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In Biden's favor the midterm elections showed that for all the concerns about that election Mr. Biden navigated each situation well drawing support from all segments of the population. There was much skepticism about the passage of legislation to invest trillions in chips, science and infrastructure, Yet by winning two key votes of Manchin and Sinema president Biden got the job of investing in America done. The Inflation Reduction Act also kept the president's priorities for helping the average worker and families. At the outset of his campaign for 2024 president Biden faces low ratings. Nate Cohen points to lower support from non white voters. Yet when one looks at the 2020 elections and the last midterm elections it is clear that America is moving back to the days when white voters in all income groups support of the Democrats remained strong. The Obama period could be a temporary situation of Democrats having lost their anchor in manufacturing communities and trade unions as well other segments of the population, depending on 90 percentage points of minority support to pull through. Biden is headed back to the days of Wilson,  FDR and Truman, when whites less educated or more educated gave their support to the Democrats. This makes independent voters crucial and Biden's appeal has to be based on how much he can deliver to voters in infrastructure, in jobs and in hope- the prospects of America for the younger generation. Economic prospects of America can further improve in 2023-2024 as Biden's program for Investing in America moves forward rapidly.    ...

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The battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the North have 83% white voters in a national election compared to 69% nationwide. It is with white voters that Mr. Biden is doing better and according to three sets of data, and this could make it possible for Mr. Biden to win these states again in 2024. In Georgia and Arizona nonwhite vote remains sturdy for Biden, while the states are moving leftward, and this could tilt these states towards Biden, says this report. Biden is losing some support among nonwhite voters but this is happening in states such as New York where Democrats would have a smaller margin in their win. These changes are observed by taking into account the 2020 national and midterms results and combining them with insights from NYT/Siena polls in recent months.

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How historically working class areas in Pennsylvania including Scranton vote in the midterms, and how Mr. Fetterman with his small town roots is able to attract such working class votes for his race against Republicans Mr. Oz, a TV talk host, is crucial to determining when and how working class families in America link up with Mr. Biden. This NYT report looks at Pennsylvania in late October 2022.

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This Editorial Board view in the WSJ asks what does it say when Mr. Biden beats Mr. Trump 44% to 41% even with Mr. Biden's low ratings of 33% in the Siena/New York Times poll, and Republicans looking good in the upcoming midterms to win both the Senate and the House. It says so far most of the recent elections for seats in the Senate and the House have shown that Trump backed candidates have not done well with one or two exceptions. It cites elections for two Congressional seats in Georgia where Democrats prevailed against Trump backed candidates.  It says Trumps position that the election was stolen is not going to help Republicans. That Democrats are keen on keeping the attention on Mr. Trump and not on inflation through events such as the January 6 hearings on the Capitol attacks. In swing districts the Trump distraction is the only factor that could hurt Republicans 4 months before the midterms, says, the WSJ. It says Trump is likely to announce his candidacy for president in 2024 before the midterms. ...

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Democrats lost 6 Congressional districts won by Biden in 2020. This is more than any other state in the US. Wolfson, a former deputy mayor of New York City says it may have cost the Democrats the House of Representatives in 2022. It all started with redrawing of districts by Democrats in the House that was thrown out by the courts, leading to it being done by someone appointed by the court, and redrawing that was unfavorable to the Democrats. Democrats also failed to grasp the effects of laws passed that change the way judge set bail for offenses which Republicans pointed to as creating a larger crime situation. A 30% rise in crime in New York City was made an issue by Republicans in the midterms, which Democrats failed to address. The Republican majority in the House is thin and there is a sense that New York state played apart in Democrats losing the House.

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This WSJ editorial sees president Biden's speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as intended to give the Democrats the advantage in the midterm elections for Congress. It says Vice President Pence and other Republicans opposed Mr. Trump when he claimed he had won the election. Seen from outside the US in Europe, and Asia, other parts of the world there was a real sense that democracy was facing a critical time in the US. Mr. Biden's speech about the struggle for the soul of America is very real considering that the Republican party is today for the most part pro-Trump and lessons learned from the traumatic experience of 2020 are sometimes set aside. There were real issues with the future of democracy during the transfer of power to Mr. Biden in 2020, and the future of America's leadership in the world as the place where the Declaration of Independence inspires the whole world for 200 years, which cannot be ignored and will always be remembered, as much in America as in the world to which offers hope and acts as a beacon. ...

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In this New Yorker essay after Biden's Soul of the Nation speech at Independence Hall Philadelphia, Jelani Cobb stated in the New Yorker that it was a speech made not just for the midterms in 2022, but for setting the country back on the path it has followed since Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR, to once more as in the times past through civil war, through depression, through world wars, to restore the ideas of equality and democracy when they were under assault. Biden said- This is where we set in motion the most extraordinary experiment with self-government the world has ever known with three simple words, "We the People." "We the People." These two documents and the ideas they embody- Equality and Democracy- are the rock on which this nation is built. They are why for two centuries America has been a beacon tho the world." As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise." ...

