President Biden admitted that the Inflation Reduction Act is incorrectly named “because it actually has much less to do with lowering inflation” than it does with promoting growth on this week’s episode of Bloomberg’s “Surveillance,” to which co-host Jonathan Ferro reacted by saying that Biden admitted that Republican allegations about the law were accurate and that “I am not certain if the President would like actual questions” regarding the economy.

Regarding the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden said he wished he “hadn’t named it that since it has much less to do with lowering inflation than it has to do with solving the issue of providing for other options that produce economic growth.” Ferro cited these remarks.

“Republicans might’ve written this for him,” said Ferro. “Before this legislation was approved, wasn’t that the grievance on the opposing side of the aisle in Washington?”

“So, everybody was claiming it was named the Inflation Reduction Act in order to get it advanced, because how can you vote in opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act during a time when you’re dealing with the fastest pace of inflation going back approximately 40 years? Who is going to be fighting against bringing down inflation?” co-host Lisa Abramowicz retorted. “People are now speculating as to how much of the continuous increase is truly being driven by this. In any case, he’s speaking the quiet parts out loud, right? The problem is that he’s now attempting to emphasize how it is fostering some growth.”

Then Ferro interjected, saying, “He wants to own growth in the economy because inflation has been coming down.” Abramowicz concurred with that evaluation.

Tom Keene, the co-host, then said, “I believe the President might appear on ‘Wall Street Week’ with Larry Summers. The balance that exists between the rate of inflation and growth would be intriguing.”

“Tom, I am not sure if the President wants real questions right now,” Ferro retorted. “You are aware of the way that works.”

According to President Biden, his financial and tax incentive programs have resurrected American industry.

One of the most well-liked White House pledges, regardless of the current president, is to bring back manufacturing employment.

Donald Trump promised to use tariffs. Barack Obama predicted that businesses would begin “insourcing.” Tax cuts, according to George W. Bush, would be effective. But following each recession, industrial employment tended to have trouble entirely recovering.

In a speech in New Mexico this week, President Biden will argue that his policies involving financial and tax incentives have resurrected American industry. His assertion is reinforced by an increase in the expenditures of building new plants. However, recent months have shown a slowdown in manufacturing hiring, indicating that the anticipated boom has not yet materialized in full.

That has not prevented the White House from persuading voters that the Democratic president’s policy has sparked a “renaissance” in industrial work ahead of the 2024 election.

Before Biden’s speech in New Mexico, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi asked reporters to envision a crowded jobs fair in Belen, New Mexico, to recruit the 250 employees that Arcosa plans to bring aboard at a factory that manufactures wind towers. “Hundreds of actions organized through the entirety of his government have sparked a manufacturing renaissance throughout the United States,” Zaidi said.

The president will speak when work on the Arcosa facility, which previously produced plastics and then Solo cups, gets underway. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed last year, forcing Arcosa to lay off workers in Illinois as well as Iowa; nevertheless, consumers later placed contracts with the firm for $1.1 billion worth of wind towers, according to the White House. In the last year, the stock has increased by more than 20%.

Biden has been reiterating the same theme on jobs.

Last month, Biden discussed his plans to combat climate change by moving beyond fossil fuels as a means of generating jobs at a shipyard in Philadelphia. It indicates that he wants voters to view his social and environmental policies as beneficial to economic development.

“When I think of the climate, I think of employment, as many of my friends in organized labor are aware,” Biden stated. “I believe in union employment. No humor here.”

This wasn’t what we had in mind when we chose a self-described “car guy” as President of the United States.

Under Joe Biden’s presidency, used-car costs have soared. The cost of secondhand autos has increased by 30% since Biden’s inauguration month. The consumer price index (CPI) for used autos has increased by 45% since February 2020, right before the epidemic started.

The used vehicle price inflationary road has proven exceptionally rough. Prices increased as a result of Americans living farther from urban centers and needing more automobiles, even if supply-chain problems with microchips slowed down domestic and international manufacturing of new cars. Prices dropped down to earth as new automobile manufacturing increased, recession worries increased, and demand was hampered by rising prices for other consumer products, particularly gasoline.

