Disclaimer: This blog should not be interpreted in any political way. It does not represent anyone’s political view on Biden’s presidency, but rather a comparative evaluation for his performance in the economy using data from reliable sources.
1. Biden:
“we're experiencing the strongest economic recovery in the world”.
Indeed, there has been much good news about economic recovery on the news
lately. Strong retail sales, falling unemployment, the near-record stock market (until
the Omicron News broke), growth rate at pre-pandemic level, etc. However, data
shows that a large part of the recovery happened under former president Donald
Trump.
2. Biden:
“Our economy has created a record 5.6 million jobs since I became president”.
The US Bureau of Statistics shows that the US economy added 5,583,000
jobs since the inauguration of President Biden. Indeed, this is the highest
number of jobs created in the first 10 months of any presidency since records
began in 1939. But taking into account of the low base point of jobs during the
pandemic, the number is not all that impressive. Controlling for the 22 million
jobs lost during the pandemic, only around 3 million new jobs are created during
the first 10 months of Biden’s presidency.
3. Biden:
“Wages are rising”
Data shows that workers' wages are up to 4.9% this October compared with the same time last year. One reason could be the recent spike in the shortage of workers in the United States. But inflation has also been rising, which means that the cost of living is going up. The Labor Bureau of Statistics estimated that wages actually decreased 1.2 % after controlling for inflation.
All GDP, unemployment,
inflation are essential macroeconomic indicators, and all of them discredits President
Biden’s claim about the "historic progress" that the U.S. had made on
the economy in the last 10 months. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that
the economic recovery has been progressing, but just not as impressive as what
the current administration claims to be.
Credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/59402975
5 comments:
Your blog summary and this article did a very good job in playing "devil's advocate". For instance, Biden said that our economy has created a record 5.6 million jobs, however, it's necessary to pay attention to the starting point of that data. As you mentioned, the fact that we were at a low base point of jobs during the pandemic needs to be accounted for. Yes, there may have been a record increase in jobs, but it took us back to where we "should be", which, this is "not all that impressive" as you said. The media can be a dangerous place and your summary showed a prime example of that. Stating that our economy has created a record 5.6 million jobs is not factually incorrect, but it may give audiences the wrong idea when they don't know the whole story. Thanks for your post Hanna!
I agree that Biden's portrayal of the economy is a bit inflated (pun not intended) but I think it is important to recognize the policies that he has also been able to pass as a contributing factor to how strong the recovery has been so far. In terms of legislation, the American Rescue package has injected more money into the pockets of American citizens fueling a surge in consumer spending. We have also yet to see how the economy will be affected by the recently passed infrastructure bill.
I love your post. Even though Biden's administration claims to do a great job during their presence, we clearly see that it is not the case. However, it is easy to judge anyone for their actions. Yes, you are right, when you compared facts with their actual meaning for the economy. Recently, there was much news on media about a job creation record, which is controversial. In my opinion, the president's administration uses media in order to manipulate data and the actual meaning of the produced work.
This paper is written very well, you take the politics out of the President's comments and state facts. It is interesting to see how the media phrases how the economy is doing when you compare the data. It is dangerous that if you do not do the research yourself, you would have a false sense of how the economy is actually doing. Hopefully, our economy can continue to progress and turn these statements into facts.
I really enjoyed reading your blog. While the number look to be going in the right direction, the facts can't be overlooked. Our economy has been struggling during President Biden's term in office. Most of the positives in the economy have been inherited from the last presidential term. Hopefully he can turn things around for the coming 2022 year.
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