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The Affordable Care Act subsidies are basically a band aid approach to a fundamentally broken health care system in the US, says Washington Post Editorial Board on Nov. 1, 2025. The 22 million ACA subsidies will cost $350 billion over 10 years. Democrats have the government shutdown over this issue of extending Obama ACA subsidies where enrolment increased in the covid and Biden years with generous subsidies. The Washington Post looks at how we got here since 1945, decisions made about employer insurance plans that created a patchwork of plans from private sector and other plans outside it with perverse incentives and inefficient subsidies. It calls the system stupid, and politicians looking to the next 2 year midterm elections wary of addressing the whole problem in the proper way for a system that will benefit all the people of the US.

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The title says this but Biden has not blown it by conducting discussions on the debt ceiling with Kevin McCarthy, Republican leader in the House of Representatives. Krugman presents MAGA Republicans as controlling the House. The situation is a bit more complicated than that as the Republican margin is only 222-213 with moderates who could move in Biden's direction if a default is impending. Previous articles in the NYT and WSJ have shown how the president has his own set of options including  simply ignoring the ceiling or citing a part of the Constitution of the US that gives the president the authority to conduct the business of the country in such a situation. Mr. Biden is taking the situation as calmly as possible, as the midterms have also given the president a situation where he sees the country on his side with Democrats needing only a few moderates in the Republican party to support him. Mr. McCarthy has his own reasons to support Biden as he supports president Biden in the task of backing up NATO and Ukraine. Having discussions with McCarthy keeps the country together at a time when Ukraine has a planned counter offensive to defend the country. Biden was able to achieve legislative achievements that are comparable to FDR and Lyndon Johnson because of his calm and patient approach. ...

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For the approaching US midterm elections president Biden seeks to draw a sharp contrast with Republican Senator Rick Scott's Plan which he says would worsen inflation and increase taxes on working class families. Mr. Scott's plan is for sunset on all federal legislation and president Biden says this would include Medicare and Social Security. Mr. Scott also wants all Americans to pay some income tax to have skin in the game. At this time about half of all Americans pay no taxes says Mr. Scott. Former US president Trump continues to lead the Republican party in 2022  yet he faces a very different Democratic party under president Biden. Mr. Biden's focus is on his $2 trillion plan for Workers and Families, rebuilding American manufacturing and renewing supply chains, unlike Hillary Clinton whose lacked such a focus. Leading to Mr. Trump's appeal with working class families and disdain for traditional Republican policies that secured him the presidency in 2018 by defeating Hillary Clinton. The changes with president Biden's focus on workers and families are happening also in the European Union. Scholz and the Greens in Germany, Macron in France with potentially Melenchon as prime minister, and similar changes in Denmark and other EU countries suggest that there is a renewed focus on infrastructure, rebuilding manufacturing and supply chain renewal, rebuilding incomes and lives of workers and families, in Europe and the US. ...

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On Jan 19, 2023 the US hit its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. Republicans control the House of Representatives by only a few votes after a strong showing in midterms by Democrats who control the Senate. A small section of the Republican party insists that raising the debt ceiling- a task performed by the House of Representatives- should only be done with serious cuts to Biden programs to help workers and families during a cost of living crisis. Biden says he will not negotiate, simply won't.  This report in NYT by Jim Tankersley, says president Biden in the last resort could resort to the 14th Amendment which says: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions shall not be questioned." What this means is that in the last resort if Republicans insist on serious cuts because of a faction within the party, and not because the whole party supports it, Mr. Biden could continue public borrowings to pay social security and make other payments. Moody's says this would lead to a rise in borrowing costs temporarily but would not lead to a recession, and have long term benefits as the debt ceiling could not be applied in the future. It would be challenged by Republicans and go to the Supreme Court which would have to decide on the issue: "the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned." This drew 1338 comments on NYT. ...

