But, But—Bidenomics is Working

That’s the claim of President Joe Biden (D) as he insists our eyes are lying, and we should believe him, instead. These two lede paragraphs say otherwise:

Surging inflation gobbled up household income gains last year, making 2022 the third straight year in which Americans saw their living standards eroded by rising prices and pandemic disruptions.
Americans’ inflation-adjusted median household income fell to $74,580 in 2022, declining 2.3% from the 2021 estimate of $76,330, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. The amount has dropped 4.7% since its peak in 2019.

It’s true enough that the Biden inflation runup has ebbed, but it’s still nearly double what it was in the fall before he took office. It’s also true that, over the last couple of months, wage increases have been greater than current inflation.

We still have, though, that overall shrunken income, and it’ll be a long time before that recovers. Recall the income loss during the Obama-Biden years post-Panic of 2008, a loss which lasted for several years, until roughly 2015. Keep in mind, too, that even with the lower inflation today than the Biden peak, the prices us ordinary Americans pay remain badly elevated. What we pay for critical items like food and energy—items typically excised from inflation measures because they’re so “volatile”—still is 16% higher than when Biden took office.

There’s this tidbit, too:

Total [Federal tax] receipts are down 10%, year over year, owing to slower growth….

But ’twas a famous victory, by Biden and his cronies. Over truth and the facts, but not over reality and the straits our economy truly is in.

The House Impeachment Inquiry

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R, CA) has announced an impeachment inquiry to look, formally, into allegations of President Joe Biden’s (D) misbehaviors. The press, lately exemplified by the august editors of The Wall Street Journal, keeps nattering on about the following:

Formally opening an inquiry puts more legal force behind House subpoenas to investigate the President’s role in promoting the Biden family’s business connections to shady foreign firms.

While I agree with the concept of the impeachment inquiry, I do have a couple of questions about that more legal force behind House subpoenas bit, especially since the press never supports that claim.

  1. What Constitutional clause or statute creates this increased legal force?
  2. On the assumption such a clause or statute exists, who will enforce the subpoenas? The Biden/Garland DoJ certainly will not; that entity, and the Obama/Lynch DoJ before it, have already refused to enforce far too many House subpoenas.