OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden bizarrely argued during an interview earlier this week that his economic policies were successful even though prices for the most necessary consumer goods have spiked 25–30 percent since he took office.
“We got to be steady, stay the course, and continue to produce these incredible jobs, and the job — and by the way, pay for the jobs are — are outpacing the inflation rate they’re paying. We’re — we’re going to — we’re going to be able to deal with this. Gonna take a little more time. We’re just focused on it,” Biden claimed.
The president’s collective economic policies have been coined “Bidenomics,” but according to several polls, a majority of Americans find their personal finances are among their top concerns heading into the 2024 election.
“Inflation cooled slightly in April, but even the slower price increases revealed this week still added to a tally that is perhaps the Biden campaign’s most intractable economic challenge in the 2024 campaign season. Prices as measured by the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) are now up over 19.4% in the three-plus years since Biden took office,” Yahoo! Finance reported on Wednesday. “For comparison’s sake, prices rose just under 7.8% during the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency.”
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The New York Post editorial board also weighed in, claiming that Biden is “gaslighting” the country on the economy:
Good news: Inflation eased a tiny bit in the latest Consumer Price Index numbers. Bad news: Most other indicators suggest more trouble, not less, ahead.
CPI for April came in at 3.4% higher than a year ago — easing from March’s 3.5% spike. But we’re still at levels well above what Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell wants.
And the Producer Price Index for April saw a 0.5% rise, above economists’ 0.3% prediction — and PPI generally indicates where CPI is headed, since producers have little choice but to pass higher costs on to consumers.
The board went on to note that consumer confidence is now the lowest it has been since July 2022, when the inflation rate was 8.5 percent. And current interest rates for mortgages and auto loans, among other lending, are at 23-year highs, with the Fed chairman not promising they will go down anytime soon.
The current economic situation leaves the working and middle class squeezed, accumulating more debt. Americans have already exhausted their pandemic savings while credit card balances soar. Meanwhile, job growth slowed last month, with most new jobs in government and health care (a sector heavily influenced by government), indicating stagnant private-sector employment. The specter of stagflation looms large, the board noted.
“By every metric, Bidenomics has miserably failed Americans; prices are now up an average 20% over Inauguration Day 2021,” the board wrote.
“The president’s response? Lie outright, insist you have the money to cover your soaring grocery bills and hope enough people believe him that he can get voted in for Round 2 in November. Gas prices may be up, but Joe Biden’s gaslighting keeps getting cheaper,” the board concluded.
As Biden and his administration continue to try and convince Americans that their lives are better under his economic policies, the reality for a growing majority is that no, life was much better under former President Donald Trump. And in fact, a damning new statistic is likely to further endanger Biden’s reelection chances.
“Many people of all races, and especially younger voters, are dismissing President Joe Biden’s claim that ‘they have the money to spend,’ with some revealing that they went without food one day last month,” the Washington Examiner reported Friday, citing a new poll.
“In an unusual survey that tapped into the hurt many feel from inflation, minorities, young voters, and those with just a high school education suffered from food “insecurity,” Zogby Analytics said,” the outlet reported. At least 14 percent of respondents said they went at least a day without food in April.
Blacks, a reliably Democratic voting bloc that has increasingly shifted to Trump and that Biden is attempting to hold together have been especially hard-hit by his Bidenomics, which has produced record-high and sustained high foot prices.
