A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Governor turned his attention to pocketbook issues Monday in New Hampshire, offering a rejoinder to the President and “Bidenomics.” while incorporating rhetoric arguably as home on the left as on the right.
Rolling out his so-called “Declaration of Economic Independence,” Ron DeSantis contended he had a plan to “reverse economic decline” as the “American dream” slipped away from people during the Joe Biden era.
At times, the Governor embraced populist rhetoric that wouldn’t sound out of place from Senators Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.
“Costs of life’s essentials have gone through the roof. Things like buying a home, purchasing a car, starting a family. Things that used to be the hallmark of the American dream are now cost-prohibitive for so many people throughout our country. Even getting groceries on a weekly basis has become a major challenge,” DeSantis lamented.
“Think about this: Today, the bottom half of households have less wealth than they did in 1989. Meanwhile, the top 10% have added 29 trillion in wealth.”
DeSantis noted labor force participation has shrunk, with “millions of people (having) left the workforce and still to this day have not returned,” with just 89% of working-age men in the labor pool.
The Governor also maligned a “broken university system” that leads graduates to be “deep in debt” with uncertain job prospects while noting life expectancy is also declining.
“This is not normal. This is not acceptable,” the Governor said.
The Governor also decried “boom-and-bust” policies enacted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis that have been “costly for average Americans,” citing “quantitative easing” to make the rich richer. “Venture socialism” has been the order of the day, DeSantis said, with corporate bailouts and carveouts.
“The idea of too big to fail has led to ‘too difficult to succeed’ for America’s middle class,” DeSantis said, decrying “socialism” for the elites and extolling natural economic cycles.
Addressing the student loan crisis, DeSantis said he had “sympathy” for students “sold a bill of goods” by universities that increased “administrative bloat.” He said, as before, that universities should be responsible for non-performing degrees, adding that he now believes student loans should be “dischargeable in bankruptcy.” A notable difference since, as a Senator, President Biden pushed to make those loans non-dischargeable early in the 2000s.
The Governor blamed foreign enemies and institutional capital for America’s economic “malaise.”
“The reality is if you’ve seen over these many years, American families have been saddled with weak economic growth, high prices … the quality of life has stagnated. Yet we’ve seen our national debt explode, and the Chinese Communist Party continues to eat this country’s lunch every single day,” DeSantis said.
In addition to targeting China, DeSantis also turned his critical eye to corporations.
“We cannot have policy that kowtows to the largest corporations and Wall Street at the expense of small businesses and average Americans. There’s a difference between a free-market economy — which we want — and corporatism, in which the rules are jiggered to be able to help incumbent companies.”
The Governor blames the “elites” for “economic policies that are shortsighted and counterproductive,” including on China.
“The elites sold us a bill of goods,” DeSantis said.
The Governor noted “COVID lockdowns” and the concurrent expansion of the monetary supply only accelerated these trends.
DeSantis vowed to “reshore” the economy’s manufacturing base, stressing economic sovereignty and that America is more than “cogs” in the global economy.
“We want to be a country where you can raise a family on one sole income,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis says he plans to restore “economic sovereignty,” spur economic growth by eliminating “bureaucracy and red tape,” lower tax rates and simplify the tax code, assert “energy independence” from “hostile nations,” and kneecap ESG and social credit scores.
Additionally, he says he will “restore merit in the individual” as a criterion for “economic advancement,” standing against “discriminatory” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
He also vows to “lower the barriers to entry, particularly for blue-collar workers” into education while championing “workforce education and technical training.”
The Governor also said there was a need to “rein in” the Federal Reserve, griping about interest rates making homes unaffordable.
“The Fed needs to have a limited role,” DeSantis says, vowing to pick a Chair who “understands that.”
Additionally, the Governor would “rein in” Congressional spending, saying he backed a balanced-budget amendment and Congressional term limits to that end.
10 comments
WhatNow
July 31, 2023 at 12:24 pm
Having no clear, specific economic plan beyond attempting to dictate to Congress whatever he wishes, DeSantis The Dead Horse Fascist talks a lot but says little.
Dont Say FLA
July 31, 2023 at 12:25 pm
When Rhonda speaks of “the elites,” which elites are they?
Harvard? Yale? Or both Harvard and Yale like Rhonda?
Rhonda is such a Mo’. An Ivy League law school grad yammering on about elites like folks don’t know who Rhonda is.
LOL @ Ivy League Rhonda, just another elite that don’t know shit from shinola. Pay attention. Rhonda. Shit. Shinola There ya go. Off into the world with ya.
PeterH
July 31, 2023 at 12:28 pm
From this article …. quote from Ron DeSantis:
“Costs of life’s essentials have gone through the roof. Things like buying a home, purchasing a car, starting a family. Things that used to be the hallmark of the American dream are now cost-prohibitive for so many people throughout our country. Even getting groceries on a weekly basis has become a major challenge,”
This economic failure is MOST OBVIOUS in Ron DeSantis’s FREEDUMB STATE OF FLORIDA where residents are experiencing America’s highest rate of inflation at 9% …. Where other States are seeing 2%! Additionally Florida’s real estate bubble, property taxes and costs for insurance are through the roof. Homelessness in Republican managed cities like Miami are on the rise. Homeless have no place to relieve themselves so the deposit their body waste in abandoned storefronts throughout the downtown Miami district. Florida is reeling from 20 years of failed Republican policies and there is no end in sight.
Luke B. Fawcett
July 31, 2023 at 12:29 pm
Nothing new. Same old same old. The only good news is that he has so destroyed the state he will soon be a footnote in our history.
Moe Ron
July 31, 2023 at 12:30 pm
“Costs of life’s essentials have gone through the roof,” for those in Florida who somehow still have a roof despite the storms and despite all the insurance companies being driven out of Florida by … Let’s see, who runs Florida again? I forget.
Oh yeah, Florida has a Super Majority GOP with Rhonda Dee Santis, a little Meatwad that self identifies as Governor of Florida, know for chartering private jets using state money for flying foreign nationals to tourist hot spots in an attempt to boost his supposed Presidential campaign.
Ocean Joe
July 31, 2023 at 12:33 pm
“Think about this: Today, the bottom half of households have less wealth than they did in 1989. Meanwhile, the top 10% have added 29 trillion in wealth.
That’s what happens when you cut taxes on the wealthy, eliminate inheritance taxes or raise the exemption level, support corporate welfare through subsidies, cut capital gain taxes and then try to abolish health care and SNAP benefits for the poor. Serious health care reform is avoided as socialism. The cost of ignoring global warming is staggering. Drill baby drill!
Closed and Unmissed: FLORIDA
July 31, 2023 at 1:41 pm
We left Florida due to the unhinged Christians and the antisemitism on I-10 with no investigation, the Black hate authored by Christians and the recognition by large businesses that Florida in an incompatible counterparty in a business transaction.
TJC
July 31, 2023 at 1:42 pm
My auto insurance monthly premiums have more than doubled in the last four years — right here in Florida, under DeSantis’s economic “leadership.” Now he tells the nation he knows how to improve an economy, when the facts prove otherwise. Just another Florida Man joke, this governor.
Dr. Franklin Waters
July 31, 2023 at 3:24 pm
“The Elites”
This is language that they like to use to scare you into being afraid of some boogeyman. These same “elites” are also the ones that bankroll the campaigns of people like DeSantis.
Because the only people who benefit from Republican poliicies are billionaires.
Don’t believe it
July 31, 2023 at 10:11 pm
The irony of this speech coming from him is just staggering. 10 bucks says whoever wrote it for him will be fired in a wheeek.
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