(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . We should all be bragging about Biden! Saturday's GNR [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-14 Below you will find a gazillion reasons why Biden has been an amazing POTUS. And these are all from just the last six months! Read them. Skim them. Share them. Short on time? Here is the tl/dr: x Democrats, stop hand wringing! Joe Biden has had the most successful Presidency in the last 60 years. And Donald Trump is a career Criminal. — Rob Reiner (@robreiner) September 18, 2023 Want more? Oh boy do I have it. Grab that coffee and tuck in (then share this with your friends who say that Biden has not done anything/is losing it): This recovery has defied expectations. A recent string of economic data has underscored the resilience of America’s post-pandemic economic recovery. So far this year, inflation has come down, real wages have gone up, income inequality has declined, and we have the best job market for workers in decades. While it is by no means guaranteed, a soft landing is now clearly in sight. This progress caught many economic forecasters by surprise. Last fall, the Bloomberg consensus indicated a 100 percent chance of a recession in the following 12 months. The Wall Street Journal’s survey of professional forecasters put the same recession probability at 63 percent. Two years ago, many hypothesized that covid-19 and the fiscal policy response to the pandemic would push millions of Americans permanently out of the workforce. Instead, this recovery has been marked by the fastest rebound in labor force participation — the share of the population that is working or looking for work — in 50 years. After two decades of decline and a sharp drop at the height of the pandemic, prime-age labor-force participation has rebounded to its highest level since 2002. Biden's ‘Big Deal’ The US signed a plan to develop a network of railways and sea routes with India, Middle Eastern countries and the European Union on the summit’s sidelines. It resulted in a powerful political coming together of Biden, Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The India, Middle East, Europe Economic Corridor will integrate railway lines and port connections from India to Europe, across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, leading to faster transit of goods. The US President described the plan as a “ real big deal” and a "game-changing regional investment.” Overtime pay would cover millions more workers under proposed Biden rule The Biden administration unveiled a new rule Wednesday to extend overtime pay to an additional 3.6 million salaried white-collar workers in the United States. The Labor Department’s proposed rule would guarantee overtime pay for far more non-hourly workers, raising the threshold to benefit such workers earning less than $55,000 a year. “Today, the Biden-Harris administration is proposing a rule that would help restore workers’ economic security by giving millions more salaried workers the right to overtime protections,” acting labor secretary Julie Su said in a statement. x Under President Biden, unemployment has been under 4% for 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗦 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆. The US has the lowest inflation rate & best economic recovery from the pandemic of all G7 nations. The economy is DEFINITELY better with Biden! pic.twitter.com/NtQh0JOcsu — Leia🌻 (@TheSWPrincess) September 1, 2023 Eye on China, Biden Pulls Japan and South Korea Closer President Biden hopes to cement the nascent improvement in relations when he hosts Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea at the Maryland presidential retreat. It will be the first time that leaders of the three nations have ever met outside the context of a larger summit, as well as the first time that Mr. Biden has invited world leaders to Camp David. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said this week that the meeting would give the three heads of state a chance to talk about concrete steps toward maintaining regional peace and stability. That’s diplomatic speak for “the need for a response to the challenges coming from China,” said Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. With that in mind, one of the meeting’s key goals is to embed mechanisms of cooperation “in the DNA” of the three governments and to “create a new normal” that will be difficult to reverse, Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in a recent interview. Philip Stephens of Financial Times today pointed out how much global politics has changed since 2016. That was the year of Brexit and Trump, when those calling for national sovereignty and iron-bound borders seemed to have the upper hand, and it seemed we were entering a new era in which nations would hunker down and international cooperation was a thing of the past. . But now, just seven years later, international cooperation is evident everywhere. Stephens pointed out that a series of crises have shown that nations cannot work alone. Migrants fleeing the war in Syria in 2015 made it clear that countries must cooperate to manage national borders. Then Covid showed that we must manage health across political boundaries, and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proved that European nations—and other countries on other continents—must stand together militarily in their common defense. . That embrace of cooperation is in no small part thanks to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who have focused on bringing together international coalitions. . The new global stance is on display in the U.S. right now as President Biden hosts the first-ever trilateral summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea. This is not an easy meeting—Japan and South Korea have a long history of conflict—but they are working to mend fences* to stand firm against North Korea, including its missile tests, and to present a united front in the face of Chinese power. . Cooperation between Japan and South Korea “helps us promote peace and stability and furthers