In a YouTube interview, host Dennis Prager talks with Steve Cortez, founder of the League of American Workers, about a RealClearPolitics piece on the U.S. economy and its impact on President Biden’s reelection prospects. Cortez cites a JPMorgan study showing that excess savings generated during COVID lockdowns have been largely depleted, leaving only the top 1% financially better off. He argues that this creates a crisis of confidence among the broader public. Cortez also presents polling data from Wisconsin, a pivotal battleground state, revealing that only 22% of respondents think America is on the right track, and just 17% have a favorable view of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 47% view it very negatively. The conversation highlights a widening gap between corporate media narratives that claim the economy is strong and the lived experience of ordinary Americans, suggesting that economic dissatisfaction could jeopardize Biden’s 2024 campaign. Prager reflects on the ideological blindness of some voters and the small segment of the population that benefits from the current economic conditions.
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Steve Cortez has now founded the American League of American Workers, and you may know him from any number of arenas. From CNN, his very, very wildly popular and a very important PragerU video about the Charlottesville lie, and his writings. So he has a piece up at RealClearPolitics. About the economy. And your, your take is that this is the real jeopardy for a Biden reelection. Is that correct?
Yes, exactly. That this is an economy right now which works very well for the top 1%, which, by the way, is paradox of politics, is unfortunately the norm for the progressives, the people who claim to represent workers, for example. Actually represent the most connected, crony, moneyed interests in society. And to give you statistics to back that, not just sloganeering, JPMorgan just put out a study talking about excess savings from the COVID lockdowns. So because of those tyrannical and unscientific lockdowns, there was a lot of artificial surplus savings created because people were literally forced to stay home. So they almost couldn't help but save. In addition to that, of course, very generous government checks were sent out to hundreds of millions of Americans. That's a big part of what has fueled this inflation now. But regardless, there were excess savings. JP Morgan says for 80% of Americans, those excess savings are now gone. And they say at present trend, by the middle of next year, 2024, they will be gone for 99% of Americans, meaning only the top 1% are now better off from a savings standpoint than they were before the lockdowns. And that kind of statistic also underlies the absolute crisis of confidence that we see right now in our country. And I don't think I've ever seen, at least in my life, a bigger chasm between, a bigger gulf between where the corporate media is. You know, we talked in the prior segment about the, the malfeasance of the corporate media, but where they are on the economy, trying to spread narrative and propaganda to the American people that, oh, the economy is actually fine, you just don't know it somehow, even though you know your own life and you know your own budget and your own stress and your own anxiety. But a gulf between that narrative and then the reality of where people are on the ground. And so my organization, League of American Workers, is doing extensive polling of the battleground states. And our most recent polling polled the state of Wisconsin, which could well decide the presidency and other races in 2024. And in the state of Wisconsin, by the way, we got a straight down-the-middle polling sample, literally Half of our, of our respondents said they voted for Biden in 2020. Half said they voted for Trump. So we're not cooking the books here regarding the sample. And of that sample, we said, is America on the right track or the wrong track? Only 22% of Wisconsinites say that America is on the right track right now. And then when we drill down to, okay, what are the reasons? Overwhelmingly, number one is the economy. We asked them about their approval of Joe Biden on the economy. In Wisconsin, battleground state, only 17% say that they have a very favorable view of Biden on the economy. 47%, almost 3 times as many, have a very negative view of Biden on the economy. So it is a tough slog out there for the vast majority of Americans economically.
I'm smiling because I would love to meet— what did you say, 17%? Thought America's on the right track. Steve, I want you to know, if I could have an evening with any group in America, it would be with them. Right. I would love— I can't even imagine what they would say. But do you know what?
What? No, I— yeah, I think it's a combination of two things. It's some people who are just blinded by ideology, right?
I mean, that's right.
Yes. Willing to ignore reality and they're blinded by their ideology. But then there are also a smaller group, but there are folks, you know, in that 1%, Dennis, who are doing well in this economy.
Yeah, but wait, wait, wait. I'm doing well in the economy and I think that the country is in jeopardy of its demise. I don't know. You can't see beyond your own circumstance.
Right, right. Well, we have to be able to if we want to be decent and honest human beings and if we want this republic to thrive and this republic, which I believe is, you nearing the edge of a cliff in a lot of ways, but including economically. I thought this was fascinating too, Dennis, and I think will be important to you because you care so much about the health of families. The worst numbers we got in this Wisconsin poll, the most depressing numbers of all regarding the state of the economy, their own personal affairs, etc., were parents with school-age children. So when we broke it down and asked parents with school-age children, people who quite literally have more mouths to feed, right, who are some of the most worried and stressed people in society today. If you're a middle-class person right now with several children, and particularly if you're trying to do it on a single income, this economy is miserable for you. And we saw that in the statistics. Let me give you a couple. When we asked parents whether they approve or disapprove, only 10% strong approve of Biden, 63% strong disapprove. So a 6-to-1 ratio, twice as bad as his overall bad ratio. And this was a really depressing number among parents, Dennis. We asked, is the American dream still attainable? Which, a very straight up question, not a leading question, right? And again, our sampling was exactly split. Trump and Biden voters, is the American dream still attainable? Among parents, only 28% said yes. That's it. Fewer than a third of parents of young children in America believe that the American dream is attainable. That's the level of despondency that is out there. That's the loss of hope, the loss of belief. So this goes beyond the stresses, which are very real, the kitchen table stresses of meeting the budget. That's bad enough. And that pain is acute. But even bigger than that, in my view, Dennis, even more worrisome to us and should give us a sense of urgency is this loss of belief. And it's not going to get better. It's not going to get better for my children. Something that has generationally been a promise of America. We're losing that. So it's important for us to focus on the micro, you know, what matters here and now, this month, next month. But it's also, I think, important for us to focus on the big picture. And the reality is, from what we are getting from our polling, we're getting the data back that shows there's an absolute crisis of confidence. So while The Washington Post— and I cite this in my most recent piece in American Greatness— The Washington Post had the gall, their chief economics writer, Heather Long is her name, to actually say— she said It was an economic miracle in 2023, an economic miracle. So while people sit in newsrooms in the corridor in Washington and New York and say that it's an economic miracle, regular Americans, hardworking citizens in places like Oshkosh, Wisconsin, are saying, I can't pay my bills. I've never been this worried. And I don't believe my children have a future that involves the American dream.
