The White House transcripts of two Biden speeches yesterday indicate that the president is a little confused.
From the big "Bidenomics" speech: "the shame [sic] of working-age Americans in the workforce — the share of them — the share of them is the highest it's been in 20 years." And "today, with the help from the Inflection [sic] Reduction Act — Inflation Reduction Act."
From a talk at a Chicago fundraiser: "We stripped the dignity and pride and hope of one community after another all across America, particularly from Western Pennsylvania and going through the Middle East — I mean, through the middle of the country and down south." ...
More from the big Bidenomics speech, with the strikethroughs and brackets from the White House:
under the trickle-down economic thr- — theory, three quarters of U.S. industries grew more con- — concencra- — I mean — excuse me —
consecrated[concentrated]. I'm thinking I didn't go to mass. (Laughter.) They c- — they were moving to diminish competition.Well, that may have been things — made things easier for big corporations. But for everybody else, it made it harder and more expensive. It got harder for bus- — small businesses to compete. It stifled
integration[innovation]. It reduced wages for — for workers. And it made our supply chains more vulnerable.So, folks, that's been the Republican plan so far. Good for big business. Bad for everybody else. It's not even that good for big business anymore.
When I came to office, it was a very different plan: a limited
contertation[concentration] of power at the expense of consumers.
It's one thing to have trouble pronouncing or finding the correct word; it's another thing to have a shaky grasp on the policy details. In the Bidenomics talk, Biden said, "I'm not talking about the old, old days of 70 percent tax. I'm talking about a fair shot. If they just paid the top — at the top tax rate that exists now, which is lower than 30 percent, we'd raise billions and billions of dollars." The top tax rate now is not "lower than 30 percent." The top federal income tax rate is 37 percent. It's possible Biden meant the long-term capital gains tax rate, but that's not what he said. Some income is also subject to state income taxes or to an additional 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax.
Anyway, you see this sort of thing and it makes it easier to understand why so many Republicans are in the presidential race—they aren't just positioning themselves for 2028, they think they have a real shot at defeating Biden in 2024, on the theory that once Americans start seeing this guy in action on the campaign trail or on a debate stage, the weaknesses will be clearer and clearer.
