It is common knowledge that Republicans are the party of capitalism while Democrats are the party of socialism. It is also common knowledge that socialism doesn’t work and Americans do not want it.
Last night’s State of the Union Address by president Joe Biden was interesting as he, once again, proved the above two passages hold true through a series of his gaslighting attempts and outright lies.
“’Shot himself in the foot’: Biden showed he was ‘divorced from reality’ during SOTU address” – Sky News Australia
One of his talking points really struck me as it hit close to home. He brought up the closure of the Jeep Stellantis Plant last year. I have some personal knowledge about this plant. Some 1,350 employees were let go and some were friends and graduates of mine. The Belvidere Assembly Plant was idled as an automobile production facility. The factory opened in 1965 in Belvidere, Illinois making Chryslers and closed assembling the Jeep Cherokee.
So Biden visits Belvidere later in 2023 to win the support of the United Auto Workers (UAW) for 2024 and makes some promises and acts to settle a UAW strike. While the head of the UAW, Shawn Fain, may have been buying what Biden was selling but much of his membership does not. That did not stop Fain from attending last night’s SOTUA as a Biden guest though and getting a formal introduction.
A good recap of what occurred in the 4th quarter of last year after Biden’s Belvidere visit was written about on the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) website:
“Stellantis—which produces Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and RAM vehicles—is set to invest $4.7 billion in Belvidere. This substantial investment aims to reopen the existing facility to produce midsize trucks on two shifts and will establish a new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Belvidere, which will generate an estimated 1,300 additional jobs. Stellantis will also locate a megahub for parts distribution there.”
The Belvidere Plant’s Transition to an EV Plant Has a Bright Future
So this is what Biden said during the SOTUA last night about Belvidere:
“A great comeback story is Belvidere, Illinois, home to an auto plant for nearly 60 years. Before I came to office the plant was on its way to shutting down. Thousands of workers feared for their livelihoods. Hope was fading.
Then I was elected to office and we raised the Belvidere repeatedly with auto companies knowing unions would make all the difference.
The U.A.W. worked like hell to keep the plant open and get these jobs back. And together, we succeeded. Instead of auto factories shutting down, auto factories reopening. A new state-of-the art battery factory is being built to power those cars there at the same —
Folks, to the folks of Belvidere, I say, instead of your town being left behind, your community is moving forward again. Because instead of watching auto jobs of the future go overseas, 4,000 union jobs with higher wages are building the future in Belvidere, right here in America.
Here tonight is U.A.W. President Shawn Fain, a great friend and a great labor leader. Shawn, where are you? Stand up. And Dawn Simms, a third generation worker, U.A.W. worker in Belvidere.
Shawn, I was proud to be the first president to stand in a picket line, and today, Dawn has a job in her hometown providing stability for her family and pride and dignity as well.”
The Washington Post reported the problem of Joe Biden touting this as one of his success stories right after his Belvidere visit:
“One factor tempering public enthusiasm: Many of the Stellantis jobs won’t appear for another year or more. The company must first build the battery factory and retool the old plant for production of a new pickup truck. Electric, hybrid and gas-powered versions of the vehicle are scheduled to start rolling off the lines in late 2026, according to the UAW. Battery production is set for 2028. The jobs will probably begin well before manufacturing starts, but exactly when isn’t clear.”
Factory reopening could save this town, but many still bash the economy
And, as we reported last November:
“Dealer Demand for Electric Vehicles is Tanking”
So Joe Biden doesn’t seem to understand the capitalist’s concept of “supply and demand”. To put it in terms even Joe Biden can understand; There is no “cents” making electric vehicles nobody wants to buy!
CONCLUSION:
Joe Biden is a proven career liar. His lies caught up to him when he ran for president in 1987 and should have caught up to him again in 2020, if we still had a functional news media. People would do well to read the poem by Francis Duggan “One Lie Leads to Another Lie” to really understand Joe Biden.
The two worst auto plant closures within an hour drive of my home came under Democrat presidents; GM Janesville Plant in 2009 under president Barack Obama (1,200 Employees Impacted) and the Belvidere Chrysler Plant in 2023 under president Joe Biden (1,350 Employees Impacted).
It is time for some other cold hard truths as well:
Belvidere did not employ 4,000 people when it closed so there is no way it is going to reopen employing more than it had when it closed, 1,350.
Biden is not fit to carry the water for the certifiable genius Elon Musk who Biden has systematically shunned. Musk is starting to turn his focus from electric vehicles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Also, EVs are not green vehicles, so don’t be fooled.
Electric trucks are not doing well in sales and Illinois already has an electric truck plant in Bloomington, Rivian, so that makes for another strike against the Belvidere plant reopening as planned by Biden and Fain.
“Automaker Rivian pauses construction of its $5 billion electric truck plant in Georgia” – AP
The Biden claim 15 million jobs were created in just 3 years were the result of people coming back into the workforce after the Covid Pandemic and Biden growing the government like a drunken socialist and thus the national debt as well.
“The Growth of Government in the United States” – Foundation for Economic Education
(https://fee.org/articles/the-growth-of-government-in-the-united-states/)
The House Budget Committee reports Biden “has overseen over $11 trillion in spending – more than $1.5 trillion of which has been done unilaterally through various executive actions and rulemaking, marking a clear circumvention of Congress.”
And the add in that same time period, “projected ten-year outlays have increased from $61.2 trillion to $80.1 trillion, an increase of $18.9 trillion or 30.8 percent. This translates to a 10 percent jump in outlays as percent of GDP.”
My parents taught me growing up that if you can catch a person in one lie, it is probably a pattern of their behavior. That is Joe Biden.
Copyright © 2024 by Mark S. Schwendau
