It’s really hard to stay upbeat these days when the bad news seems to get worse each day.  I know, sometimes my fingers refuse to touch a key board to write about it.  Yet, if we just fan away the chilling fog of right-wing misinformation, a lot of positive things have been happening that bode well for 2024.

Unfortunately, they seem to get buried under the landslide of current events.  Today’s economic indicators, however, are the result of many positive programs that were enacted during President Biden’s first two years.  With Democrats holding only slight majorities in both chambers, the president signed into law some of the most consequential pieces of legislation in decades.  These included:

The American Rescue Plan that provided $1.9 trillion in economic stimulus to facilitate the country’s recovery from the health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting recession.

The Inflation Reduction Act that authorizes Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices, imposes a 15% corporate minimum tax rate on larger companies, increases IRS enforcement capabilities, imposes a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks and increases spending to address domestic energy security.   It also makes the largest ever U.S. investment in addressing climate change, extends the expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies for three more years and enacts other health care reforms, including capping insulin prices for Medicare beneficiaries at $35. 

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) that provides $1.2 trillion in critically needed spending for the transportation and highway programs of the Department of Transportation, along with funding for expanded broadband access, clean water initiatives and electric grid renewal.

The Postal Service Reform Act that improves the finances and operations of the U.S. Postal Service by lifting budget requirements imposed by prior legislation and requiring that six day a week mail delivery be continued.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that implements several important changes to the mental health system, school safety programs, and gun control laws.  This was the first federal action on guns in three decades.

The CHIPS and Science Act, also bipartisan, that provides roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors that are critically important to U.S. national security.

The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, also bipartisan, that adds procedures to those set out in the Constitution for the counting of electoral votes following a presidential election, including limiting the Vice President’s role in that process.

Other 2021-2022 legislation improves health care access for veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances during military service and requires federal and state governments to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial civil marriages.

Since Republicans took control of the U.S. House in 2023, however, Congress has been stymied.  And as we have witnessed for the past several weeks, the GOP conference can’t even come together to elect a new speaker after they deposed Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Regardless, the Census Bureau just published a report that shows retail sales “soared” in September, continuing a summer “spending binge.”  Since consumer spending comprises around 70% of the nation’s economy, these strong trends are the foundation of the overall economy that will help avoid a recession and that is always good for the party in power.

But wait, there’s even more great economic news.  

• The Atlanta Fed estimates that real GDP growth in the third quarter of 2023 was 5.4%. 

• Reports are showing that the federal funding and incentives provided by Biden’s 2022 legislative successes are stimulating billions of dollars of new investments in manufacturing facilities, much of it in red states of the south and west. 

• Prominent analysts are saying the U.S. is in the early stages of a “manufacturing super-cycle.”  How good is that?

• The economy added an average of roughly 375,000 jobs each month in 2022 and unemployment remains at record low levels.

The president’s handling of the crisis in Israel has demonstrated his strong foreign policy leadership skills, for which he is receiving some high marks.  Bret Stephens, whose column doesn’t always “abound with praise” for the president and his administration wrote that it was “President Biden’s Finest Hour.”  He called Biden’s trip to Israel “brave,” even with the president’s massive security apparatus.

The Bulwark’s Johnathan Last called Biden’s reaction to the 10/7 Hamas attack on Israel “one of the best pieces of foreign policy crisis management by an American president in a generation,” citing a long list of decisive actions the president immediately initiated.

And we should not forget how Biden’s leadership revived NATO after former president Trump was on the brink of taking the U.S. out of that critically important organization.

Still, it’s definitely not the time to sing, Don’t Worry, Be Happy; inflation is still too high; Russia continues its brutal war against Ukraine; Hamas terrorists are attempting to start a conflagration in the Middle East; and worst of all, the Republican Party is threatening our democracy.  But hell, I can’t remember a time when Americans had no reasons to worry about the future and nothing too bad was occurring around the world. 

So, I recommend thinking positive about 2024 and being engaged.  Compared to Trump and the MAGA crowd, that just want to tear everything down, President Biden and the Democrats will have a great story for the voters in 2024.  And I intend to do what I can to help them tell it.