OPINION:
Are you better off than you were four years ago? Every voter should ask this while choosing America’s next president.
This oft-stated question is fairer to pose three years into Joe Biden’s presidency. Evaluating America now versus January 2020, on President Donald J. Trump’s watch, allows a much cleaner contrast than in November 2024.
On Election Day, Americans will weigh conditions with those in November 2020 — a pitch-black time when COVID-19 rampaged and the embers of the George Floyd riots still smoldered. Judging Mr. Trump’s performance amid a once-in-a-century viral outbreak and the worst political violence since Vietnam smacks into what social scientists call “confounding variables.”
To give the comedy Our American Cousin justice, read reviews written before April 13, 1865. Any subsequent critique would be fatally warped by the next evening’s events when the President and Mrs. Lincoln ventured to Ford’s Theater for a play.
Similarly, snapshots taken on Jan. 20, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2024 (exactly three years after each president’s inaugural, but before 2020’s pandemic and turmoil) find Mr. Trump trumping Mr. Biden seven ways from Sunday.
Ironically, for a swaybacked, socialist warhorse, Mr. Biden can brag most loudly about the financial markets. After his first 36 months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29% above its Jan. 20, 2020 close. The S&P 500 climbed 45.4%, and the NASDAQ soared 63.1%. Not bad for a class warrior.
But what about the market growth rates within each president’s first three years? While the Dow advanced 48.0% during Mr. Trump’s first three years, it increased just 21.4% in Mr. Biden’s analogous period. Assets grew under Mr. Biden, but 55.4% more slowly than under Mr. Trump.
The S&P was 44.8% more sluggish under Mr. Biden, and the NASDAQ crawled forward 80% less swiftly than under Mr. Trump. If you enjoy riding Interstate highways at 14 MPH, Mr. Biden is your man.
Americans feel poor because their incomes seem trapped in rush-hour traffic. Average hourly earnings ticked up 1.3% since January 2020, but inflation-adjusted median annual household income slid 2.7%.
The 3.5% unemployment rate observed on January 20, 2020, stood at 3.7% four years later — a 5.7% increase in that measure. On that basis, Black unemployment has improved by 11.9%, but it has deteriorated by 19.0% for Hispanics and 24.0% for Americans of Asian descent.
In his first three years, Mr. Trump added $3.26 trillion to the national debt. (COVID-19 then turbocharged such outlays.) Meanwhile, Mr. Biden has boosted the debt by $6.32 trillion — a 93.6% faster flow of fiscal incontinence.
This spend-o-rama ignited inflation. Twelve-month consumer-price growth has gone from 2.3% to 3.4% — 47.8% higher than in January 2020.
To battle Bidenflation, the Federal Reserve has spiked the 30-year mortgage. It was 3.65% and now is 6.60%. With borrowing costs up 80.8%, millions of buyers consider housing unaffordable. The 35.4% increase in median home prices (from $318,400 to $431,000) makes matters worse.
Food prices put Bidenflation on full display. Compared to four years ago, milk is up 23.1%. Bread: 35.2%. Sirloin steak: 38.5%. Eggs: 71.2%.
Mr. Biden has shrunk the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by 44%. Regardless, crude oil costs 24.7% more. Gasoline: Up 20.9%. Electricity: 26.1% pricier.
Minds are also shrinking under Mr. Biden. Fourth-grade math proficiency: Down 2.1% since 2020. Fourth-grade reading: Down 1.4%. Eight-grade scores slipped 2.8% and 1.1%, respectively.
While violent crime eased 1.4% in Mr. Biden’s first two years, the latest data show that homicides per 100,000 residents grew from 5.15 to 6.55 — up 27.2%.
Mr. Biden has perpetrated pure evil on the U.S.-Mexico “border,” which he intentionally demolished. During Mr. Trump’s first three years, Border Patrol agents apprehended 2,321,169 illegal aliens. Under Mr. Biden: 6,776,253 — up 191.9%. Border Patrol nabbed 11 on the terror watch list under Mr. Trump. In Mr. Biden’s first three years: 312 — up 2,736.4%.
James Madison once said: “Facts are stubborn things.” Based on these stubborn facts and many others, I hope 150 million voters will repeat after me: I hereby endorse the once and future president of the United States, Donald J. Trump!
• Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor.
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