🔒 The US presidential debate has many concerned, but life is improving for Americans

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My comments on the first US presidential debate evoked response from a number of Premium members. Hazel, an American with deep SA roots, reckons I got it all wrong. In her view Trump’s strategy was to rile Biden – and he failed, thus he won the debate. George, an investment manager who lives in Europe, believes Trump “won” the debate hands down and sent me links to prove the case. Then a good pal who despises Pax Americana teased me about being a Trump supporter. The piece below from James Freeman at our partners the Wall Street Journal draws from other commentators. It makes for interesting reading on a subject likely to dominate global attention over the next five weeks. – Alec Hogg

Cheer Up. Policitians are bound to disappoint but life is getting better – Wall Street Journal

By James Freeman


___STEADY_PAYWALL___

Between President Donald Trump’s constant annoying interruptions and former Vice President Joe Biden’s constant dishonest insults, Tuesday night’s debate was hard to watch. Lucky for the president he has a record to run on and doesn’t have to rely on personal popularity. Lucky for all of us, there’s much good news to appreciate beyond the debate stage.

Still, voters across the ideological spectrum may be feeling like losers after watching the ugly argument and wondering about the future of the greatest country in the world. “We All Lost,” is the headline on a Lisa Lerer story in the New York Times. She writes:

While watching it unfold last night, I found myself simultaneously disgusted and depressed. Two septuagenarian men with little self-restraint, moderated by another septuagenarian man unable to impose any kind of decorum or even basic agreement over the rules.

It’s not clear what age had to do with the failings of the men on stage, but certainly she speaks for many disappointed viewers in lamenting the level of discourse. The Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney argues that boorish debate performances are a habit for both Messrs. Biden and Trump.

In 2019 Mr. Carney recalled the approach Mr. Biden used in 2012 against Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) when Mr. Biden was running along with President Barack Obama for re-election and Mr. Ryan was Mitt Romney’s running mate:

Biden snickered and guffawed his way through the debate, interrupting his opponent repeatedly for the sake of interrupting, and firing irrelevant juvenile comebacks at his opponent’s sober points.

Surely, this boorishness would hurt Biden. Surely, laughing at dead servicemen in a war his administration started, and at the insolvency of entitlements, would look bad to the press and the public.

Or so I thought. I was wrong.

“Vice President Joe Biden dominated Thursday’s Vice Presidential debate,” wrote Ben Smith of Buzzfeed, “hammering Rep. Paul Ryan again and again during his portion of the night while his laughs, smirks, chuckles, cackles and hand-gestures overwhelmed Ryan’s more understated jabs.”

This time it was more often President Trump’s interruptions overwhelming Mr. Biden’s insults, but perhaps the next debate will be different. The organizers of last night’s event are now promising changes before the next Biden-Trump tilt:

The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors televised debates for the benefit of the American electorate. Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues. The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.

Let’s hope for the best but also remember that the wise founders of our republic put significant restraints on elected officialdom because they knew that elections are contests between flawed people. And amid all the vitriol on Tuesday night the two candidates did achieve consensus around the idea that we are about to be blessed with an outstanding addition to the judicial branch, which restrains the power of politicians. Ed Whelan writes at National Review:

As to Judge Amy Coney Barrett herself, Biden said: “I’m not opposed to the justice, she seems like a very fine person.” With that comment, Biden torpedoed the Left’s (absurd) efforts to try to demonize Barrett, and by referring to her as “the justice” he inadvertently treated her confirmation and appointment as a fait accompli.

The rule of law is being strengthened, and there’s reason to be hopeful as the economy rebounds from the shutdowns imposed by state and local elected officials. A Journal editorial notes Federal Reserve data showing the pre-Covid progress for workers across the U.S. Since 2016, the economy has reversed the Obama-Biden trend of rising wealth and income inequality:

Median real incomes grew 5% from 2016 to 2019, the Fed reports… Between 2016 and 2019, white, wealthy and college-educated households had relatively less income growth than other groups, the Fed notes, adding that “more broadly, the income gaps between families with a college degree and those without one decreased.” Real median incomes grew 9% for Americans who haven’t completed high school and 6.3% for those with only a high-school diploma while declining 2.3% among those with a college degree…

Rising incomes also made home ownership more affordable, even with tighter mortgage underwriting… As significant was the growth in business equity, especially among blacks (138%), Hispanics (63%) and Americans without a high-school diploma (104%). The gig economy and online platforms like Etsy have made starting a business easier, but so have the Trump Administration’s deregulation and the 2017 tax reform.

And even accounting for the slow-growth doldrums of the Obama-Biden economy, the long-term story is still one of rising American prosperity. Drawing on Census data, Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute recently noted:

The next time you hear politicians’ or the media’s false narratives about economic gloom and doom, declining living standards, and average Americans struggling to survive on stagnant wages, think about the fact that the real median household income per US household member has doubled over the last 50 years.

… the “black middle-class is disappearing” as we hear all the time, but it’s because middle-income black households in the US are gradually moving up to higher-income groups, and not down into lower-income groups as the mainstream media and leftists (but I repeat myself) would have you believe. In 1967, only 9.1% of black households in the US earned $75,000 or more (in 2019 dollars). In 2019, 29.4% of black households had moved up into that high-income category, a new record high. In other words, over the last half-century, the share of black households earning incomes of $75,000 or more (in 2019 dollars) has more than tripled as that share increased by 3.2 times over the last half-century!

Politicians may not become any more honest and polite, but America still works.

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