America's Talking - Episode 85: Biden Touts Successes During State of Union, Critics Point To Inflation, Deceptions

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

Join The Center Square’s Executive Editor Dan McCaleb and D.C. Bureau Chief Casey Harper as they discuss President Joe Biden touting what he said were his administration's many accomplishments since taking office during his Tuesday night State of the Union address, heralding economic gains, the bounce back from COVID-19, funding for Ukraine and more. The Super Bowl has become something like an annual holiday for Americans full of football, food and beverages, but the recent spike in food prices means catering a Super Bowl gathering will cost Americans more than ever. Half of Americans report their personal finances are “worse off” than they were a year ago, according to a new survey. --- Listen to Other ATN Productions: America's Talking: An interview podcast hosted by Austin Berg. Guests include professors, journalists, artists, business and nonprofit leaders, authors, and more. Everyday Economics: Join economist Dr. Orphe Divounguy and Chris Krug as they discuss global markets, inflation, and everything else that will help you understand the economic world around you. Future of Freedom: Future of Freedom is a bi-weekly podcast highlighting the work of the non-profits which are shaping the future of the freedom movement. Listeners will hear civil, intellectual conversations about why the organizations exist, what their mission is, and how they work to achieve it. Hosted by Scot Bertram. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the America in Focus podcast, powered by the Center Square. America in Focus is a production of America's Talking Network. I'm Dan McAulb, executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. To support great podcasts like this one, please donate by clicking the link in the show description. Returning to America and Focus podcast is Casey Harper, who took some time off to take care of and enjoy. He and his wife's new baby boy, Enoch. Casey, how are you enjoying being a first time? dad. Dan, it is, it is good to be back. I laid awake every night just thinking of how much I missed

you in our audience. So, no, I'm just kidding, but I did lay awake a lot in his last couple weeks. Yeah, as you might expect. But being a dad is great. Our son is healthy. And he's a pretty good baby. He's not too fussy. He's not, you know, crying a lot for no reason. Knock on wood for that one. Well, congratulations. Um, certainly. happy to have you back, but glad you got to spend some time with your new son and, of course, your wife, fatherhood's a big step. And I wish you the best. Thanks, Dan. You got any parenting advice? What's your, you know, last time I asked you this, it was a little, you know, dicey. So have you had time to think about what's the one big

Dan's parenting book, Chapter 1? Cross your fingers and hope for the best. Okay, wow. Just full of gems of wisdom. Casey, you returned this week and we're thrown right into the fire with the president giving his second State of the Union speech. As usual with such speeches, Democrats cheered. Republicans either were quiet or jeered. There were some booze along the way. Tell us about what were the highlights for you from the state of the union. This was a pretty interesting speech coming off of a midterm where Democrats did see a little bit more success than expected. But at the same time, Biden's poll numbers have actually plummeted. And we can talk more about that later on the podcast. But the Democratic Party is doing okay.

But Biden himself is really faltering as he heads in these last two years. And, you know, from a Democrat perspective, he does have some good marks on his record. He passed COVID relief. And he talked a lot about that. he's got a lot of funding for Ukraine, and that's something that he did tout in his bill, although he did not focus on that. He focused mostly on domestic issues. He focused a lot about the economy, which was an interesting choice because there's some pretty pointed criticisms against Biden on the economy, and with a lot of data to back them up. But Biden

focused on his strengths in the economy, particularly the unemployment rate, which is relatively low and has remained low during his term. He also talked a lot about job creation. Now, we shut down the whole economy in 2020, just about. And of course, a lot of people were fired because of that. And so once we reopen the economy, of course, jobs flooded back in. And so there's a little bit of a slide of hand here, I think, with how he's taking credit for all the jobs created by reopening the economy. So, you know, but it's better than the job's not coming back at all, I guess. So he talked a lot about that.

