The Trump economy “was better”???????? What if Trump had ruled under 4 years of COVID??? What is the leader factor in 2020-2024 inflation – COVID !!! – and of course, top 1% & corporate GREED.
America is a capitalist system – PRIVATE companies sell goods & set prices – not government. There are NUMEROUS corporate CEO confessions – some listed below – where CEOs CONFESSED they had used COVID to inflate their prices. Many/most American industries are controlled by 2-3-4 companies – often in food. Numerous cases where companies have pled guilty to price-fixing collusion. Then there are Trump stupidities – like tariffs……
********!!!!!***** l0/31/24 headline: “New tariffs would lead to price hikes…U.S. companies say they’ll pass added costs to consumers if Trump is re-elected and makes good on his promises”. ****!!!!!*****!!!!!! HERE’s. your proof !!!!!!

First – just a few headlines:
– “Trump’s tariff plan would sow chaos…His attacks would raise prices, hurt markets, spark economic feuds” [10/17/24; Stein & Lynch; Washington Post]
– “Trump’s budget ideas don’t add up…Promises could add trillions of dollars to rising national debt” [9/28/24; Stein; Washington Post]
– “Trump’s fiscal plans could hike U.S. debt…Analyses also cite rising costs for most Americans” [Duehran & Rappeport; 10/8/24; New York Times]
– “Report: Trump would drain Social Security..fund might run out of money within six years under a Trump presidency” [Weil; 10/27/24; Washington Post]
– “Trump’s Big Promises to Big Business…Former President Trump has a ‘For Sale’ sign around his neck” [Goldmacher, Haberman, Swan; 10/27/24; New York Times]
– “Worried about inflation? You won’t like Trumponomics 2.0…former President Donald Trump’s economic agenda seems to be dedicated to raising prices” [Bloomberg Opinion Board; 5/26/24]
– “Beware of Trump’s economic plans…Higher tariffs, politicized central bank, a deliberately weakened dollar and more public borrowing would be dangerous”. [Bloomberg editorial; 5/20/24
– “American Business Can’t Risk Another Trump Term..he is attacking the foundations of American prosperity” [New York Times Editorial Board; 10/20/24]
– “Poorer households at risk with Trump plan…economists say lower-income households would be hit hardest by tariffs..” [Swanson, Duehren, Broadwater; 7/18/24; New York Times]
– “Trump Plans to Make His Massive Tax Cuts for the Rich and Corporations Permanent..which would allow the wealthy to steal from the public”. [Kolhatkar; 4/15/24; The Progressive Pipulist]
– “Trump’s Idea To Drop Prices May Lift Them…Economists See Costs in Three Key Proposals”. [Savage, Haberman, Swan; 6/9/24; New York Times]
– “UAW Slams Trump-Vance As “Menace To The Working Class” [Dispatches; 11/1/24; The Progressive Populist]
– “How Republicans Screw Workers..Efforts by Obama and Biden to enforce labor laws have been systematically undermined by right-wing courts and legislators” [Kuttner; 5/1/24; The Progressive Populist]

Second – do you need details, after the above – how “the champion of the workers” has, WILL, screw over the lower 90%? What would you expect a selfish ‘millionaire/billionaire” to do??? OK – try this:
– “GOP deregulation hurts consumers; new bill from Democrats could help”. [Catherine Rampell; 3/6/19; Washington Post]: “For markets to work, you need a system where either the government protects consumers or consumers can adequately defend themselves…The “neither” option lands you in a kleptocracy..where Republicans have been leading the country for the past few years…”
“Under President Trump, Republicans have repealed or watered down tons of federal rules..notice a striking pattern: Many of them loosen the limits for how much harm businesses can inflict upon consumers…”
“..perhaps where the GOP has been most successful in curbing consumers’ ability to fight back relates to mandatory arbitration clauses..’ [*** FORCED arbitration in front of industry-paid/friendly “judges”]

Third – were YOU really better off under Trump??? What do REAL statistics reveal?
A]. “Were You Better Off Than Trump?” [The Progressive Populist editorial; 4/15/24]: “Donald Trump’s promoters are now asking “Are you better off today than you were four years ago..?”
“By almost any objective standard, the U>S. is in much better shape today…Trump inherited a healthy economy..Non-farm employment fell by 1.4 million jobs in March 2020 and a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April..Unemployment was 6.3% in January 2021..grocery shelves were empty…”
“The British medical journal The Lancet..blamed Trump for an error-filled response to the coronavirus pandemic that analysts said contributed to 40% more deaths compared to other wealthy countries…”
“All those jobs lost during Trump’s last year have been recovered under Biden, plus 423,000 manufacturing jobs..created since..the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act in 2021…”
“Inflation has settled back to 3.2%, much of which is caused by corporate profiteering, which Republicans have shown little interest in checking…”
“Despite Republican claims..crime has run out of control under Biden, a recent FBI report noted..crime actually declined significantly in 2023, continuing a post-pandemic trend…”

B] “The Truth About the Biden Economy…His economy is outperforming other countries, and past presidents by a long shot”. [Matthew Winkler; 4/28/23; Bloomberg Opinion]: “..the economy during Biden’s 27 months..witnessed the greatest and fastest recovery of gross domestic product in modern times.. We have a jobless rate that is the lowest in a peacetime economy since World War II..”

