
By contrast, spending on services, such as travel, dining out, and attending entertainment events, remains strong.
Many Americans continue to engage in activities that were restricted during the COVID shutdowns.
Hiring at the February rate is about triple the level the Fed would prefer.
Job gains of around 100,000 per month would be enough to keep up with population growth and prevent unemployment from rising.
Such a low figure would also mean employers weren’t as desperate for workers and wouldn’t have to keep raising wages.
A higher salary is great for employees, of course.
But Fed officials say it is contributing to higher inflation, particularly in labor-intensive service industries such as restaurants, health care and hotels.
