The Real Story of Louisiana's Congressmen Steve Scalise and Garret Graves.

Two opinion columns published in the New Orleans Advocate of 4/23 and 4/25 by opinion writer's Stephanie Grace and Mark Ballard concerning Scalise and Graves missed the real story about the GOP's attempt to hold America hostage over the "debt ceiling" and how speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy turned to Graves to lead the effort instead of majority leader Scalise.

The real story tells the tale of how McCarthy, Scalise and Graves, who served during the Trump administration and voted with Trump the majority of the time was part of a administration that became the biggest spending administration in the history of the U.S. and still raised the "debt ceiling" without demanding any budget cuts or less spending.  It was also their administration that increased the national debt $8.2 trillion in 4 fiscal years, the largest ever number in the national debt during any Presidential one term.  

In the 40 years that Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama and Trump served, $17.7 trillion (65%) was added to the national debt by those 4 GOP Presidents.  $9.7 trillion (35%) was added to the national debt by those two democratic Presidents.  Year to year federal spending in the last 50 years was down four times.  Three times during the Obama administration in fiscal 2010,2012 and 2013.  It was down once in Biden's first fiscal year ending 9/30/22.  No GOP administration in that same time period ever reduced year to year federal spending.

McCarthy, Scalise and Graves are still supporters of Donald Trump, voted for his $1.5 trillion tax cuts financed by deficit spending which the government is still paying for.  They cared nothing about the fiscal disaster they created during their own administration, and to think editorial writers speak of Graves and Scalise as assets for the state of Louisiana in Congress.  No one can be supporters of Trump and be an asset.  

The GOP's hypocritical bill passed the House by a vote of 217-215 but will not become law because the GOP has no record of reducing federal spending or reducing deficit spending.  In other words, the GOP cannot "walk the talk."  Democratic administrations have a proven record of reducing federal spending and deficit spending and as a result can and already have "walked the talk."  The latest example was Biden's first fiscal year budget which ended 9/30/22 where federal spending was down 8% from Trump's last fiscal year budget.  And the deficit was down over 50% from Trump's last fiscal year budget.  

The numbers and the records, really do matter.

Note:  Past PolitiDose commentary break down all  the numbers and the source of information used concerning the federal budget, deficit spending, the national debt, federal spending and etc.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Rate for March 2023.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy added 236,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate came in at 3.5%, down from 3.6% in February.  It was the 26th straight month of positive job growth for the President's administration.  The Department also announced that wages increased 0.3% in March over February and that the year over year growth was 4.2%.  Also, February job creation was 326,000 and not the 311,000 jobs earlier reported.

The economy continues to create jobs with a stable unemployment rate not seen in 50 years and wages continue to grow.  Yet, the negative voices keep up their 15 months of doom and gloom chatter of recession, the collapse of the banking system and everything else they can think of.  CEO's and executives of some of the largest corporations are part of the negative chatter, have urged the Feds to raise interest rates high and fast that would cause job layoffs and higher unemployment and threaten the progress of the U.S. economy.  Some of those corporations are so large they could have been a force for lowering inflation long ago and they dropped the ball for the sake of greed and higher profits.

There was a time in America before the internet and social media when good news about the economy was reported in a positive atmosphere of accomplishment and pride.  now the opposite is taking place even though the negative voices have been wrong about the economy since the President took office.

The official U.S. economic arbiter on recessions  for the past 50 years has been The National Bureau of Economic Research and they announced that the last time the U.S. entered an economic recession was in February of 2020, a month before COVID hit, and that recession ended the 10 year period of economic expansion.  The negative voices of today were silent about that information.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

Pollster Ron Faucheux Gets Caught Up In Poll Numbers.

 Faucheux's opinion column of 4/3 in the New Orleans Advocate titled, "A shocking picture of American values, trends" says in his first sentence, American values have fallen off a cliff based on a recent Wall Street Journal NORC poll.  He then goes on to say the survey data cannot be easily explained away.  But being a pollster himself, Faucheux knows polls do not reflect the real answers because questions asked and answered are based on so much misinformation gathered over the internet and social media that the public is exposed to every day.

A good example is Fox News and their viewers.  The network is rated #1 for cable news and for many years running thanks to their viewers.  However, everyone knows Fox news is based on lies and misinformation but viewers do not care and even believe the lies and misinformation.  The same applies to the conservative media in general.

The most important poll to see where the people stand as a nation are the Presidential elections where the vote (poll) is taken nation wide and not based on sound bites.  And in the last 8 Presidential elections, the democratic Presidential candidate won the popular vote in 7 of those elections.  Bush 43 was the only GOP Presidential candidate to win the popular vote and in his second term during that time period.  

Regular polls you hear about almost every week are slanted that change with the wind and are affected by the questions asked which may not be relevant.  The pollsters have failed to recognize the people's true feelings when the popular vote (poll) went against Trump in both Presidential elections and by large margins, especially against Joe Biden.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

Another Steve Scalise Editorial Full of Misinformation and Untruths That Is His trademark and The GOP's Usual Pro Oil and Gas Rhetoric.

 In a New Orleans Advocate editorial of April 4 titled, "American families need cost of energy lowered" was the typical hype past statements by Scalise and the GOP concerning their in-bed relationship with the Oil and Gas industry.  Scalise's bill passed the GOP controlled house titled, Lower Energy Costs Act is the latest example of folly.

Scalise claims that his legislation will produce more drilling and production, more timely offshore lease sales and reduce regulations that would end up reducing the price of oil and gas and lower inflation.  But we know the price of a barrel of oil and gallon of gas is not connected to inflation.  Just this week, OPEC announced a production cut and immediately American oil  and gas industry followed and the next day prices increased in the U.S. 

It is also a fact that the La. Dept. of Natural Resources and Office of Conservation published the offshore drilling activity historical data monthly and yearly and it reveals that the average offshore rig count during President Obama's first term was 33 working rigs and during his second term it average 38 working rigs per year.  During Trump's four years the offshore rig count averaged 17 working rigs per year.  So, Louisiana and the oil and gas industry did much better during the Obama administration even though Scalise said President Obama's moratorium after the BP Oil spill and blowout would cause an exodus of offshore rigs from the Gulf.  The industry did not do so well under Trump because why drill when they received a 14% reduction in their corporate tax rate thanks  to Trump  and the GOP.  Scalise never mentions that America became the world's leading producer of oil on President Obama's watch and that oil hit a record price at the time on  the watch of President George W. Bush.  Where were Scalise and the GOP during the oil and gas meltdown on Trump's watch?  They were running the show.

It is nothing new for those who follow the facts, the oil and gas industry has its best years during democratic administrations and in the past 42 years the Clinton administration saw the largest yearly number of offshore rigs working the Gulf of Mexico when it averaged 90 working rigs per year.  It was also the most stable price time for a barrel of oil and a gallon of gas.

If the bill ever arrives on the President's desk, President Biden should veto the bill for three reasons.  The President knows the facts, the bill is just another Social give away to big oil and the President will not back off his green energy policy of phasing out fossil fuels over a period of time.  

And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio