Biden and Trump Views on the Economy
“President Joe Biden is fighting to convince inflation-weary voters that the U.S. economy is healthy. … “America has the best economy in the world,” he told NBC’s “TODAY” on Monday, laying out an argument that is central to his reelection campaign.”
“Former President Donald Trump routinely depicts the United States as a commercial wasteland. … “We are a nation whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin, whose supply chain is broken, whose stores are not stocked, whose deliveries are not coming,” Trump shouted at a Georgia rally last month.”
The actual data supports Biden and contradicts Trump.
US Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 2.5%, much faster than the other developed nations. That’s after adjusting for inflation.
Inflation in the US has fallen sharply, both faster and farther than the other developed nations,
US job growth has remained strong despite the high interest rates associated with Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation.
The analysts concluded that the US strong economic performance is due to a combination of good policy and good luck.
· The good policy has been the US’ strong economic stimulus to counteract the pandemic caused recession and the seizing up of global economic growth, the infrastructure bill and the CHIP Act.
· The good luck is that the US was better insulated from the economic shocks of the rise in food prices and energy costs due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of the very strong US agricultural sector and its rapidly increasing oil production.
We are not out of the woods, i.e. inflation needs to come down more and stay down to the point that the Federal Reserve cuts back on high interest rates. However, we have outperformed the other developed nations and are helping to lead the global economic rebounds from the financial shocks caused by the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine.