HLN’s Westhoven Gushes over ‘Amazing’ Biden Economy: ‘On Fire for the Most Part’ & ‘Overall, It Was Gangbusters’

EXCERPT:

WESTHOVEN: “Well, overall, I mean, the economy did amazing. As we wrap up 2021, you too of the pandemic, I mean the economy for the most part was on fire for the most part. The job market is at its strongest level in decades. Look at this, 2021, 6.1 million jobs were created. That's the largest amount of jobs going all the way back to 1940 and we are not even counting December yet. We do not have the numbers in for that part. The American Rescue Plan cut child poverty in half by 50 percent. And it was just as juicy on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms. Stock market, measured by the S&P 500 up nearly 30 percent for this year. Corporate profits at their best since 1950. So despite the pandemic it's been quite amazing. And holiday shopping, sales up 8 and a half percent as people try to get back to a sense of holiday normalcy. Now there have been some higher prices. You see them for basics, like food, shelters, gas. And research from IRI predicts food prices could rise another 5 percent just in the first 6 months of the new year for items like mac and cheese, and staking potatoes, chicken breasts and wine. But costs are going up too, so that's part of the reason. Now economists say that the wildcard for 2022 is going to be this new Omicron variant. That fast spread has led to the partial shutdown of the New York City subway. Cincinnati’s mayor declaring a state of emergency because firefighters are sick. And thousands of canceled flights as you know. Now Jetblue says they are going to preemptively cancel 1,300 flights in just the next two weeks. That's nearly 10 percent of their schedule because they are expecting so many of their workers to call out sick. They said that this week has been one of the worst weeks of the entire pandemic. We know so many airlines have been hit with all these cancellations. It's been miserable for travelers too. But Shyann, despite Omicron throwing things into disarray at the very end of the year, overall it was gangbusters.”