OPINION: Biden’s Low Approval Rating Explained. He's Not the Problem - You Are!

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What is a great Job?

Go ahead, define it.

What do the pay and benefits look like, the commute, the number of vacation days and do they have free packs of Top Ramen in the breakroom or the good stuff?

How about a good date? Do they pay their way; do they drive a nice car, wear nice clothes, whiten their teeth or do they look like they are dressed from a bag of clothing they keep in the closet?

And a good economy, what does that look like? Let’s be specific. Steady work that pays the bills, or three jobs to make ends meet?

How about retirement – seriously what does that look like when it's resting at home? How much in the bank, in an IRA (standard or Roth?), in the garage in vintage cars or motorcycles? Is it enough to cover the next 20 years or 20 months?

Everybody, as in every American has a different idea of what good is and what it isn’t.

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A good economy – by all standards that’s what we got, but to many it’s not good at all. It’s not paying enough.

It's having to work too many hours. Not getting discounts on food, clothing, returned goods at the warehouse.

And all of that makes us anxious, disgruntled, and annoyed. Really annoyed because we’re on Month 54 of being unsettled with inflation, the economy, the Pandemic, and all the relationships that have become strained or have fallen apart altogether.

And when bad things happen, and they do, we can’t go around pointing the finger at ourselves and saying – we did it. It’s not in our nature to take the blame head-on, it’s too damn painful.

And all too often – it’s plain wrong. We didn’t do it, someone else did.

Take 2008, the Great Recession. How many people on your block, had a direct hand in determining how many bad loans would be issued? Take a guess.

How many of your buddies in the bowling league or Masons, were the ones who pulled the trigger on using bad loans to back debt that was sold at inflated prices that all collapsed like a souffle thrown against the wall?

Right, you can’t find any. And that’s because it happened over there, in the financial sectors in New York City, London, Tokyo, Chicago, and elsewhere.

In the board rooms and backrooms where old men smoking cigars and sipping 30-year-old Whiskey, played with some numbers, shuffled them around, and came up with some fast effective ways to boost the semi-annual dividends and ended up tanking the world economies.

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Yeah, it was over there. Corporations. It’s okay to point at them. They know it, they just don’t care.

When we look at the 25% increase in food prices over the past 18 months do we go online and check profit margins for the top 25 corporations in the food trade?

Probably not, that takes work. Takes knowing where to look or figuring it out and there are other things to do instead, like work another shift at the factory.

But Biden, he’s right there. The administration – right next to him. Just move that finger a little to the left or the right and point at them – they did it.

Biden is not delivering on what he promised.

Well, what did he promise?

If you ask 1000 people or 10,000 you will get 10,000 different answers. They will all tell you what a good economy looks like and this isn’t it.

They will all tell you what accountability looks like, and this isn’t it either.

They will even tell you what both looked like 20 or 30 years ago, even if you can’t find that data or picture in the archives or old reports.

The reason we can’t is because it’s not there.

We all have opinions about what affects our lives and shouldn’t be there and it’s all different for each of us.

Take a survey and if asked - is Biden doing a good job the response will be more No than Yes.

Why?

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Because a good job is a moving target. Intentionally so, it keeps people uncertain.

There is no one version of a good job or good economy or good level of inflation. We each see the problem differently. And if it's there and it "shouldn't be" then someone is at fault.

And if we looked at who provides the jobs out there – it isn’t Biden – we’d find that it’s the corporations and small businesses.

And if we looked at why the cost of eggs or gas or meat has gone up, look at the profit margins of those same corporations. They’re going up, which in itself is an interesting thing.

When someone says I have to charge more to cover increasing costs of materials you would think their profits would remain level – because, well they’re just keeping up.

But then a funny thing happens – their profits go up and up during the same period. How’s that possible?

Simple, they’re charging more? End of story.

Sure, Biden isn’t perfect. But if he’s so ineffectual and bad at his job then how is he responsible for so many things not going right? How is his influence so pervasive that he’s causing everything from inflation to hair loss?

I think they call that a paradox. Or maybe ironic.

And if anyone thinks the other guy did a better job, well they’re not looking at the facts. That is the real numbers. The huge tax break he gave to the rich didn’t trickle down to the average guy. The loss of jobs, the increase in national debt – yeah, he had his share as well.

The healthcare system he was going to overhaul but never even came up with a cover page, let alone a plan.

And if you’re looking for things that he did right – you’ll find them. He was busy some days more than others. But better than Biden? Substantially and provably better? Only in campaign ads, not in reality.

With a Congress that looks like two really bad teams playing a game of flag football with chains on their ankles, you know they haven’t been helping much.

If you asked the 90 or 900 people who work with you if your boss is doing a good job, how many will say yes? 28%? 34%? Most would think he or she could do better because that’s the truth as we see it – they could always do better.

But that’s not the question, is it? The question isn’t about what could be better or faster or provide more pay. It’s about the whole nation – all its moving parts, including those frozen in place in Congress and the Supreme Court.

How would you do at delivering pizza if the car you had to use, had to be pushed 50% of the time?

Would you rate yourself on pizzas delivered on time or looking at the whole picture, the fact that even one pizza got delivered at all?

We’re talking about a nation, not a pizza franchise. It’s complicated.

If the pizza tastes great, so what if it’s three minutes late? If the pizza is fresh and hot, so what if the box looks plain?

If the pizza cost $3 more for a large because the cost of pepperoni went up, then okay. But if it didn’t, then look to the corporation that runs the franchise and see where their profits are. If they’ve kept going up in the last 2-3 years then you have your answer.

It’s them and not Biden.