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Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
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28 Oct, 10 tweets, 6 min read
Important: tomorrow morning we will get big economic news in the form of the regular quarterly GDP report.

Trump will claim it means we have an amazing economy, a great economy, the strongest economic recovery ever, etc.

He will be wrong.
1/
The headlines are likely to point to a growth figure for the third quarter (Q3) around 30% annualized (more on this in a minute), give or take a few points.

This will be the highest figure in history, but for reasons that are not all good. 2/
Trump will focus on the sharp increase *without crucial context* in an attempt to mislead the country about his economic record.

How do we know this? Because his campaign is already running ads about it on Facebook. Per @sahilkapur @SRuhle: 3/ nbcnews.com/news/us-news/t…
Most especially, you should be wary of the statistics. The US economy shrank at an annualized rate of 31.4% in the second quarter, but a gain of 32% DOES NOT mean we erased the loss – far from it.

A simple bit of math from @JayCShambaugh explains why: 4/ brookings.edu/blog/up-front/…
The use of annualized figures confuses things a great deal, because many will see a figure like "30% growth" and think it means the economy expanded by one third in the quarter. It does NOT mean that.

A good explanation here from @bencasselman 5/
Economic growth is something all of us want to see – but we must be honest about what it means, and what problems remain.

Q3 has already ended. If you didn't see the benefits of growth, you aren't alone: the distribution has been wildly uneven. 6/
As Republicans continue to publicly oppose larger fiscal stimulus and economic aid for American families, the effects are starting to hit the economy -- just as we warned they would. We won't know for sure tomorrow, but the slowdown may be *very* sharp. 7/ vox.com/21531764/econo…
The US economy will still be in a deep hole tomorrow, with a long way to go to get back to we were before the pandemic.

Concerningly, economists like @DeanBaker13 increasingly warn of a new *decline* if Republicans continue to block a stimulus package. 8/ cepr.net/preview-what-t…
Trump's lies cannot change the reality that vast numbers of American families are suffering. Much of that suffering could have been avoided if Senate Republicans and the White House had agreed to pass an aid package (the House passed one in May). 9/ beyer.house.gov/news/documents…
Don't let Trump erase the deep tragedy too many Americans are experiencing.

The damage is a result of a pandemic he is STILL failing to handle, and the spread is getting worse.

Vulnerable people are being hit hardest, and they badly need more help. 10/10

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More from @RepDonBeyer

Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
29 Oct
Donald Trump will spend the much of the coming days making wild claims about the economy.

Here's what he won't tell you: the American economy has huge problems right now.

Trump made many of them worse by failing to address the pandemic or negotiate an economic aid package. 1/
Seven months into the pandemic we are still seeing more new jobless claims every week than the worst week of the Great Recession.

Unemployment remains historically high. 2/
Mass layoffs keep hitting the workforce. Tens of thousands of small businesses have already closed, and many more say they are on the verge of closing. 3/
time.com/5895669/pandem…
nytimes.com/2020/09/01/bus… ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
22 Oct
As we get closer to Nov. 3 Donald Trump is growing more desperate to get reelected. He's proving there's nothing he wouldn't do to help his campaign.

Here are some ways Trump is recklessly abusing the power of the federal government – and your tax dollars – to get reelected. 1/
Trump has horribly abused taxpayer funds and official resources at HHS, repurposing COVID funds to spend on a propaganda campaign, trying to send potentially illegal "Trump drug cards" just before the election, and exerting political interference on pandemic response efforts. 2/
Trump is leaning heavily on the Attorney General and Secretary of State to use the official powers of the US government to attack and potentially prosecute Trump's political opponents just before the election. 3/
Read 22 tweets
Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
28 Sep
Donald Trump is a liar and a cheat.

He paid less in personal income taxes – just $750 some years, $0 in others – than most working Americans, all while living the lavish lifestyle of a billionaire.

But this story is very important beyond those headline details. Here’s why. 1/
It isn’t just that Trump pays a tiny tax burden and writes off dubious luxury expenses to live like a robber baron. His signature legislation with Republicans in Congress was making the tax code even friendlier to the ultra-rich.

They rigged the system to be *less* fair.
2/
Yes, Donald Trump is a freeloader who has no idea what the struggles of working people are like, but he is also making things worse for them.

There are people near the poverty line in this country paying more taxes than Trump — and he is trying to take their health care away. 3/
Read 12 tweets
Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
24 Sep
New unemployment claims *rose* last week — 825,000 new state claims plus 630,00 PUA claims.

For 27 weeks in a row new jobless claims far surpassed the worst of the Great Recession.

We have a major economic emergency—Donald Trump and Senate Republicans must stop blocking relief. Image
An estimated 26 million Americans are collecting unemployment benefits.

Worse disaster looms for many, including those on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or state Extended Benefits: without a new economic relief deal, they’ll be entirely cut off from aid. They will get nothing.
This is not a “v-shaped” recovery. The White House’s insistence that everything is great = gaslighting

Permanent job losses are mounting. Millions are suffering. People of color are feeling the worst effects. Stock market gains and the end of white collar furloughs won’t fix it.
Read 4 tweets
Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
9 Sep
Donald Trump admitted to Bob Woodward in a recorded interview that he knowingly and intentionally lied about the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic

Nearly 200,000 Americans have died since he said these words.
washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-w…
Trump's recorded audio, on the virus that has killed nearly 200,000 Americans:

"It's not just old people, it's plenty of young people..."

"Well I think Bob, really, to be honest with you, I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down."
cnn.com/2020/09/09/pol…
Donald Trump has spent six months publicly blaming China for duping him about the effects of the coronavirus. But behind the scenes, he admitted he had been given stark warnings directly by Chinese President Xi Jinping, warnings he totally disregarded.
Read 7 tweets
Rep. Don Beyer Profile picture
8 Sep
NEW: over Labor Day weekend the Trump Administration quietly confirmed it will subject the entire United States military to Trump's payroll tax scheme.

They wrote: "military members are not eligible to opt-out of the deferral" which must be repaid in 2021
dfas.mil/taxes/Social-S… Image
As @nogryskoWFED @FederalNewsNet reported, this means the Trump Administration will increase service members paychecks in 2020, with a larger decrease in 2021 (after the election) as military families have their tax withholding doubled.
Trump’s actions are a trick designed to boost his campaign, but their guidance makes it clear that he will really decrease military families’ paychecks in January.

The policy goes into effect five days from now, but they say they still don’t have the details worked out yet. Image
Read 4 tweets

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