By Steve Woodward
As we say so long to 2019, just off the top of my head …
- Wage increases within the workforce rising at their fastest rate in more than a decade, faster than for supervisors (bosses).
- Record or near-record setting gains for the Nasdaq (35%) and S&P 500 (28%).
- Dramatic declines in illegal US-Mexico border crossings. The mayor of Yuma, Ariz., recently lifted a state of emergency declared last April because “the release of migrant families into the Yuma area has ceased.”
Wages rose 4.5% year-over-year in November among bottom 25% of earners. - Record low unemployment among black and Hispanic populations.
- Lowest unemployment overall since 1969.
- Energy independence from foreign sources.
- Trade deal set with Canada and Mexico.
- Pending trade deal with China that will end decades of trade abuse by the Chinese.
- Record federal judicial confirmations of Trump nominees (48 in three years).
I’m beginning to think it might be safe, finally, to retrieve the gold, cash and firearms I buried in anticipation of Y2K!
Conservative bulldog Sean Hannity repeatedly urges, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Many of us are not there yet. Democrats present much about which to be perpetually troubled. (The drums of impeachment will awaken us from our New Year’s hangovers soon enough). But, consider more positive awakenings such as two I discovered with pleasant shock in The Wall Street Journal‘s December 28 letters to the editor.
They are letters written by residents of California and Illinois, no less, where the radical lefts reigns. They are direct smackdowns of columnist Peggy Noonan, a Never Trumper and out-of-touch Upper East Side New Yorker. Noonan is all for impeaching President Donald Trump if for no other reason than he is an objectionable character.
From Evanston, Ill.: “Ms. Noonan writes that many ‘serious’ witnesses of ‘obvious stature’ in the House impeachment hearings said the president abused his power. I don’t see it that way. Those bureaucrats said they disagreed with Mr. Trump’s foreign policy, which they think they (emphasis added), rather than the president, get to determine. Ms. Noonan should not mistake their arrogance for seriousness.”
From Mill Valley, Calif.: “We want the craziness of the left highlighted plainly. We want the corruption of elected politicians, permanent bureaucracy, intelligence services, judiciary and media exposed and cornered. We are tired of the politically correct speech codes and the protected classes for whom there can be no consequences. We prefer liberty.”
That is as powerful a mantra as I can think of to sustain us in the battles ahead in 2020. Republicans prefer liberty.
Trump wasn’t kidding when he said we might get tired of winning. More winning in 2020 is planned. If you want to know why Trump says what he does… especially on Twitter… read O’Reilly’s “The United States of Trump”. Even the insults are strategic. He is putting the left wing of the Democratic Party in a box they will not be able to escape. Republicans are now the party of the working man.