Biden lives in a world of economic lies.
President Biden said last night that he was completely Disconnected from the truth of the American economy And he was not prepared to discuss the country’s economic challenges.
In opinion polls, Inflation is the No. 1 issue for votersSo it was only natural that the CNN moderators would open last night’s debate with a question about inflation, but Biden seemed surprised by the question and unprepared for what was likely best rehearsed during his debate prep sojourn at Camp David this week.
“President Biden, inflation is slowing, but prices remain high. Prices of basic goods have risen since you took office. For example, groceries that cost $100 then are now over $120. And typical home prices have increased by more than 30 percent.” CNN’s Jake Tapper asked.“What would you say to voters who feel like things have been worse under your administration than they were under President Trump?”
Tapper’s question is well stated. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for “food at home,” known to those of us who don’t work for the Bureau of Labor Statistics as groceries, is: Up 20.8% since Biden took office It was the largest increase over this period since the early 1980s. Home prices soared.
Moreover, Voters believe the economic situation has worsenedPolls show that more than 40% of Americans say the economy is worse than under Trump, while half say it is better. The New York Times A Siena University survey found that 79% of citizens rated the economy as “fair” or “poor,” while only 21% rated it as good.
A look back at the economic lies of 2020
Biden’s response Back to the silly stuff. He returned to the campaign trail in 2020.
“I have to look back at what I was left with when I became president, what Trump left me with. The economy was in freefall. We had a poor response to the pandemic,” Biden said. “The economy was collapsing. There were no jobs. Unemployment rose to 15 percent. It was terrible.”
At the start of 2021, the economy wasn’t in a free fall. The economy suffered a severe downturn in 2020 as the pandemic hit, with gross domestic product (GDP) falling at an annualized rate of 5.3% in the first quarter and plunging 28% in the second quarter.
But then Larry Kudlow, who was an economic adviser to President Donald Trump, said, “V-shaped recovery.” Economic growth was at an annualized rate of 34.8% in the third quarter of 2020. It was 4.2% in the fourth quarter. When Biden took office, the economy was growing at an annualized rate of 5.2%.
Rather than being in free fall, the economy has been on an escape velocity trajectory for three consecutive quarters. Trump Administration’s Economic Rescue Plan The Fed’s stimulative monetary policy and economic reopening, supported by opponents in Congress, combined with the public’s rejection of the far-left’s stay-at-home stance. Truly explosive growth.
President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during a coronavirus update briefing at the White House on March 14, 2020. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead via Flickr)
Biden denied at the time that any of this was happening, and the mainstream media went along with his lies, supporting his claim that Trump’s response to the pandemic caused the economy to crash. Biden never explained why he might have done something differently that would have lessened the economic contraction or slowed the rise in unemployment, but that doesn’t matter. In fact, the stricter lockdown and social distancing policies supported by most Democrats would undoubtedly have crashed the economy. This worsened the economic downturn..
Caught in a web of lies
But Biden campaigned on the lie that the economy was collapsing. His administration could not allow the economy to continue to recover on its own.That would be an admission that Trump’s policies have worked. So, once again, a major Stimulus measures have become a political necessity.
President Joe Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), speak about the American Rescue Plan at the White House on March 12, 2021. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz via Flickr)
A smarter president would have embraced a smaller program to provide stimulus checks as a kind of insurance against a double-dip recession, with additional funding to allow his administration to claim credit for the recovery. The Biden administration has decided to spend trillions of dollars.It started with the reckless $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which even prominent liberal economists had warned about. fall into an inflationary crisis.
What America learned last night is that Biden is still clinging to the false narrative that Trump destroyed the economy, and therefore remains Not realizing the cause of the inflation crisisGiven this disconnect from reality, it’s no wonder Americans don’t have confidence in Biden’s management of the economy.
