Have you seen Joe Biden's most recent political commercial? I viewed it yesterday on YouTube. It blames Donald Trump for over 200,000 deaths and 14 million jobs lost.  Then it says Trump spent the entire debate blaming others.  Please watch it (15 seconds), then see if your reaction is similar to mine.

I found it both ironic and funny.

Ironic because it has a picture at the ten-second mark of Biden standing behind a podium with a "BUY AMERICAN" sign on it.  This is ironic in light of what he has done for China in the recent past.  About Buy American: "In fact, when it comes to one of the most attention-getting provisions of the Biden plans — greatly expanding the use of federal Buy American requirements to boost demand for manufactured goods, tightening enforcement, and narrowing or eliminating loopholes — similar measures were actively opposed [emphasis mine] by Obama during the worst of the Great Recession of 2007–09."  I guess Biden thinks the economy is strong enough now to implement what his boss opposed twelve years ago.  But wait!  Biden recently accused Trump of causing a depression.  Since a depression is worse than a recession, I guess Biden thinks it's OK to implement economic sanctions Obama opposed.  I find Biden's plans ironic and sad.

"Biden has also made statements about China, include 'robbing the US of our technology and intellectual property, or forcing American companies to give it away in order to do business in China.' along with currency manipulation, dumping of below-cost exports, and 'state-owned company abuses, or unfair subsidies,' and that have 'got to end.'"  This from a man who said of China, "Come on, man, I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks.  But guess what, they're not competition for us."  OK, Joe, if China is not competition for us, if they're not bad folks, why did you say what you said about them in May 2019?  What has altered your view in only sixteen months?  Irony?  Or hubris?

Biden stood up for China.  He said Trump was "fear-mongering" and had "xenophobia."  He then reversed himself, complimenting Trump's China policies.  Ironic in light of the ad?  Or hubris again?  You decide.  And don't forget that Biden praised China and the Communist Party in a 2011 speech at Sichuan University.

But the most ironic point (to me, at least) occurs at the twelve-second mark, when the announcer says, "He will fight the virus."  Note that the announcer did not say "China virus" or "Wuhan virus."  I wonder from where Biden thinks the virus came.  And just what does he think caused the 200,000 deaths and the 14 million jobs lost?  By the way, the 200,000 deaths figure differs with Dr. Brian C. Joondeph's citation of the Centers for Disease Control's "6 percent of COVID deaths were solely from the virus, without confounding comorbidities that may have contributed to but not necessarily caused death."

Funny, because the announcer says at the nine-second mark, "America Needs A Fresh Start" and, at the thirteen-second mark, says, "Rebuild our economy back."  Why either?  "The jobless rate had touched a 50-year low of 3.5% in February [2020] before rising to 4.4% the following month amid the early effects of the [virus] crisis."  No less than the Conference Board says the economy is doing better than expected: "Economic growth has picked up in the third quarter following a sharp contraction of 31.7 percent (annualized rate) in the second quarter. While bringing US economic output back to pre-pandemic levels will require continued growth, there has been some progress in driving economic activity higher over the summer despite a sharp uptick in new COVID-19 cases. Indeed, various economic indicators that we track have rebounded in July and August at a greater than expected rate."  They expect the future to be bright as well: "This upside forecast results in an annual growth rate of -3.2 percent in 2020 and a strong rebound of 6.9 percent in 2021.  In this scenario US monthly economic output recovers completely to pre-pandemic levels by January 2021."

And this article by George Mentz sites ten reasons why Trump's economy is the best in 50 years.  Reason 8 is particularly interesting in light of what Biden poses to "implement a fresh start and rebuild the economy."  The only source that says Biden's economic plan is better than Trump's comes from Mark Zandi at Moody's Analytics (hat tip to Jack Hellner).  Isn't it funny that I (and other AT readers) can find several economic reports that suggest that the economy doesn't require a fresh start or need rebuilding, but Biden's bunch can find only one?

Biden's way to implement a fresh start and rebuild the economy is to propose almost $4 trillion in higher taxes.  Now, that's funny because it hasn't worked before, but he, like the Democrat party, ignores history.  Actually, it's funny (we would cry if we didn't find it funny) that Biden thinks the economy needs him fiddling with it.  Or is it again hubris on his part?

This commercial is entertaining to anyone with a modicum of sense because it places Biden's hubris, caused by him running for president, on obvious display.  His hubris is both ironic and funny.  I highly recommend it.