he made mention of a litany of topics because the speech was exceptionally long. I believe it was the most words ever spoken at a state of the union. It may not technically be the longest minutes-wise because he was speaking rather quickly. And there were some jokes about that on Twitter and such. But he touted the economy. He talked about getting gas prices down from their record highs. Again, it's better than them not coming down, but they rose to, record eyes on his watch. So he talked about inflation slowing, which is true. Of course,

that is a welcome, a welcome site for Americans who have seen prices sore since Biden took office. And of course, it's a good thing if they're slowing. The question is, are they going to stay where they are? Are they going to pick back up? I don't think anyone is quite sure about that right now. So he touted where he had wins on the economy. He didn't talk too much about where he was struggling, as you might expect from an incumbent president. Yeah, and the jobs thing, no doubt there's been a nice run in the economy, an added jobs. You have to wonder, though, in the coming months with big tech, with big banks and others,

having some significant layoffs in Amazon, J.P. Morgan Chase, Disney, this week, announced significant layoffs. You have to wonder if that period of job growth is going to be. continue. Yeah, well, I mean, it's, it's really expensive to hire people right now. I mean, so there is a labor shortage, but when all these costs go up in the added regulatory burdens and things like that, things like the Pro Act, which Democrats are, which was mentioned in the state of the union and Democrats are really pushing forward would make it even more expensive to hire people. So those are things to watch out for. You can't take for granted a low unemployment

rate because when unemployment rises, it can take a long time and be really hard to get it back under control. We saw that in the 2008 crisis, how long it took for unemployment to get back to a more acceptable level after it rose. So unemployment is a bright spot right now, but you're right, it's something to keep an eye on. I mean, you know, Biden also highlighted a lot, talked to a lot about the wealthiest, quote-called wealthiest and biggest corporations paying their fair share, which has been a Democrat talking point, really since it's for over a decade now. But he really highlighted. He pushed for the billionaire, a billionaire tax. He touted his 15% minimum corporate book tax, which requires corporations to, it makes it harder for corporations to evade taxes, basically,

by claiming losses and things like that. And I think that is a popular talking point. It's one of the, one of the populist talking points for Democrats. You know, some of their other policies are more ideological, some of the less popular, quote, quote, woke or gender issues are more ideological and less popular for regular Americans. But when they stick to some of these populist topics talking about, you know, things like Fortune 500 companies not paying taxes, while there is some, you know, it's not entirely true. It really, I think it does hit well with the average Americans like, hey, yeah, these corporations

should be paying taxes. So in some ways it's hard to even summarize the speech because it was so long. He talked about everything. But the things I think to highlight are his push on for these, you know, these tax changes. He emphasized the economy. He welcomed the new leadership. He did tout that he was kind of a bipartisan president, talked about signing over 300 pieces of bipartisan legislation. And there has been, you know, especially after COVID, there was some bipartisan work that they were able to get done. So, you know, he, of course, did take some criticism. And, you know,

there's a lot of that we can definitely do. One of the more dramatic moments of the, of his speech was when he accused Republicans of wanting to try. trying to cut Social Security and other benefits like that. Republicans loudly booed him. Some called him a liar. He walked that back a little bit and said, well, some Republicans, a few of you. What did you think of that exchange? Yeah, I don't know.

Are you an unbiased party in this one, Dan? I don't know. I am an unbiased party in this one. Okay. the social security issue. But no, you're right. It was a really interesting. I had never seen anything like it except maybe a few years ago when Obama,

he did have some kind of back and forth, a little bit of a coy moment with the audience. And Obama was really good at that. Biden, and you're right, he talked about these things, sunseting, and it was immediately met with booze. I mean, and he was surprised by it. I mean, it seemed like, we don't really know this, But it seemed like he was just reading the speech and didn't even really know what Republicans or who thought what about what. He's just reading a line in a speech.

And he seems genuinely surprised by the reaction. And so then he kind of looks around at the crowd. He stops this speech. And he says, oh, okay. So you guys are, I guess we're in agreement on this. And he's like, wow, we've made basically like, wow, we've made progress already. I guess this is not an issue that Americans have to worry about anymore. And it was kind of actually a funny, a little bit charming moment.

