State of the Useless 2024: More Biden Build Back Blather
The man who began his 1988 presidential run plagiarizing Neil Kinnock began his 2024 State of the Union plagiarizing Karl Marx. President Joe Biden’s 2024 annual address was a State of the Useless. For 68 minutes, he screamed at Americans. He rallied his base while demonizing political opponents. His dark, angry, divisive speech starkly contrasted his carefully crafted nice guy image.
Even many Americans who like Mr. Biden personally lament his inability to improve their lives. Rather than calmly address real voter concerns, Biden rehashed the worst elements of his 2023 SOTU speech. The four categories of Biden’s remarks were divided between unmentioned issues, factually false statements, partially true statements lacking context, and highly questionable policy proposals.
The unmentioned is self-explanatory. Biden failed to show empathy regarding Laken Riley, a young woman murdered by an illegal immigrant. He confused her with football coach Lincoln Riley. Biden then pivoted to the loss of his own children. On the foreign policy front, Biden again ignored the global existential threat of Iran building a nuclear bomb and calling for Israel’s destruction. He did not mention Houthis murdering American soldiers. Biden’s stubborn refusal to mention radical Islam reflects his 9/10 mentality. Domestically, Biden did not mention the price of eggs, beef or gasoline. He did not mention social media companies engaging in mass censorship.
His factually false statements were easy to spot. He claimed that former President Donald Trump added more to the national debt than any other American president. Former President Barack Obama holds that record. Biden spoke about corporations paying zero taxes. This is false. Inflation is a devastating tax that affects corporations and consumers alike. Also, corporations risk their own money investing billions of dollars in research and development.
Biden’s claim that billionaires pay a lower tax rate than teachers is also false. He conflates lower capital gains rates with higher ordinary income rates. His proposed solution to raise capital gains rates would disincentivize investment. Lowering ordinary income rates would help the struggling middle and working classes. Biden’s talking point that Republicans want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare was debunked in 1995. That would be political suicide, and no political party wants to self-immolate. Biden’s implication that Republicans want to deny black suffrage has been untrue since the GOP passed the 15th Amendment in 1869.
Biden’s talk of hiring more border workers is contradicted by his own presidential actions. He fired border workers and other professionals for being unvaccinated, accelerating the supply chain breakdown. He claimed that America stood up to Putin when Russia invaded Ukraine. In reality, we dragged our feet and offered too little,e too late as the war rages on with no end in sight. Biden claimed to have stood up to Chinese aggression. In actuality, China’s government steals our intellectual property, floods our nation with drugs including Fentanyl, and spies on us with few if any noticeable consequences.
Biden’s most insulting falsehood was when he claimed that America has never fully lived up to her ideals. Americans shed the blood of thousands of our citizens to free slaves and defeat Nazism, Communism and fascism. We feed, clothe, protect and defend the world. We get the biggest things right, Biden’s slander of America’s character notwithstanding.
Biden’s most egregious falsehood was his vow to restore our freedoms. His entire government has been dedicated to restricting individual freedoms he disagrees with. He has used executive and regulatory power to restrict guns, oil, sugary beverages, red meat, and older but more efficient household appliances.
Biden’s partially true statements lacked proper context. He bragged that inflation dropped from 9% to 3%. While this metric is better than last year, inflation is still worse than three years ago when Biden took office.
Biden’s highly questionable policy ideas were numerous.
Price caps on prescription drugs reflect a lack of understanding of how companies work and what they do. Companies lose money on every failed product. They use the profits from their winners to offset their losers. Price controls were tried in the 1970s and failed.
Free pre-school is a budget-busting counter-productive boondoggle. Unilaterally canceling student loans is a financial time bomb for taxpayers that has been ruled unconstitutional and might be illegal. His two-state solution would gut Israel and reward those who murdered Jews including Americans on October 7th, 2023.
Banning assault weapons is demagogic. There is no such thing as an assault weapon. The 1994 ban was useless since criminals disobey laws. The book “More guns, less crime” is one of many detailed studies that show concealed carry laws reduce crime while strict gun control laws increase crime.
His speech was a useful reminder that for America to get back on track, the 2025 State of the Union address must be delivered by Trump and not Biden.
Eric Golub is a comedian, author and retired stockbrokerage and oil professional living in Los Angeles. His interests include football, politics, Judaism, the stock market, and Angela Lansbury’s “Murder, She Wrote.”