The local Republican Party leader said that only illegal aliens were better off now than when Joe Biden took office. That man is so wrong.

During the last three years, unemployment has dropped from 6.4% to 3.7%. Our Gross Domestic Product is up 21%. Inflation is now down to 3.2%, a number that all can live with. Wages are currently outpacing inflation. The stock market is up 32% in those three years. New business formations are near an all-time high.

What about the high inflation of 2021 to 2022? When COVID-19 hit, the government, first under Donald Trump, then under Biden, enacted legislation to keep the economy from going into a death spiral. Combining the gush of federal money with oil market shocks caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and supply chain problems, inflation here and in other advanced societies shot up to around 10%.

But one can’t blame the government for inflation without giving it credit for saving our economy. Wishing for deflation, that is prices returning to pre-pandemic levels, is a wish for lots of bankruptcies and a shrinking economy.

But from 2021 to 2022, the Biden administration enacted legislation to spur investment and job growth and we see that paying off in our economic performance, which is the envy of the world.

So, it’s more than new immigrants who are better off than three years ago. It includes workers, investors, homeowners and business owners. That is just about all of us.

Chris Blackshear

Durango