But Republicans definitely were brewing after that. Another issue they booed on was when Biden talked about fentanyl and how much, you know, fentanyl has become such a scourge, such a deadly issue for so many Americans. Fentanyl overdoses have just skyrocketed in the last few years. You know, they've just become a major issue. And that was one where a lot of Republicans stood up and, you know, jeered, not cheered, but jeered, Biden and really when you could hear one lawmaker shout out, it's your

fault. What they're referring to is the border. You know, they felt it was disingenuous for Biden to say, oh, this fentanyl crisis is something we really need to take on. Meanwhile, all that fentanyl is coming across the southern border, and he's on little to stop that. In fact, his policies

have facilitated it. Right. So, yeah, that was some unusual, but a little bit of back and forth. And I think that's kind of the new era of post-Trump politics, where it's a little bit more theatrical, a little bit more interactive, a little less formal and proper. Well, going back to the border and fentanyl, I was actually surprised. And as you've already mentioned, a long speech, about an hour and 20 minutes, it clothed in

that. I didn't time it, but he must have talked about the border and fentanyl for less than a minute. He spent very little time on what's been a growing crisis. And Republicans, particularly Republicans from border states, Texas and Arizona, pushed back hard after the fact that he didn't really say much about how he was going to secure the border, stop the flow of fentanyl from crossing the border. Any thoughts there? Yeah, I mean, this is one of those things where, you know, he has to address it because if he doesn't mention the border fentanyl, tomorrow, the next day, all the headlines are going to say Biden, it's not even going to say Biden gives state of the union speech. is going to say Biden ignores border in state of the union, or Biden ignores fentanyl crisis in state of the union, right? So I think politically his team knew that he had to address this issue,

but really he doesn't have a lot to say about it right now. Democrats are in this interesting spot on the border where they have certain small proposals that they want to pass, like more technology at the border or, you know, getting more drones or something. They have these little things, but they're not really, They don't have like a wholesale reform or border securing policy the way Republicans do.

A lot of Democrats just want amnesty and a more porous border. But they can't really say that politically. And so they kind of just give some lip service to securing the border. They propose more drones. And then they say, hey, Republicans didn't vote for a drone bill. Meanwhile, Republicans want to, many of them want to build a wall. They want to cry down on this. They want to put the military down there practically in force.

And so he doesn't have a lot he can say, but he can't be seen. wanting amnesty and he can't be seen and neglecting it. So he just gave, I think he gave some lip service for it politically and now he's kind of move on to issues that are more important to his base and his agenda. One more issue from the state of the union. I just want to talk about, or touch on briefly. And that has to do with energy. Biden during his speech criticized the oil and gas industry, saying they reaped big profits. Yet gas prices, you know, still hit, They had record highs in June, more than $6 a gallon, or excuse me, more than $5 a gallon on average across the country in June.

Then he had this one comment, we're going to need oil for at least another decade. Oh, man. That was probably his worst moment to me in the speech. Yeah. Just 10 years is all we're going to need oil and gas. That was a curious comment. And, of course, the oil and gas industry responded with criticism of the president himself for his energy policies, you know, for ending pipelines, for ending new leases or halting new leases on federal lands. And the oil and gas industry, you know, blames the high gas prices on Biden's policies there.

Any other thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I think that moment was the worst in his speech, not just because, you know, maybe he has a more liberal. if you weren't oil and gas, although I think, you know, that can be dangerous politically for him. But it was bad because he looked really naive. That was the one moment where, you know, again, that was the one we forgot to mention where Republicans did react pretty loudly. And he didn't handle it well. When it was on the Social Security issue, I thought he handled it really well.

He was a little bit charismatic. He was kind of, he made, you know, kind of making jokes. He handled it well. On this oil and gas thing, he didn't have that same tact or deafness. And so he said basically that oil and gas people came to him and said, we don't want to invest in opening in doing more drilling because we think you're just going to shut us down. And which is a valid concern. You know, Biden has done actually, Biden has tried to shut more things down, but the courts have stopped him and different things. So the Biden administration has been pretty aggressive in stalling or slowing down drilling.

