In the face of enduring inflation and dwindling approval ratings, President Joe Biden vigorously defended his economic policy, referred to as “Bidenomics,” to a Chicago audience.
“Guess what? Bidenomics is working,” Biden proclaimed. However, his endorsement of his own policy agenda comes amidst national skepticism with only 34% of Americans, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey, agreeing that Biden has adeptly managed the economy.
“Bidenomics,” a term initially coined with a negative connotation by The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times to describe Biden’s economic policies, is now being embraced by the president himself. “I didn’t come up with the name,” Biden asserted, attracting some laughter. “I really didn’t. I now claim it, but they’re the ones that used it first.”
First, Biden highlighted his close relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping by claiming, “I traveled 17,000 miles and spoke with him more than any other head of state.” This claim had previously been refuted by the left-leaning Washington Post, with “Fact Checker” columnist Glenn Kessler stating that Biden used “a figure that cannot be verified in a misleading way.” The Post gave Biden “three Pinocchios” out of a possible four for his distortion of the facts.
Second, Biden blasted “trickle-down economics,” which he claimed has failed the middle class and America itself. Famously embraced by President Reagan in the 1980s, this economic policy helped create 20 million new jobs, increased the income of the middle class by 11 percent, reduced inflation from 13.5% to 4.1%, cut unemployment from 7.6% to 5.5%, and increased real GDP by 26%.
Third, Biden contended that his administration has “reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion” during his first two years in office, a statement contradicted by a Moody’s analyst appearing on CNN last month, who explained that the actions of the Biden administration have “undoubtedly resulted in higher deficits, not smaller ones.”
Fourth, Biden announced that his policies had resulted in the creation of “13.4 million new jobs.” EJ Antoni, a research fellow in economics at The Heritage Foundation, counters this claim, stating that “Recovering lost jobs [from the Covid-19 pandemic] is hardly the same, however, as job ‘creation,’ a word that the president uses frequently.”
Lastly, Biden boasted about reducing inflation. “Today, inflation is less than half— less than half of what it was a year ago,” he claimed. Though technically accurate, this neglects the fact that when he assumed office in January 2021, the inflation rate was a mere 1.7%.
With such questionable claims, it remains to be seen whether the president can convince the American public that “Bidenomics” is the best economic path forward.