Then, in January, demand once more increased. In one month, the index for used automobiles increased by 10%. Dealers flocked to the wholesale sector, where skyrocketing costs hinted at far greater costs for the consumer market. Prices for secondhand cars increased once more in April and May. In June, they decreased month over month, although they are still quite high.

Affordable secondhand automobiles have all but disappeared from the market due to inflation. According to a survey published by Marketwatch this week, experts at iSeeCars.com examined the pricing of around 11 million used cars that were up to five years old. They discovered that vehicles priced under $20,000 made up around 12% of the used-car market this year, down from a market share of 49% in 2019.

“The inexpensive used automobile, which has all but disappeared from the used car market, is one of the pandemic’s many fatalities,” iSeeCars analyst Karl Brauer told Marketwatch. “In 2019, consumers looking to buy a used automobile could afford more than 20% of the market for late-model vehicles with a budget of $15,000. Currently, they can only access 1.6% of the market with that expenditure.”

For those who are fortunate enough to locate a used automobile under $20,000, they will be driving one with many more miles on it. Brauer claims that used car customers are currently paying 50% more for vehicles that are at least 20% more used.

“An average used car’s mileage in the sub-$20,000 price bracket increased by 46% to 63,457 miles during this year, from 43,541 miles in 2019. Over half of vehicles produced in 2023 will have at least 20% more miles than comparable vehicles sold in 2019,” according to Marketwatch.

Naturally, secondhand automobiles are still around. They have just grown more pricey, that’s all. This is one of the effects of inflation. The prospect of the availability of less-priced alternatives is destroyed.

The Biden White House appears to be having trouble persuading the American people to believe its optimistic view of the economy, known as Bidenomics. This week’s small-firm poll revealed the reasons why it is so difficult to market that idea.

According to Bill Dunkelberg, the National Federation of Independent Company’s senior economist, small company owners have “dismal” expectations for business conditions and sales growth. The NFIB’s small business optimism index increased by 0.9 points from June to July, but it still came in considerably below its 49-year average of 98, at 91.9.

It marked the 19th month in a row that the reading fell below average.

The percentage of business owners who anticipate improved business circumstances over the next six months increased 10 points from June, although it is still very low by historical standards at a net -30 percent.

Although the percentage was down three points from June, it was still a historically high 21% of business owners who cited inflation as their most significant operational challenge.

The net percentage of owners who increased average selling prices decreased to a net 25 percent, which is still strong by historical standards but the lowest since January 2021. 40% indicated their typical selling prices were high, while 14% claimed they were low. Price increases are most frequent in banking, retail, wholesale, and construction, according to the NFIB. A net 27% of the respondents indicated they will be raising prices in the future.

Since small firms frequently serve as leading indicators of economic trends and provide close to half of all employment in the private sector, the NFIB poll offers a valuable window into the state of the economy.

According to Dunkelberg, “small business owners want to hire people and profit from strong consumer spending now because they have dim views regarding future sales growth as well as business circumstances. Inflation has slightly decreased on Main Street, but difficulty hiring continues to be a top business concern.”

Owners reported having 42 percent of unfilled positions that were difficult to fill, which was unchanged from June but is still quite high historically.

The Federal Reserve has been fighting an inflation problem for the last year, which President Joe Biden stated is now under control as a result of the much-heralded “Bideonomics.” However, gas prices in the United States are once again on the rise, providing a new obstacle.

The newest data provided by the AAA show that the national average gallon of petrol traded at $3.89 last week, its highest level since October 2022.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the pump price varies across the nation, with some of the greatest increases occurring in Midwestern regions while prices have averaged $5 and $5.07 per gallon in California and Washington, respectively.

According to the AAA numbers, Michigan’s average gasoline cost touched a new record for 2023 this week, reaching $3.76 per gallon for regular unleaded, a gain of nine cents from the previous week.