our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. It advances our shared values and helps uphold principles of the UN Charter like sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity. It allows us to even more expand opportunity and prosperity.” . In squeezing Russia, international cooperation has again been vital. The Swiss corporation Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiqes (SITA), which is responsible for booking, flight messaging, baggage tracking, and other airline applications, announced in May that it will leave Russia this autumn. Russian carriers are scrambling . In his remarks to reporters on Tuesday, Blinken defended the administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan almost exactly two years ago, saying the decision to withdraw was “incredibly difficult” but correct. “We ended America’s longest war,” he said. “For the first time in 20 years, we don’t have another generation of young Americans going to fight and die in Afghanistan. And in turn, that has enabled us to even more effectively meet the many challenges of our time, from great power competition to the many transnational issues that we’re dealing with that are affecting the lives of our people and people around the world.” . He noted that the U.S. continues to be the leading donor of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, contributing about $1.9 billion since 2021, and that the U.S. continues to work to hold the Taliban accountable for the rights of women and girls. Biden administration to invest $1.2 billion in projects to suck carbon out of the air The Biden administration will announce on Friday its first major investment to kickstart the US carbon removal industry – something energy experts say is key to getting the country’s planet-warming emissions under control. Direct air capture removal projects are akin to huge vacuum cleaners sucking carbon dioxide out of the air, using chemicals to remove the greenhouse gas. Once removed, CO2 gets stored underground, or is used in industrial materials like cement. On Friday, the US Department of Energy will announce it is spending $1.2 billion to fund two new demonstration projects in Texas and Louisiana – the South Texas Direct Air Capture hub and Project Cypress in Louisiana. “These two projects are going to build these regional direct air capture hubs,” US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters. “That means they’re going to link everything from capture to processing to deep underground storage, all in one seamless process.” Granholm said the projects are expected to remove more than 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air annually once they are up and running – the equivalent of removing nearly 500,000 gas cars off the road. The machines are being built to essentially supercharge the natural carbon removal already done by trees, bogs and oceans – which is not happening fast enough to capture fossil fuel emissions at the scale humans are emitting them. White House senior adviser Mitch Landrieu told reporters these will be the first direct air capture projects at this scale in the US and “will be the largest in the world.” Another project in Iceland that opened in 2021 removes about 10 metric tons of CO2 every day, roughly the same amount of carbon emitted by 800 cars a day. At the time, that project’s operator Climeworks said it was the largest one in the world. The US direct air capture projects alone could increase global capacity for the technology by 400 times, said Sasha Stashwick, policy director at Carbon180 – an independent nonprofit focused on carbon removal. “The industry’s very nascent at the moment,” Stashwick told CNN. “These are meant to be the first commercial-scale deployments at the mega-ton scale. It’s a very, very big deal.” Biden’s Democratic Party is to the left of Obama’s. Thank a progressive Joe Biden has racked up more bipartisan victories than any president of either party in a generation. t: Most Republicans in the House and the Senate opposed the Respect for Marriage Act, but it nevertheless passed with a fair amount GOP support in both chambers. As we discussed soon after, the measure is part of a larger series of bipartisan wins, which includes an infrastructure package, the CHIPS and Science Act, an expansion of veterans benefits in the PACT Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — the first major legislation to address gun violence in nearly three decades — and even the Postal Service Reform Act. A Manufacturing Revolution Is Underway In The USA, Thanks To Joe Biden No matter which way you cut it, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are stimulating a massive reinvestment in manufacturing, infrastructure, and good working class jobs in the United States. After decades of complaints, political potshots, and genuine economic pain from the loss of such working class jobs, we now have an administration that is doing something about the crisis and reversing the trend. And we had Democrats in control of the House and the Senate long enough to strongly support the president’s efforts and pass legislation that would enable the success. We are now beginning to reap the rewards — and there’s much more to come in the years ahead. US manufacturing commitments double after Biden subsidies launched The investment in semiconductor and clean tech investments is almost double the commitments made in the same sectors in the whole of 2021, and nearly 20 times the amount in 2019, according to data compiled by the Financial Times. While the FT identified four projects worth at least $1bn each in these sectors in 2019, there were 31 of that size after August 2022. There has been more than $40bn in planned capital spending since the start of the year. Asian giants LG, Hanwha, and LONGI have all announced deals in the past month, taking total large-scale investments to $204bn on April 14. “We see right now the tectonic plates are shifting with respect to investment in the United States,” said US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm this week, referring to the surge of investment