At an event in Wisconsin on Tuesday -- during which he finally commented on the humanitarian disaster in Hawaii, after days of tone deaf and shambolic White House messaging -- President Biden boasted about the state of the US economy. He crowed that "Bidenonmics is working," adding an "I'm serious" for emphasis -- a verbal tic that, along with 'not a joke,' is often a telltale sign that he's likely exaggerating or outright lying about something. In addition to a number of verifiably fake stories he recounted, which is one of his signature moves, here's some of the president's boasting -- followed by an examination of actual reality:
Biden says Bidenomics "is working": "I'm serious!"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2023
"Bidenomics" means prices are up by 16.9% while real wages are down by 3%. pic.twitter.com/WxezVVoavU
BIDEN: "In case you haven't noticed, inflation is down, too — and it's going lower!" pic.twitter.com/RUArfFCleQ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2023
Biden claims he's "the first one to cut the federal debt by $1,700,000,000,000!" pic.twitter.com/TnTpOuvkT5
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2023
Let's take the other assertions one by one. It's subjective to state that Bidenomics "is working," but given the president's dismal approval numbers on the economy, the American people clearly and heavily disagree with his happy talk. This might be a major reason why:
US inflation has had a snowballing effect on family budgets. The typical American household spent $709 more in July than they did two years ago to buy the same goods and services, according to Moody’s Analytics. That figure underscores the cumulative impact high inflation has had on consumer finances — even as price growth has cooled considerably in recent months. “High inflation of the past 2+ years has done lots of economic damage,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Most of that increase in spending is driven by housing costs, which have surged, Zandi told CNN in an email on Friday. He added that families are also spending more at the grocery store; on buying, maintaining and insuring vehicles and on recreational services like cable. Of course, paychecks have also grown over the past two years — but not by as much as the cost of living.
Americans are spending more than $700 dollars more per month on overall goods and services, compared to just after Biden took office -- when he and his party were in the process of ignoring experts' advice and shoving through a reckless, inflationary spending binge. Biden now says "inflation is down," and is going lower. Last month, the rate of inflation actually increased again, a setback that CBS News wrongly described as occurring the context of previous "falling prices." No. While inflation has increased at a slower rate in recent months (until July), prices are still going up. Biden and the Democrats would like people to believe that prices are receding. They are in fact still rising, and even the progress in slowing the speed of that increase was reversed last month. Food prices are back up. Gas prices are rising again, and remain much higher than when Biden assumed office. "Bidenomics is working," he tells us. "I'm serious!"
So serious that he's now publicly musing about how he wished he hadn't misnamed one of his huge tax-and-spend projects the 'Inflation Reduction Act,' which was an insulting joke from the beginning. As for Biden's bragging about 'cutting the federal debt' by $1.7 trillion, it's a total lie. The US has run enormous annual deficits under Biden, and the national debt has marched ever higher. The day Biden was sworn in, the federal debt stood at $27.7 trillion. That number is now approaching $33 trillion. What he's trying to say, and butchering it, is that deficits came down a bit on his watch, but that's only because COVID emergency spending expired. It has nothing to do with him, or any semblance of fiscal responsibility. Indeed, on the trajectory he's making worse, here is the annual deficit picture the country now faces (which means that the cumulative debt will explode even further):
Nothings to see here, just deficits doubling in a single year, despite no war or recession. https://t.co/4HOyitxPcT
— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) August 10, 2023
Biden also claimed he'd "done all this" (which he hasn't) "without raising anybody's taxes" (which is untrue). I'll leave you with Biden's Treasury Secretary informing CNN that "most Americans feel good about their own economic situation:"
Recommended
As Americans pay more under Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claims "most Americans feel good about their own economic situation" pic.twitter.com/cNySdZFgzs
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2023
In a recent CBS News survey, 70 percent of Americans said their wages aren't keeping pace with inflation, and just 13 percent said they're 'getting ahead' in this economy. The vast majority said they're either treading water or falling further behind.
