Those Stubborn Facts: White House Misinformation on the Debt Ceiling

Tags

Biden, Congress, debt ceiling, federal budget, Kevin McCarthy, Those Stubborn Facts

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “threatened to be the first one to default on the debt, which would throw us in a gigantic recession and beyond, unless he gets what he wants the budget.”

– President Biden, April 18, 2023

 

Times since 1978 alone that Congress has paired debt ceiling hikes with other legislation: 32

 

(Sources: “Remarks by President Biden on Actions to Help Families Access Care and Support Care Workers and Family Caregivers,” Speeches and Remarks, Briefing Room, April 18, 2023, Remarks by President Biden on Actions to Help Families Access Care and Support Care Workers and Family Caregivers | The White House and “US debt ceiling: A ‘clean’ increase is not the rule,” Reuters, May 1, 2023, US debt ceiling: A ‘clean’ increase is not the rule | Reuters)

Advertisement

Those Stubborn Facts: Yes, There Really is a Biden Border Crisis

Tags

Biden administration, Biden border crisis, border security, illegal aliens, Immigration, migrants, Open Borders, Those Stubborn Facts

Number of illegal southern border migrants released into the U.S. under President Biden: at least 2.021 million

Number of illegal southern border migrants that have evaded border agents under President Biden: 1.373 million

Total number of illegal southern border migrants that have entered the U.S. under President Biden: 3.394 million

 

(Source: “Biden’s Released at Least 2,020,522 Southwest Border Migrants. And probably a lot more – plus 1.3 million known ‘got-aways,” by Andrew R. Arthur, Center for Immigration Studies, April 17, 2023, https://cis.org/Arthur/Bidens-Released-Least-2020522-Southwest-Border-Migrants )

Those Stubborn Facts: Some Banking Crisis Basics

Tags

banking crisis, banks, deposits, FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve, finance, interest rates, rate hikes, Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, SVB, Those Stubborn Facts

U.S. banks’ unrealized losses as of year-end 2022: $1.7 trillion

U.S. banks’ total equity as of year-end 2022: $2.1 trillion

Share of U.S. banks’ $17 trillion worth of deposits not insured by the federal government: c. 40 percent

 

(Source: “U.S. Banks are sitting on $1.7 trillion in unrealized losses, research says. That’s not a problem—until it is,” by Will Daniel, Fortune, March 23, 2023, U.S. Banks have $1.7 trillion in unrealized losses | Fortune)

Those Stubborn Facts: Beijing’s CCP Virus Cover Up Continues

Tags

CCP Virus, China, coronavirus, cover up, COVID 19, public health, Those Stubborn Facts, transparency, Wuhan virus, Zhejiang province

China’s central government official tally of new CCP Virus cases yesterday: 9,548

Zhejiang province government tally of new daily CCP Virus cases as of Tuesday: c. one million

 

(Source: “Explainer: Is China sharing enough Covid-19 information?” by Huizhong Wu and Annirudha Ghosal, Associated Press, January 6, 2023, EXPLAINER: Is China sharing enough COVID-19 information? | AP News)

 

Those Stubborn Facts: Who’s Fetishizing AR-15s?

Tags

AR-15, assault weapons, crime, gun control, gun violence, murders, Pew Research Center, rifles, The New York Times, Those Stubborn Facts

“States and the federal government should…pass far tougher regulations on the gun industry, particularly through restrictions on the marketing of guns, which have helped supercharge the cult of the AR-15.”

– The New York Times, December 10, 2022

 

Share of U.S. guns in circulation that are “semiautomatic military-style rifles” like AR-15s: 6%

 

Share of U.S. gun-related murders due to rifles of all kinds, 2020*: 3%

*Latest available FBI data

 

“America’s Toxic Gun Culture,” The New York Times, December 10, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/opinion/america-gun-violence.html and “What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.,” by John Gramlich, Pew Research Center, February 3, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)

Those Stubborn Facts: The Digital Revolution in a Nutshell

Tags

infotech, innovation, microchips, semiconductors, technology, Those Stubborn Facts

Number of transistors in a state-of-the-art computer chip, 1961: 4

Number of transistors in Nvidia’s latest graphics chip: 76 billion

(Source: “The ‘chip choke’ on China may breathe air into semiconductor industry,” by John Thornhill, Financial Times, September 29, 2022, The ‘chip choke’ on China may breathe air into semiconductor industry | Financial Times (ft.com))

Those Stubborn Facts: U.S. National Security Outsourced to China

Tags

China, defense, Defense Department, national security, Pentagon, procurement, supply chain, Those Stubborn Facts

Number of Chinese entities in the U.S. Defense Department’s supply base, 2019: 655

Increase since 2012: “More than fivefold.”

 

(Source: “Pentagon Pushes Defense Companies to Limit Use of Chinese Supplies,” by Doug Cameron, The Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2022, Pentagon Pushes Defense Companies to Limit Use of Chinese Supplies – WSJ )

Those Stubborn Facts: The Biggest Bubble of Them All?

Tags

bubbles, China, housing, property, real estate, Those Stubborn Facts

Number of people who could be housed in currently empty apartments in China: 90 million

Area of purchased but unbuilt properties in China: 500-600 million square meters:

Number of Manhattans this figure adds up to: 10

Estimated cost of finishing these projects: $300 billion

 

(Source: “Real estate will defeat Beijing, again,” by Pete Sweeney, Breaking Views, Reuters, July 21, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/real-estate-will-defeat-beijing-again-2022-07-21/) 

 

Those Stubborn Facts: U.S. Inflation Has Wiped Out Stimulus Gains – & Then Some

Tags

cost of living, inflation, stimulus, Those Stubborn Facts, wages Covid relief

Combined total of individuals’ COVID stimulus checks passed during the Trump and Biden administrations: $3,200

Total wage loss from inflation for the average worker between June, 2021 and June, 2022: $3,400

 

(“Inflation Has Now Devoured All Biden’s Covid ‘Rescue ‘ Checks,” unsigned editorial, Issues & Insights, July 18, 2022, Inflation Has Now Devoured All Biden’s COVID ‘Rescue’ Checks – Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com))

Those Stubborn Facts: Yes, Biden Really Has Opened the Border

Tags

Biden administration, Biden border crisis, border security, illegal immigration, immigrants, Immigration, migrants, Open Borders, Those Stubborn Facts

“We preliminarily estimate that illegal immigrants accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the foreign-born population since January 2021 — 1.35 million.”

– Center for Immigration Studies, June 1, 2022

 

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population during first Obama administration term: 59,000

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population during second Obama administration term: 76,000

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population during Trump pre-CCP Virus years: 42,000

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population sofar during Biden administration: 132,000

 

(“Foreign-Born Population Hit Record 47 Million in April 2022,” by Steven A. Camarota and Karen Ziegler, Center for Immigration Studies, June 1, 2022, https://cis.org/Report/ForeignBorn-Population-Hit-Record-47-Million-April-2022%29)