in recent months. Biden’s massive manufacturing push is working and U.S. companies have already committed $200 billion to new projects The Biden administration’s efforts to revive U.S. manufacturing appear to be succeeding, with some business sectors plowing in almost 20 times the investment in new U.S. manufacturing projects versus only a few years ago. Biden signs bipartisan deal to avert debt default The nearly 15-minute address served as a victory lap for the president after the Senate passed the legislation he negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to raise the debt ceiling for two years and cut federal spending. "No one got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed," he said. In what appeared to be a nod to one of this key arguments for reelection, Biden underscored the type of steady leadership he asserts he can continue to provide in comparison to some of the partisan fighting being waged by more hardline Republicans, including leading Republican candidates for president. Why Biden Is Getting More Bipartisan Laws Than Anyone Expected There is more happening during the Biden administration. The bills are bigger, and the subjects they cover are less obscure. Infrastructure is a revealing window into the change. President Obama pleaded with Republicans to pass infrastructure upgrades that their business allies were begging for, to no avail. Republicans blocked all these investments by insisting they be paid for and then refusing to compromise on the funding. Under Biden, Republicans simply permitted the spending to be financed with a series of budget gimmicks and deficit spending. The gun-safety bill provides an even stronger example: The bill concerns a policy that lies close to the nerve center of the culture wars, and it never would have come together if not for an intensive wave of national press coverage. And while its provisions are quite modest, most observers would have predicted that no bill at all would pass. Biden Overhauls Military Justice Code, Seeking to Curb Sexual Assault President Biden gave final approval on Friday to the biggest reshaping in generations of the country’s Uniform Code of Military Justice, stripping commanders of their authority over cases of sexual assault, rape and murder to ensure prosecutions that are independent of the chain of command. By signing a far-reaching executive order, Mr. Biden ushered in the most significant changes to the modern military legal system since it was created in 1950. The order follows two decades of pressure from lawmakers and advocates of sexual assault victims, who argued that victims in the military were too often denied justice, culminating in a bipartisan law mandating changes. The White House called the changes to the military justice system “a turning point for survivors of gender-based violence in the military” and said they kept promises Mr. Biden made as a candidate. “It is a monumental step,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “Any change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a big deal. This one is particularly important given the scourge of sexual assault and sexual harassment that the military still continues to wrestle with.” The Biden administration seeks to protect nearly 1 million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon where there are uranium deposits amid tribal nations’ cultural and sacred sites. The Biden administration announced the creation of a new national monument surrounding the Grand Canyon in the hopes of protecting it from mining and development. But that still won’t stop a controversial mine from producing uranium within the monument’s boundaries. Biden’s designation of a new national monument is expected to protect nearly 1 million acres of land and stop new mining and development. But with mining rights already grandfathered in, the existing Pinyon Plain Mine is an exception. x Beginning this week, 804,000 federal student loan borrowers received emails from their servicers with the subject line "Your student loans have been forgiven." The notices came as part of the Biden admin's previously announced efforts to cancel debt for qualifying borrowers. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 17, 2023 Biden administration names 10 prescription drugs for price negotiations The Biden administration Tuesday identified 10 expensive prescription drugs it has chosen for price negotiations with pharmaceutical manufacturers as the government seeks to ease the financial burden on older and disabled Americans. The announcement marks an unprecedented step in a long political war over the nation’s exorbitant drug costs even as the pharmaceutical industry is still trying to block the plan. “Today is the start of a new deal for patients where Big Pharma doesn’t just get a blank check at your expense and the expense of the American people,” Biden said in remarks Tuesday from the White House East Room. Referring to the spate of lawsuits alleging that the negotiations are unconstitutional, he said, “We’re going to keep standing up” to the pharmaceutical industry. “I’ll have your back,” he said, addressing the nation’s consumers. Biden Administration Proposes Rule To Curb Disability Discrimination In Health Care Federal officials are proposing new regulations prohibiting medical providers from discriminating against people with disabilities and setting new standards for accessibility at the doctor’s office. Specifically, the rule would bar medical treatment decisions from being based on biases or stereotypes about disabilities. Likewise, judgements about the value of an individual’s life or their burden on others could not factor into treatment decisions related to organ transplants, life-sustaining care, crisis standards of care or otherwise. In addition, the proposal would ensure that child welfare programs do not discriminate against individuals with disabilities in parent-child visitation, reunification services, child removals and child placement, guardianship, parenting skills programs, foster and adoptive parent assessments and other services. Biden’s new Climate