Mississippi has the cheapest petrol, with a gallon costing an average of $3.33.

New information from the Energy Information Administration, as quoted by the site, shows that gas consumption marginally declined from 8.94 million to 8.84 million barrels per day.

The increase in gas prices to a nine-month high comes following a 20 percent increase in global oil prices this summer as a result of Saudi Arabia and Russia cutting supplies, according to the Financial Times.

In addition to increasing concerns about the political repercussions for the Biden White House, the decision has resurrected forecasts that oil could reach $100 per barrel this year.

Former adviser to President George W. Bush and chairman of the Washington-based firm Rapidan Energy Group Bob McNally told the Financial Times that “the White House is in full-blown panic mode.”

“Any president who is in office faces danger when gas prices rise because of the effect on consumer confidence and the president’s popularity rating.”

The latest price hikes at the U.S. gas pumps include diesel, an essential input expense for the industrial and agricultural sectors, and they come as optimism grows that the Federal Reserve can orchestrate a gentle landing for the economy following months of interest rate increases to combat inflation.

As he prepares for his reelection campaign in 2024, Biden has been promoting his “Bidenomics” in recent weeks and noting a slowing of inflation and record job creation. The current spike in petrol prices will not add to his self-described story of economic competence.

Elon Musk stated that Twitter will cover the legal costs of anybody who suffered unfair treatment at the hands of their employers as a result of their liking or uploading information on the social media site now known as “X.”

Musk stated this week, “We will pay for any legal fees if your employer treated you unfairly as a result of something you posted or liked on our platform. No restrictions. Please inform us.”

Musk said, “And we won’t just file a lawsuit; it will be very public, and we’ll target the companies’ boards of directors as well.”

The declaration came shortly after 25-year-old NASCAR driver Noah Gragson had been suspended indefinitely over liking a George Floyd meme on social media sites.

Musk was bombarded with requests from people who would benefit from the new policy shortly after making the statement about covering the legal costs of those whose employment was terminated due to their social media activities.

Writer David Volodzko, who was dismissed from the Seattle Times this past month, is one possible example of cancellation. Volodzko argued in his debut newspaper editorial that a statue honoring Russian Communist hero Vladimir Lenin should not be removed from the Fremont district of Seattle.

“I only needed the opportunity to talk about my own refugee grandparents, preparing pelmeni along with my babushka, as well as my grandfather Josef, the Nazi killer that I was named after,” Volodzko stated of the inspiration for the piece. “I noted Lenin’s genocidal slaughter, mass executions, forced relocations, and secret police raids.”

Volodzko acknowledged that he was wrong when he tweeted the article.

“But I did make a mistake when I uploaded the column on Twitter which compared Lenin to Hitler,” he said. I stated, “In reality, while Hitler has evolved into the great icon of evil in history texts, he too was less wicked than Lenin since Hitler exclusively targeted those he himself considered were bad to society whereas Lenin attacked individuals who he himself did not feel were harmful in any manner.”

The argument, according to Volodzko, was based on the fact that “communist leaders—Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot—have a much higher body count compared to fascists.”

Volodzko was accused of supporting Adolf Hitler by the angry mob.

Six days after publishing Volodzko’s essay, The Seattle Times dismissed him.

Regarding the plight of the sacked journalist, Musk remarked, “This does appear to sound like a good case.”

The firing of Kara Lynne by Limited Run Games in January caught Musk’s attention as well.

According to a recent article by TheBlaze, “A woman was terminated from a gaming company just this month shortly after a ‘trans’ Twitter user labeled her a ‘transphobe’ that follows ‘right-wing transphobic creeps’ while using the social media site.”

Actress Gina Carano, podcaster Anthony Cumia, ex-Brand president of Levi Strauss & Company Jennifer Sey, as well as comedian Josh Denny also spoke out after losing their jobs for engaging in personal behavior on Twitter.

Advocates for free expression praised Musk’s promise to combat the cancel culture.