Question: Gas prices are rising dramatically, thousands of workers have abruptly lost their jobs, and America is reentering international agreements which critics say could cripple our economy and permanently disadvantage American businesses, and it’s all being done by executive order rather than legislation. Are Joe Biden’s executive orders helping or hindering American society and industries?
Alison: Let’s talk about the real effects of President Biden’s executive actions, Steve.
To debunk misinformation:
Gasoline prices today are roughly in line with where they were at similar points in the calendar in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, when Trump was in office (Politifact).
Prices rising are mostly due to supply and demand, and the fact that gas prices are rising actually indicates that Americans are venturing out more and that they have some discretionary income—a good economic sign.
Any rise in oil prices due to Biden’s executive order to halt the Keystone XL pipeline or to limit fossil fuels would be years down the road.
Job losses in December under the “former guy” were huge—156,000. Under President Biden, we saw a narrow gain in jobs in January, and an unexpectedly large jump of 379,000 jobs in February.
Joe Biden has signed 50+ plus executive orders, actions and memorandums, quickly implementing major changes his administration plans/hopes to accomplish. Twenty-two of those are direct reversals of Trump’s policies, and almost all fall into three areas: combating the coronavirus, reversing Trump’s immigration policies and showing that equity, not racism, will be the new standard.
He also is signaling that he hopes America will resume leadership in the fight against climate change.
Most federal laws and programs can and should be established by the legislative branch of our government; however, the executive branch enforces the laws and runs executive departments and agencies.
Under Trump, government appointments went unstaffed, science-related agencies were undermined or attacked, and the constant firings and resignations of cabinet, intelligence, security, military and justice department employees resulted in our federal government being in tatters.
So expect the Biden crew to aggressively repair these gaps. I am personally sleeping much better at night knowing that they’re in charge.
Steve’s response:
Joe Biden came to office preaching a new gospel of “unity,” promising renewed consultation and compromise with the stated goal of reducing the vitriol that currently pervades our politics and divides our nation.
He lied.
There is an old saying that goes, “What you do echoes so loudly in my ears that I cannot hear what you say.”
Biden immediately contradicted his utterances by issuing a blizzard of destructive, divisive executive orders on everything from getting back into bed with Iran, to rejoining the destructive Paris Climate Accords, to erasing our borders and undermining our hard-won fight for energy independence.
Joe Biden is irrationally engaged in a single-minded mission to erase all vestiges of Donald Trump, no matter how beneficial the Trump policy may have been, while returning to the “glory days” of the Obama/Biden administration.
Remember those days: Tax increases, eight straight years of tepid GDP growth (most years below 2 percent), uncontrolled immigration, children in cages that they built, apology after apology for America’s greatness, reliance on oil imports from unfriendly nations, manufacturing jobs fleeing overseas.
The first casualty in all this is the very concept of a Biden preference for unity. If he were serious, he would have considered compromise and conversation on the way to a consensus in these policies, not arbitrary, precipitate, divisive summary-action at the stroke of his ultra-liberal pen. Back to you, Alison.
Alison’s response:
You sound absolutely livid, Steve.
Joe Biden didn’t lie—what he did do was to promise. He promised that our allies would be able to count on the United States again. He promised that we would make every effort to arrest climate change. He promised that new jobs could replace outdated, fossil-fuel producing jobs, enabling workers to be paid for contributing to a cleaner world. He promised that women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, tribal people—in other words, ALL Americans—would have a seat at the table and could count on fairness in our country.
Yes, when he rejoined the Paris Climate Accords, he agreed to accept climate guidelines that the United States and other nations mutually developed during the Obama administration.
In a pandemic, he’s reclaiming our seat in the World Health Organization. He is trying to bring Iran back from the brink of initiating nuclear threats.
If the pandemic has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that we are inextricably bound to the rest of the world for our livelihoods, our health, our food, our goods and services. Yes, we need to develop our own energy and economy so we’re less dependent. But we must also work together for our mutual survival.
You know, I was sad, dismayed, and shocked nearly every day of the Trump administration because of what he was making of our country with his executive orders, verbal assaults and vicious policies.
He reduced our national dialogue to mean, crude, name-calling nastiness. Biden’s executive orders are not aggressions—they are the antidote to the most fearful, unkind, xenophobic, autocratic presidential administration our country has ever had. We all win when we prosper together. And cooperation makes that possible.
Why not just let go of the rage?
Steve’s second response:
It’s not rage, Alison, but outrage. It’s not me that’s important here, it’s those thousands of families who were thrown out of their jobs by the stroke of Joe Biden’s pen. I wonder how many of them have found one of those nice $80,000 solar panel jobs the president talked about. Here’s a hint. It’s probably a number disturbingly close to zero.
I feel outrage for my fellow Utahns who have watched gas prices skyrocket more than 60-cents per gallon just in Biden’s first month, with the promise that this is only the beginning.
I’m outraged that every Utah family stands to see their heat and electricity costs explode this year and in years to come, and those hardest hit will be the working poor who can least afford it.
I’m outraged that Biden wants to pour millions back into the World Health Organization (WHO), which lied about COVID and cooperated with the Chinese Covid cover up, costing American lives.
I’m outraged that we’re back in bed with Iran without any pre-conditions or negotiations that would impede their headlong rush toward nuclear weapons.
I’m outraged that in only a month, our borders have been deluged by a flood of unaccompanied minor children that is up over 700 percent and that an even greater wave of adult illegal aliens are now allowed to remain in the country if their toe touches U.S. soil. Reports out today confirm that many are testing positive for COVID at a time when our country is still struggling with our own shutdowns and restrictions.
And finally, I’m outraged that this President trumpets unity as one of his loftiest aspirations while his actions show just the opposite.