Corps will train thousands of young people President Biden on Wednesday announced an initiative to train more than 20,000 young people in skills crucial to combating climate change, such as installing solar panels, restoring coastal wetlands and retrofitting homes to be more energy-efficient. In a TikTok video Monday that racked up more than 16,000 views, the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group, declared that “Dark Brandon would pass a CCC” — a reference to a meme that Biden’s 2024 campaign has embraced. Biden’s move bypasses gridlock on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation to establish a Civilian Climate Corps that is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House. x 🚨 BREAKING In HUGE news, President Biden will join UAW workers in Michigan on Tuesday! This move is easily the most significant pro-union gestures ever by a sitting US president amid a contract dispute. Simply a great move by President Biden, the pro-worker and pro-union… pic.twitter.com/5e92rConAM — Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) September 22, 2023 Economy adds 336,000 jobs in September, in a stunning gain The U.S. economy churned out a blockbuster 336,000 jobs in September, smashing economists’ expectations The economy’s defiance has worked out for now, with a recession nowhere in sight “Bidenomics is about investing in America and investing in American workers,” Biden said, adding, “We’re creating good jobs in communities all across the country, including in places that have been left behind.” x The more I dig into the Sept jobs report, the more I like it. The job market is strong, but not too strong to forestall lower inflation. All signs suggest the economy is at full-employment, not beyond, and labor supply is keeping up with labor demand. Couldn’t be much better. — Mark Zandi (@Markzandi) October 6, 2023 x The Biden admin has announced, in an historic first, major drug companies including Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb have committed to participate in Medicare drug price negotiations with the federal government. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 3, 2023 x Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors on Medicare will only pay $35 a month. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 3, 2023 x On the day that the Tea Party started eating the GOP's face in the year 2023, President Joe Biden announced Medicare negotiations on prices for 10 drugs. — emptywheel (@emptywheel) October 3, 2023 x President Biden is canceling an additional $9 billion worth of student debt, according to the White House. The loan relief will help 125,000 Americans and is a result of changes made to federal programs for low-income individuals, public servants and borrowers with disabilities. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 4, 2023 x This is amazing: President Biden will cancel an additional $9 BILLION in student debt for 125,000 student loan borrowers today. That means President Biden has cancelled of over $127 billion in student debt for 3.5 MILLION Americans. This matters. Thank you, President Biden. — Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) October 4, 2023 x These constant random acts of kindness and decency from @JoeBiden is why I don’t give a damn, he’s 80 years old. https://t.co/Bwe5weT6oW — Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) October 2, 2023 x He may be an old fuck but this old fuck is getting shit done https://t.co/4cfuuiNUXz — Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) October 1, 2023 x Today, I convened a call with allies and partners to coordinate our ongoing support for the people of Ukraine. We discussed getting Ukraine the resources it needs, and our work to address the global energy, economic, and food challenges caused by Russia's war of choice. — President Biden (@POTUS) October 3, 2023 x Today, at the first-ever White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities, the Biden-Harris Administration is releasing a National Climate Resilience Framework and announcing more than $500 million in dedicated funding to help build a climate resilient nation. pic.twitter.com/7LHKoPcph1 — The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 28, 2023 Biden administration advises colleges on how to preserve diversity The Biden administration urged colleges Thursday to give “meaningful consideration” to adversity that applicants have faced — including financial hardship and personal experiences of racial discrimination — to promote diversity on campuses after the Supreme Court struck down the use of race-based affirmative action in admissions. A new report from the Education Department listed that measure among several that might make a difference. Among them were investment in outreach programs to disadvantaged communities; partnerships with community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); and increased financial aid to help families afford tuition. The Biden administration is pushing wealthy institutions to do far more to help disadvantaged students. Biden’s new Climate Corps will train thousands of young people President Biden on Wednesday announced an initiative to train more than 20,000 young people in skills crucial to combating climate change, such as installing solar panels, restoring coastal wetlands and retrofitting homes to be more energy-efficient. In a TikTok video Monday that racked up more than 16,000 views, the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group, declared that “Dark Brandon would pass a CCC” — a reference to a meme that Biden’s 2024 campaign has embraced. Biden’s move bypasses gridlock on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation to establish a Civilian Climate Corps that is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House. x 🚨 BREAKING In HUGE news, President Biden will join UAW workers in Michigan on Tuesday! This move is easily the most significant pro-union gestures ever by a sitting US president amid a contract dispute. Simply a great move by President Biden, the pro-worker and pro-union… pic.twitter.com/5e92rConAM — Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) September 22, 2023 x The Biden admin today is setting forth new guidance to make clear that the 1964 Civil Rights Act includes protections against religious discrimination like antisemitism or Islamophobia. