Look it up

When experiencing something I believe incorrect, my high school journalism teacher, Mrs. Opal Eckert, revisits me, “Look it up.” The internet makes it easy; however, sources must be validated. Misinformation abounds.

On Jan. 6, President Biden delivered a speech to the country on the significance of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, describing how the 2020 election results had been misrepresented and the intransigence of the former president’s supporters had triggered it.

The following day, Jan. 7, President Biden spoke about the country’s accomplishments in his first year. As expected he noted the positives which could be questioned, but we can look it up on credible information websites and other sources available for fact checking. Since I am word limited here, some facts:

During the prior administration, 2017-2020, the Dow-Jones increased 50 percent. In President Biden’s first year it increased 20 percent which extrapolates to 80 percent in four years. During the 2017-2020 period unemployment went from 4.7 percent to 6.4 percent with a large spike to 14.7 percent in April 2020 due to COVID. Since President Biden’s Inauguration it has dropped to 3.9 percent. These numbers are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There is more good news like the response to COVID through vaccinations and other measures being successful considering the challenge of those who reject it. (I do not understand the anti-vaxxing mindset and find the hospitalization, sometimes death, of those opposed heart-breaking.) My hope is that more will be vaccinated and new COVID variants are less deadly.

–– Gordon Hill

Maryville