C] “The Greatest Economy Ever?..The president deserves the credit he’s taking”. [Dean Baker; 7/17/23; InsideSources.com]: “Since the pandemic, the U.S. has had the highest growth growth rate of any wealthy country. It’s inflation rate is among the lowest..Perhaps even more important were..bills changing the long-term direction of the U.S. economy.”

Fourth – PRICES !!!!! – consider:
A]. “A Tale of Two Consumers”. [Robert Reich; 7/1/24; The Progressive Populist]: “..PepsiCo has so much monopoly power it’s been able to raise prices, blame inflation, shaft consumers, and score record profits..”

B] “Corporate profiteers pandemic strategy: GOUGE CONSUMERS AND BLAME JOE BIDEN” [The Hightower Lowdown; February, 2022]: “Consider diapers..Procter & Gamble announced last April..Covid-driven production costs were forcing it to raise the price for ..Pampers…used the excuse of inflation to inflate the price of diapers..co-monopolist Kimberly-Clark goosed up its prices at the same time…’
“IN 2019..big U. s. corporations hauled in roughly a trillion dollars in profit..two years later, during the pandemic, they grabbed more than $1.7 trillion. Antitrust analyst Matt Stoler finds..this huge profit jump accounts for 60% of the inflation now slapping U.S. families…” [****!!!!!! – got that; 60% of inflation is. CORPORATE GREED !!!*****]
“The CEO of Kroger..gloated last summer that “a little bit of inflation is always good in our business..we’ve been very comfortable with our ability to pass on increases” to consumers…”
“..85% of the U.S. beef market is controlled by just four multibillion-dollar goliaths..this beef cartel has been raising consumer prices during the pandemic..Their profit margin at the end of 2021 was 300% [!] higher than the previous year.”

C]. “FTC Launches Probe Into Surveillance Pricing That Targets Individuals” [Naveen Athrappully; 7/24-30/24; The Epoch Times]”. “[FTC] is looking into how firms are using surveillance pricing to charge different prices to different consumers…In September, the FTC accused Amazon of creating a secret price-setting algorithm.”

D]. “He’s the Expert on Uncovering ‘Shrinkflation'”. [Clare Toeniskoetter; 11/27/22; New York Times]: “With inflation at a 40-year high, business owners have been increasingly shrinking their products in an attempt to hide price increases.”

E]. “Inflation may be cover for gouging” [Paul Davidson; 4/28/22; USA Today]: “..last year, the aggregate profit margin of non-financial corporate business hovered above 13% in all four. quarters, the best performance in 70 years…56% of retailers say inflation has allowed them to raise prices above what’s required to offset higher costs, according to a survey of 1,000 retailers by Digital.com in November. More than half..say they’ve pushed up prices by an average of 20% or more.” [***!!! – got that – best profits in 70 years…prices up by 20%. !!!!!!]

F]. “Quantifying Big Pharma Price-Gouging” [Rick Claypool; Public Citizen News: Nov-Dec, 2021]: “Big Pharma makes almost twice..selling the top 20 prescription drugs in the United States as it does selling the same drugs to..the rest of the world combined…now Big Pharma is using every trick in the corporate influence playbook to fight policies that would reduce U.S. drug spending..” [also including a “Ripping Off Americans” chart for HIV, Autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes drugs !!!!]

G]. “Auto insurance costs rising at fastest pace since 1970s” [Emily Flitter; 5/16/24; New York Times]: “Geico recently reported a big jump in quarterly profit on higher premiums and lower customer claim..”

***!!! GUESS WHAT??? In details, company names, etc….- one name is missing; Joe Biden……NOBODY. said Joe Biden raised rates or his profit margin by 10-20-30%… GEE – WHY not???? If YOU voted for Trump “because Biden’s at fault for high prices – you’re very badly misinformed. – because this is one more TRUMP. BIG. LIE. – because facts supplied above. are a very small “drop-in-the-bucket” of the vast MOUNTAIN of other facts soundly disproving this. TRUMP. BIG. LIE. – which. GREEDY corporations and Wall Street are more than happy to see YOU accept.