OPINION:
The White House has taken “Bidenomics,” a term originally conceived to define the infinite blunders of President Biden’s economic policy, and is spinning and twisting it into something positive and impressive.
In a campaign speech last week, Mr. Biden basically told voters not to believe their lying eyes, spouting cherry-picked statistics that paint the economy as rosier than it really is.
“We created 13.4 million new jobs,” Mr. Biden boasted.
Not true. The U.S. has gained roughly 2 million jobs since before the pandemic hit.
The job recovery began under former President Donald Trump, who oversaw the recovery of 16.6 million jobs. Mr. Biden confuses “jobs created” with “jobs recovered.”
Moreover, Republican-led states are the ones creating jobs and leading the economic recovery. The latest state jobs report shows that eight of the top 10 states for jobs recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic began are led by Republican governors, and all 10 states have Republican-controlled legislatures.
“Pay for low-wage workers has grown at the fastest pace in over two decades,” Mr. Biden bragged in his speech.
Accounting for inflation, however, real weekly wages have fallen every month since Mr. Biden and the Democrats passed their wasteful $1.9 trillion “stimulus.” Average hourly earnings have fallen 3.1% from January 2021 to May 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. Total credit card debt has increased 28% under Mr. Biden’s watch to $986 billion in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
America’s outlook on retirement is now at an 11-year low, with 1 in 4 Americans cutting back on retirement savings.
“Bringing down inflation remains one of my top priorities,” Mr. Biden said in his speech. “Today, inflation is less than half — less than half of what it was a year ago — and that inflation caused by Russia and by the war in Ukraine and by what was going on. But we knew we had more to do.”
When Mr. Biden took office, inflation was at 1.4%, and gasoline was $2.39 a gallon. Today, inflation has been at or above 4% for two years, and gas is $3.55 a gallon, with most economists blaming Mr. Biden’s out-of-control spending, not Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Congress’ Joint Economic Committee calculates that families have lost over $9,300 in paying for the increased cost of living.
Furthermore, high inflation rates are hitting the housing market hard, with existing home sales down 34% since Mr. Biden came into office. High mortgage rates, which make borrowing more costly, have discouraged first-time homeowners from buying.
Mr. Biden continued with his lies: “Just in my first two years in office, my team and I have reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion — more than any president has just in two years.”
This claim has been debunked repeatedly — even by liberal news outlets such as CNN. U.S. national debt has increased about $3.7 trillion during Mr. Biden’s tenure, rising to about $31.5 trillion. Mr. Biden is conflating the debt with the deficit.
The deficit did fall under Mr. Biden, but only because emergency pandemic spending expired, not because Mr. Biden reduced spending. According to Moody’s Analytics: “The actions of the [Biden] administration and Congress have undoubtedly resulted in higher deficits — not smaller ones.”
“Bidenomics is working,” Mr. Biden proudly declared.
He was clearly speaking to the 33% of Americans who approve of how he is handling the economy, not the 66% who describe the national economy as poor, according to an AP-NORC poll.
The White House has a steep hill to climb to convince voters that they’re better off financially than they were just 2½ years ago.
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