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 28, 2023 Biden administration cracks down on career programs that saddle students with debt President Biden’s administration is tightening federal oversight of career training programs that saddle students with unaffordable education debt, an effort that could hamstring some for-profit colleges. On Wednesday, the Education Department finalized regulations that would cut off federal student aid to vocational programs whose graduates consistently have high loan payments relative to their income. The rules are the culmination of years of debate over the responsibility career programs have to ensure their graduates receive “gainful employment.” The restrictions could place 1,700 programs serving 700,000 students at risk of losing federal student aid, according to the department. “President Biden has made himself clear that as we fight for greater college affordability, we must demand greater accountability,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on a call with reporters Wednesday. “We can’t keep throwing taxpayer-funded financial aid dollars at colleges that cost students an arm and a leg and then living in a ditch, unable to climb the economic ladder.” x How many times will @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris deliver for the American people? The limit does not exist. pic.twitter.com/bZKDKsBmBY — The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) October 4, 2023 x We fixed the income-driven repayment program so borrowers who had been paying on their loans for 20 years get the debt relief they earned. Today, I announced that we have approved an additional $9 billion in relief for 125,000 borrowers under that program. pic.twitter.com/0s3JBujUpM — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 5, 2023 The article is titled: How Bidenomics Has Finally Defeated Reaganomics but really it is about how amazing a President Joe Biden has been. It starts off with an overview The last thing many of us expected when Joe Biden became president was that he would be a revolutionary. But just over two years into Biden’s presidency, there is no doubt that he has done more to dramatically transform U.S. policy and thinking in more areas than any of his predecessors since Franklin Roosevelt. America had failed to adequately invest in its infrastructure for over six decades when Biden made it a priority once again. Biden’s prioritized investment in combating climate change to a degree that no past administration ever did. On foreign policy, he executed the pivot away from a Middle East and terrorism focus to a long-term commitment to placing the Indo-Pacific region and our rivalry with China atop our list of priorities. Remarkably, he did this while simultaneously handling the threats associated with Europe’s largest land war since World War II and reinvigorating America’s most important alliance, NATO, in a way few thought possible just years ago. He stopped the impetus toward isolation and inaction internationally of the presidencies that immediately preceded his. What is more, none of the transformations cited above are actually the biggest the Biden administration has overseen. And then it talks about the biggest thing Biden has done — finally starting to turn the country around from the massive damage that came from Reagonomics. From day one, Biden has profoundly transformed U.S. economic policy—and related social and international policies. Biden is the man who finally slew Reaganomics and the huckster’s brew of “trickle-down” and “the markets know best” policies at its core. He is the one who at last put an end to the “Washington consensus” that has served the rich worldwide and left the poor to struggle with too little support. He, at last, ended the slavish deference of Washington neoliberals to Wall Street, and the consequent grotesque growth in inequality and injustice it has fueled. what has he done? Some of the steps he has taken were major but received too little attention, such as the effort (led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen) to create a minimum tax to be paid by corporations worldwide. Some of the bold changes were revealed in policy choices that made headlines—like his decision to place the concerns of the people working in the real economy ahead of the preferences of Wall Street in his American Rescue Plan, his initiative to invest in our infrastructure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and his steps to invest in our green economy and combat rising costs for average Americans in the Inflation Reduction Act. and why this approach? Biden, Sullivan, Yellen, and their team have finally acknowledged that growth for its own sake—or good performance by markets—are not the only metrics we should have as we make economic policy decisions. Markets don’t have consciences, neither do they take into consideration the security interests of nations. Companies are by law required to place their bottom line interests ahead of the interests of the rest of society. Therefore, government has an obligation to step in and take steps to ensure that critical social goods are advanced. Finally, after many decades of deferring to the financial and corporate interests who also happen to be big political donors, a president and his team have come along to say, “enough.” It is time to make economic decisions that serve all the people and address the damage done by the policies of the past. What can you do? I’ll be back next week with a more traditional GNR. In the meantime, I am super lucky and proud to be in this with you ✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿❤️🧡💛💚✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/14/2198132/-We-should-all-be-bragging-about-Biden-Saturday-s-GNR?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/