And it's expensive to do all this oil companies and it's a business decision for them. and so they have to feel like there's a safe business environment or climate for them to invest in more drilling, right? So that's when Biden's response was, hey, well, we're going to need oil and gas for, you know, at least another 10 years, which was just kind of, it would make him look, I think, naive on a couple of points. One, no businessman, like that's not long enough for a big investment like that for a businessman.

A businessman doesn't want to invest these millions and millions of dollars for something that's going to be totally kaput in 10 years. So it just kind of made him look naive on the business front. When you're investing that much money, you want something longer than a 10-year investment. And then I think it made him look a little naive and to think that he has kind of bought into this Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wing of the party's view on the Green New Deal and Energy, which is these unrealistic timetables. I think most Americans will happily welcome the day when we can just have solar panels on

our roofs and they, you know, with no emissions, uh, that power the whole society easily and cheaply, right? I think that no one's really opposed to that, but realistically, that technology is still pretty far away. And I think most Americans think that it's more than 10 years away. And so the idea of like, it just, I think he came across as naive because that technology being really ready within 10 years to replace oil and gas just kind of seems silly. And also, I know I'm kind of belaboring this a little bit, but oil and gas, oil is not just used to power things or to power cars. Petroleum is used to create all kinds of things. I mean, plastic. Are we going to not need plastic in 10 years? I mean, you know, plastic uses petroleum. So I think it

has showed like it has a good issue. Well, that was a good summary. I want to get to some other news, though, this week, Casey. With Republicans now controlling the House, they've launched a number of different investigations into what's been going on in the Biden administration over the past two years. They've had two, for example, border security hearings where they brought in both folks who have been affected by the open borders and his open border policies, but also folks from the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol, high-ranking Border Patrol officers. they've started investigations into COVID-19 era fraud through all the billions and trillions of dollars that were given out and how much was fraudulently given out. And one you covered this week had to do with the president's son, Hunter Biden.

What's going on there? You're right. I think how Republicans see this is their chance to investigate a lot of perceived wrongdoing and mishandling of issues in the last couple years. Hunter Biden, the president's son, is near the top of that list. So House Oversight Republicans really keyed up their investigation, took it to another level this week. They sent letters to Hunter and his associates, and they're basically demanding all the documents that show these alleged illicit business dealings with foreign entities. And the basic allegation is that Hunter Biden went around using his father's name to secure these business deals that he could. not have otherwise gotten, but these major, you know, major business deals with foreign entities

because those entities wanted to have a access or lobbying power with President Biden, right? So Hunter went around and used his dad's name allegedly to get all these deals. And so, and then the question is, did that compromise national security? Did President Biden know about it? Is President Biden compromised legally in a way that he could actually be blackmailed by some of these foreign entities to maybe make some decisions that are not in the best interest to United States. These are the questions that the House Oversight Committee is really going to be zeroing in on in the next year or two. And it'll be interesting to see. I mean, there are big allegations,

but more and more evidence has come out to say that they're not just fabricated allegations. There could really be something here. Hunter is currently under an investigation by the Department of Justice. And he has until February 22nd to respond to the House Oversight Committee's letter on this. So this is definitely a story we're going to be following. Hunter, of course, has been in trouble for a while, but whether or not his father was implicated and even compromised is really the big question now. Yeah, and just briefly, another investigation that House Republicans have launched is related to Hunter Biden's laptop. And of course, mainstream media and social media, such as Twitter, suppressed the story before the just,

weeks before the November 2020. They said the laptop didn't exist and was Russian disinformation, and now they admitted it does exist. And House Republicans have launched an investigation into how much the federal government worked with outlets like Twitter to suppress that story. So that's another ongoing investigation. We'll be following. Casey, let's move on, though. You wrote about a new poll this week that found. that few Democrats actually want President Biden to run for a second term.