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The WSJ responds to president Biden ramping up renewable energy plans and linking Republicans with Senator Rick Scott's plan for sunset provisions on federal legislation every 5 years that Biden says would include Medicare and Social Security. WSJ is critical of Biden's renewable energy plans and calls for increasing production of oil and gas to meet energy shortages and price increases. It is also against a wealth tax, Biden's $2 trillion Workers and Families Plan, and Biden's plan for Medicare to negotiate drug prices. WSJ says real disposable personal income increased $4205 under the Trump presidency 2017-2020, and has since declined by $374 with high inflation depressing purchasing power. The impact of climate change requiring brave choices and strong action is missing in the Republican plan as Republicans focus on attacking Democrats controlling the presidency and Congress on the issue of inflation. The issue of remaking supply chains are on both the Republican and Democratic agendas with president Trump giving more rhetoric against China's role in dominance of supply chains and Mr. Biden taking stronger action in Theodore Roosevelt's style of carrying a big stick and quiet posture in restoring America as a manufacturing powerhouse. The impact of climate change is short term rather than long term as seen by the heat wave in South Asia today, the fires in North America and Europe. Republicans are losing sight of the importance of making the shift on renewable energy quickly with some short term pain, as they push for oil and gas solutions and a less effective program for renewable energy. Mr. Biden is taking on bigger risks in the short term in the midterms and beyond but following a sound policy of aggressively pushing renewable energy. This can also be seen in the importance renewable energy is being given even in countries with a need for coal and natural gas such as India. Modi's plans in India are to buildup renewable energy capacity with aggressive targets for 2030. ...

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Surprisingly very little can be found on the internet on how the relationship between Apple's Tim Cook and Foxconn started and how it evolved over the two decades- a key to understanding the two decade rise of Apple since 1998 when Tim Cook, an Alabama engineer, joined Apple's Steve Jobs to rebuild an almost demolished Apple. It is also key to understanding the rise of China in manufacturing to the point of excluding all other countries, including the US, for major investments. It is also key to understanding how the social relations have been disrupted in the US, how the US workers and families suffered from outshoring on this massive scale never before seen in the US for 100 years of the Industrial Revolution since Lincoln in the 1860's. This has not significantly changed to this day as the US goes into the midterms to elect a new Congress. Mr. Trump ruffled sentiment on this issue but had little action or results to show for it to reverse this. Mr. Biden is making some headway as the US elects a new Congress in November 2022 to take up the tasks to restore American leadership in manufacturing and in technologies that support advanced manufacturing from semiconductors to renewable energy. What happens now depends on many things. Mr. Cook talks about intuition as a main driver along with preparation and hard work in his project which has done little for America and the American people, in the sense of how its communities look like, and how its families live, as they are largely excluded from Cook's Apple project. Even as it employs about 3 million workers of contract manufacturers, for the most part in China with Foxconn. Total employees in the US are 37,000 mostly highly paid engineers and technical workers. The 270,000 working in what it calls its ecosystem are mostly workers in retail stores paid much lower wages. Of manufacturing there is little on the scale in China. Not since the days of Lincoln in the 1960's who fought a civil war so that the rights of labour in the US were protected as seen in his message to Congress in the 1860's, and through the Industrial Revolution for 100 years, has something like this happened in the US. It is not about some manufacturing taking place in Asia, it is the sheer scale that excludes America from significant manufacturing, about 300,000 workers in the US mostly in lower paid retail jobs, and 3 million in China with contract manufacturers that is an aberration from history. It is about delegating an entire supply chain in manufacturing that constitutes this huge aberration.     ...

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Paul Krugman describes the situation of slowing inflation in America and the prospects for president Biden in 2024. In just a few months since the midterms inflation is receding. Shoppers are showing resistance to price increases in retail stores. The Fed under Jay Powell has taken a resolute stand against inflation slowing inflation in house sales and rental, in automobile pricing and other sectors of the US economy. New investments under the climate change bill passed in Congress and the CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Bill, mean more factory openings and jobs in America. A milder winter in Europe is helping it tackle an energy shortage and bringing oil prices under control.

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NYT fails to see the importance of delivering on infrastructure building in scale, reshoring, wages and jobs for workers, and climate change action that president Biden is achieving to build a better America. NYT looks at the 2023 and the midterm elections and points out a well known fact that women (and men) in the suburbs care about legalized abortion rights for women, and this extends to states that vote Republican in the south. No attention is given to the importance of infrastructure building, increasing wages and jobs for working class and middle class Americans, bringing factories and investment back to the US, three issues that brought Mr. Trump into office in 2016 coming out of nowhere. Mr. Biden is old is the refrain. Yet it is president Biden who has delivered on infrastructure where Mr. Trump merely talked about it -Building America Better- as Biden pointed out in the State of the Union address in 2023. Biden has delivered in support for wage increases for workers, even joining the picket line at the UAW auto workers strike in Detroit. He was able to do this because he has spent more years in Congress than any other senator, and like Lyndon Johnson for the Great Society programs and desegregation in the 1960's was able to win support from moderate Republicans. Being older, having the wisdom and experience was and is indispensable in the American project started by Washington and sustained by Lincoln, who nurtured wisdom, experience, fully comprehending the people's problems, and mindfulness in the way Mr. Biden does. ...