THE HUESSY REPORT

Memo for Our Montgomery County and Maryland Citizens, Prepared by Peter Huessy, President of Geo-Strategic Analysis of Potomac, Maryland

California Dreamin’

 Americans are increasingly finding buying a new home beyond their means. The typical "starter home" now costs 54 percent more than it did five years ago, and is worth at least $1 million in 237 cities (the highest number of cities ever). Half of them are in California. Affordability is the worst in cities with the most restrictive building regulations.

A recent analysis by our friends at The Manhattan Institute finds: 

"When the 20 wind turbines that constitute just one small 100-MW wind farm wear out, decommissioning and trashing them will lead to fourfold more nonrecyclable plastic trash than all the world's (recyclable) plastic straws combined. There are 1,000 times more wind turbines than that in the world today."

Quote from the Banana Head of the Week: That’s $78 Trillion

Treasury Secretary: “Being so close to the magnificent Amazon is also a reminder that the transition to a lower-carbon global economy is also the single greatest economic opportunity of the twenty-first century. The transition will require no less than $3 trillion in new capital from many sources each year between now and 2050.This can be leveraged to support pathways to sustainable and inclusive growth, including for countries that have historically received less investment."

ECONOMY NEWS: BAD

Unemployment jumps to highest rate in years as economists fear recession. Job Growth Craters. See if the media can proclaim the economy is great after these numbers. Only slightly more than 100,000 jobs were created in July.

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals troubling signs for the Harris-Biden economy, with unemployment blowing past expectations to 4.3% in July, the highest since October 2021.July saw the unemployment rate jump to 4.3%, blowing past expectations and marking the highest level in nearly three years.

Over the past year, 1.2 million native-born Americans have lost jobs, while 1.3 million foreign-born workers gained employment. Since July 2023, 311,000 more people are working multiple jobs, and 558,000 additional Americans are now forced to take part-time jobs due to economic pressures.

Diving Deeper: The latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics casts a grim light on the Harris-Biden economy, with unemployment blowing past expectations to 4.3% last month, the highest rate since October 2021. This unexpected rise has spurred fears of a looming recession. Economist John Lonski expressed his concerns to Fox Business, stating, "I’m beginning to smell a recession coming into view…this jump by the unemployment rate, my goodness, 4.3%, this is up sharply from not long ago."

The report breaks down the troubling statistics further. Over the past 12 months, the employment situation has deteriorated significantly for native-born Americans, with 1.2 million losing their jobs. In contrast, 1.3 million foreign-born workers have found employment during the same period. Additionally, the number of people juggling multiple jobs has surged by 311,000, and 558,000 more Americans are now compelled to work part-time for economic reasons.

The higher-than-expected unemployment rate caused markets to react negatively on Friday morning, with fears of a recession becoming more pronounced. Despite these worrying trends, Vice President Kamala Harris has maintained that "Bidenomics is working" although the Dow dropped over 600 points on Friday.

And the Household survey revealed that in the past 12 months, only 50,000 jobs have been added. The household survey is not as large or as precise as the employer survey but such numbers are very poor with 161,266,000 people working in the USA now vs. 161,209,000 in July 2023.

A Fed rate cut will save the Harris campaign? Well, An analysis by Richard Salsman of InterMarket Forecasting finds that rate cuts aren't always bullish. In the graphs below, he shows that rate cuts happened at the start of three of the worst sell-offs in recent times. That includes the bear market of 1973-74, the tech bubble bursting in 2000, and the Great Recession of 2008.

And the debt news is not good. From the House Budget Committee:

Via RealClear Investigations:
Biden's Obamacare Expansions Could Cost Another $383 Billion in 10 Years

      The Biden-Harris Administration has radically expanded Obamacare through unilateral executive actions and two partisan Democrat reconciliation spending bills.

In fact, since the Biden-Harris Administration took office, the cost of Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies has nearly doubled from $68 billion in 2021 to $125 billion in 2024, fueling our $35 trillion national debt.

Responding to a letter from House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), the Congressional Budget Office estimated that it will cost over $383 billion over the next ten years to make the Biden-Harris Administration’s expanded Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies permanent.

A recent RealClear Investigations editorial argues that lawmakers should be focused on finding affordable healthcare solutions that stop increasing the nearly $35 trillion in national debt. Spending more money to prop up the Obamacare program has only delivered higher prices and reduced quality of care to patients.

Via Adam Andrzejewski in RealClear Investigations:

• “President Joseph Biden’s recent decision to offer Obamacare to some “Dreamers” will increase the federal deficit by an estimated $7 billion in the next 10 years, according to new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.”
   
• "Other proposed changes to Obamacare could cost the federal government another $383 billion over 10 years, if enacted.”
   
• "Biden announced in May that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients — people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally as minors before June 2007 — can now get benefits from the Affordable Care Act, changing the Obama administration’s policy.”
   
• "In 2021, Biden’s pandemic stimulus package offered Obamacare to more people than ever and gave existing consumers extra financial assistance.”
   
• "The increased spending was supposed to end in one year, but Biden extended it to 2025. The president’s latest budget request to Congress calls for the expansion to be made permanent.”
   
• “That would give Obamacare to 6.9 million new people at a cost of $383 billion between 2025 and 2034, the CBO estimates. Half of those people would not have insurance otherwise, but the other half would enroll in Obamacare when they could have used insurance offered by their employer, the CBO predicts.”
   
• “Critical quote: “The ACA premium tax credit expansion needlessly spent well over $100 billion of tax dollars for a minimal reduction in the number of uninsured,” Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and Jason Smith (R-MO) wrote in a letter to the CBO. “It is particularly concerning that … some of our nation’s highest earners are now eligible for government assistance. In certain areas of the country, a family making as much as $599,000 in 2023 could qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies.”
   
• "Summary: Affordable healthcare is one of the most important issues facing the U.S., but we need solutions that don’t increase our already-insurmountable debt.”

The American Rescue Plan Act  (P.L. 117-2) spent an estimated $34 billion to temporarily increase the amount of the premium tax credit subsidies for Obamacare plans while also removing the 400 percent of federal poverty level income limit on eligibility for the subsidies through Calendar Year 2022.

Subsequently, the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (P.L. 117-169) spent an estimated $64 billion to extend the expanded ACA subsidies through Calendar Year 2025.

Furthermore, the Biden-Harris Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request included a policy to make permanent the expanded Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies at an estimated cost of $383 billion over ten years. 

Unfortunately, the expanded Obamacare subsidies have provided taxpayer subsidies to some of the wealthiest Americans. In some areas of the country, high-income families making as much as $599,000 in 2023 could qualify for these taxpayer-funded subsidies.

To make matters worse, on May 3^rd, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration unilaterally expanded Obamacare eligibility to include illegal immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program at a cost of $7 billion to taxpayers.

And of course we have our weekly update on the push to ban fossil fuels and solve the climate “crisis":

 The Kamela Cackle Corner:  A New Part of Our Weekly Report

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Peter Huessy is a Member of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee. Since 1981 he has been President of Geo-Strategic Analysis of Potomac, Maryland. He was a former special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior and consultant to the US Air Force. He can be reached at [email protected]