Joe Biden says his economy is just super-duper. He’s repeatedly claimed that economic growth on his watch has eclipsed that of all of his predecessors and that even though the economy had not yet recovered, all the jobs lost from the pandemic shutdowns have been restored.
Nevertheless, the White House has insisted that economic growth has been “well above anything President Biden’s predecessor ever imagined” and credits his American Rescue Plan for getting the economy “off its back and humming again.”
Americans don’t see it that way. Biden’s RealClearPolitics average on the economy is at -20 points. So Americans clearly don’t feel the economy is roaring, and they blame him—not credit him—for it.
And with good reason.
Last year, even the Associated Press admitted that Biden was going too far in taking credit for job growth on his watch. “The robust hiring since his inauguration largely reflects the reopening of the U.S. economy after a huge winter wave of coronavirus infections started to peak in January,” the AP explained. Even his allies in the media have helped push this narrative. But some in the media have done their best to cover for Biden. Back in September, Bloomberg reported that “America’s economy improved more in Joe Biden’s first 12 months than any president during the past 50 years,” and went to great lengths to credit his policies and actions for the boom.
As far as economic conditions go, Joe Biden was dealt the perfect hand: two COVID vaccines were approved for emergency use, a third soon after, and the reopening of the economy. All he had to do was let the economy roar back to life on its own. But instead, he doubled down on massive spending, killed American energy independence, and sent gas prices and inflation soaring.
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Conservatives have been warning for many months now that the economy isn’t as strong as Biden suggests. Proof that Biden has taken the perfect hand he was dealt and squandered it came this week when we learned that the economy shrank in the first quarter.
“The U.S. economy shrank by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2022 — 1.4% on an annualized basis,” PJM’s Rick Moran reported Thursday. “Since a ‘recession’ is generally defined as two straight quarters of negative growth, we can all celebrate the fact that we’re halfway to misery.”
As Barack Obama reportedly said, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” And it looks like he certainly has.
Biden shrugged off the report, blaming the shrinking economy on “technical factors,” but as per usual, the liberal media has swooped in to come to his defense. The New York Times has lent what little remains of its credibility to imply to Americans that all is well and suggest that there are enough strong indicators that we need not worry.
Others look at it differently.
“The big GDP gains of 2021 were because America was gradually reopening from the pandemic,” says Alfredo Ortiz, the president of Job Creators Network. “President Biden falsely took all the credit then, but today we’re seeing the true impact of Biden’s policies.”
Tell that to the New York Times, Bloomberg, and every other outlet that insists all is well. Experts have been warning of a looming recession for a while now, and all the White House talking points in the world won’t stop it from happening.
