Op-Ed: Bidenomics Spin vs. Economic Reality

This article originally appeared in The National Review on July 5, 2023

President Biden is on a “Bidenomics” tour, trumpeting what he claims are his administration’s economic gains. His effort comes as no surprise. In the RealClearPolitics average of the polls, only about 38 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s job on the economy. To date, the Biden administration’s efforts to convince Americans otherwise have fallen way short of the mark. The problems lie not with Biden’s rhetoric but rather with his policies — and economic reality.

Case in point: In an effort to avoid responsibility for a still-surging inflation rate while claiming credit for slowing it, Biden’s economic team recently posted a video boldly stating, “Here Are the Facts.” The first of these purported facts is, “Under the Biden Harris Administration Inflation Has Fallen.” Unfortunately, that’s just not true.

The annual inflation rate when Biden took office was 1.4 percent. In May, it was 4 percent, or nearly three times the rate he inherited and still double the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target rate. Here’s an actual fact: “Under the Biden Harris Administration Inflation Has Risen.”

Of course, what the Biden team is attempting to take credit for is the decline in the inflation rate from its 9.1 percent peak in June of 2022. The Biden video goes on to claim that “inflation is less than half what it was last summer.” That claim is misleading for two reasons.

Read the full op-ed in The National Review