Yeah, I kind of hinted to this when we're talking about the State of the Union, which I probably went on too long about. But going into the State of the Union, as I said, Biden's poll numbers have really declined. And we can maybe talk about why that is, and I have some theories on that. But it's a very noticeable decline. And it's among his base, which is most important because the big question right now is, is Biden going to win the nomination at his age? he's 80 years old, can he win the nomination to run again? Right. So before the midterm election,

it's just a few months ago, 52% of Democrats supported a second Biden term, which is actually kind of low for an incumbent president. Usually an incumbent president is kind of a shoe win, right, to run again. But Biden only had 52% support before the November elections. And he did okay in those elections, actually. But even with that, he's now down to only 30. 37% of Democrats that want him to run for re-election. So, you know, there's a lot of policy reasons that could be affecting this. There was the gas, there were the gas prices, the war in Ukraine, the withdrawal in Afghanistan. But what's interesting is all those policy issues were already there. You know, those aren't necessarily new things. And those probably did help erode his support.

But I think that the only thing that's really changed in the last couple months, it could be one of two things. Either one, Biden has kind of served his, or fulfilled his usefulness to the party by getting them through the midterm elections and now it's time to move on. Or this classified document scandal is actually a much bigger deal to the base than maybe some people would have thought it would have been. So, you know, of course, Biden, trove of classified documents were found in President Biden's possession from the, from his time in the Obama administration. He's admitted to that. And he's now under investigation for that. So I don't know, Dan, do you think that that would be enough to a voter support or is this just

more political unsettling? They're ready for a new face in the party. Well, I think it's certainly not just that, but I think it's a contributor. But things like record inflation or 40-year high inflation, his handling of the border, you know, his withdrawal, of troops from Afghanistan and the disastrous way that that went. I think he's got a lot of strikes against him. And of course, his age. There's no doubt his age is a factor. How many words did he slur during his state of the union addressed? Just watching him walk. You can tell he's age and it's had an impact on him. So I don't know. We'll see. He says he hasn't made any official declarations, but he's hinted at that he's running again, but we'll see.

Casey, got time for just a little bit of time for one last story. This weekend, it's Super Bowl Sunday. One, are you going to be watching? I know you've got a new son to take care of and help your wife there. But two, if you are going to watch and you're going to have a mini Super Bowl party there, and be prepared to pay up. wrote about that this week. First, are you watching the game? Yeah, I'll definitely be watching and rooting for Kansas City. I don't know if that offends you or not. I'm not particularly

loyal to either team, to be honest, but I do prefer Kansas City over the Eagles. So I'll be rooting for them, and I might have to take out a small personal loan to pay for the party. I don't know how many people will have over, but, you know, I wrote about this at thecentersquare.com. You know, we've talked a lot about food inflation, but that is going to hit you particularly hard with your Super Bowl party this year because some of the foods that are most common and things like, you know, maybe some frozen treats, carbonated beverages, snack foods have really soared in the last year. This isn't even counting since Biden took office.

We're just talking about the last year. So if you want deviled eggs, I'll just go through some of these. I know we're low on time. Devil to eggs, well, eggs have risen about 60% in the last year. You know, food prices overall have risen more than 10% far outpaced. increasing inflation. Alcohol, you know, beer, ale, and other malt beverages rose 8.6%. This is all from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Cheese. So you want some cheese dip. Cheese is up 12.8%. Your fruit and vegetable platters, you know, that's going to be 6.4% more expensive.

The snack category is up 11%. Freeze dried and frozen foods are up 15%. So, you know, it does, I will say, if you're looking for something, burgers and chicken wings could be the way to go. Those have not risen nearly as much as some of the other things. So maybe stick with burgers, stick with chicken wings, and drink some water this Sunday, and it'll be just funny. Drink some water. Advice to watching the Super Bowl from our own Casey Harper. That's right.

Thank you for that, Casey. But that is all the time we have this week. A reminder to our listeners, you can find all of the Center Squares podcast at America's Talking.com. Take a look. Please subscribe. there is no cost. Casey, glad to have you back this week. Congratulations again to you and your wife on your new baby boy. Good luck there. This has been the American Focus podcast for Casey Harper. I'm Dan McAleap. We'll talk to you next week.