What ‘Tailspin’ Is Biden’s Spox Talking About?

Trump gave Biden an economy that was growing at about 6.5 percent with inflation under 1.5 percent.

AP/Evan Vucci, file
President Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Old Post Office at Chicago. AP/Evan Vucci, file

Let’s talk about the economy for a moment and the fact that the Biden administration, as always, cannot tell the truth about the American economy. This is a long-suffering movie that we’ve all seen before, but, just to refresh, here’s the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, just this past Monday: 

“When we walked into this administration, the economy was on a tailspin,” she said. “That is the fact because of the last administration, because of the Trump administration. The president came in, he passed the American Rescue Plan, which was able to get the economy back on its feet. And let’s not forget what Republicans are doing. … They’re trying to increase health care costs. They want to get rid of Medicare. They want to get rid of Social Security.”

I hardly know where to begin, there are so many falsehoods coming from the White House podium. First of all, there was no “tailspin.” By the first quarter of 2021, the American economy was growing at about a 6.5 percent clip with an inflation rate that was less than 1.5 percent.

So, President Biden takes office January 20, essentially riding atop a soaring economy. Without inflation. And gasoline prices barely above $2 a gallon. Those are facts, Madam Press Secretary. F-A-C-T-S. Facts. You can look it up. 

The economic rebound from the Covid collapse was a V-shaped recovery. And, I can tell you, I know from experience because, as the former National Economic Council director, along with my pal Kevin Hassett at the Council of Economic Advisers, and Tyler Goodspeed at the CEA, we were touting a V-shaped recovery and took enormous flack from the liberal Washington press and the Democrats.

Yet we were right, and they were wrong.

President Trump’s policies of tax cuts, deregulation, and “drill, baby, drill” had created sound economic fundamentals. Mr. Trump’s deregulation alone put $11,000 more per year into the pockets of hard-working blue-collar Americans.

So, as the Covid clouds disappeared, the pro-growth policies drove the economy right back up. The smartest thing Mr. Biden could’ve done was — wait for it, hang on a second — nothing. Because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

But no, the Bidens had to push for a $2 trillion spending plan to scratch every left-wing Democratic itch. And all that did was jack up the inflation rate ultimately to 9 percent, and, by the first half of 2022, the economy was in recession with two negative GDP quarters. That’s Bidenomics.

Since then, they have continued to spend, regulate, and tax. Their socialist Green New Deal war on fossil fuels has not only made all manner of energy products far more expensive here at home, but it has raised oil prices around the world, thereby benefiting our enemies like Russia and Iran — where Biden foreign policy continues to appease, rather than deter. The same can be said for China, which is financing two wars in Ukraine and Israel with huge oil purchases from Russia and Iran. That’s Bidenomics. 

As far as the charge that Republicans want to “get rid of Medicare and Social Security” — that is just stupid sophomoric politics, a pack of lies, because the Republicans are in favor of no such thing, and Mr. Biden knows this.

In fact, even in the State of the Union, when Mr. Biden tried to use the same lie about the big entitlements, every single Republican in the chamber rose up to boo him because it was completely wrong. People see right through these lies.

Mr. Biden said recently that this year’s Thanksgiving was cheaper, but in fact, the American Farm Bureau came out and said — wait a second —  Thanksgiving costs were 41 percent higher than 2020. Right down the line, cost after cost has risen enormously from Bidenomics.

Real wages have been falling almost steadily for three years. Energy and grocery costs are high, and add to that soaring insurance costs, high interest rates on borrowing to buy homes or cars, and don’t forget credit card rates — are all soaring. That’s Bidenomics. 

In terms of the next 12 months or so, the reliable Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators has fallen 19 consecutive months, nearly as bad as anything we’ve seen since World War II. The threat of a recession next year is rising, and that’s why Americans are so unhappy with the economy.

The recent New York Times-Siena College poll shows overwhelmingly that people rate the economy “poor” or “only fair” — including: 70 percent of those making less than $50,000, 61 percent making $50,000 to $100,000, 89 percent of people aged 18-29, 75 percent of Blacks and Hispanics, and 65 percent of women. That is a vote of no confidence in Bidenomics.

Nobody cares about a bunch of phony lies coming from a press secretary who has no clue about the subject matter. But, most disturbing of all, the same lies come from the commander-in-chief, who is trying to lie his way through a botched left-wing, big-government, socialist policy that has utterly failed the vast majority of working people in this country.

Indeed, the reason Mr. Trump is soaring in the polls, and now running ahead of Mr. Biden as well as Mr. Trump’s primary opponents, is that working people of all incomes, no matter their ethnicity or color or sex, want a return to the peace and prosperity of the Trump years.

That’s what’s really going on out there, no matter how many fibs Karine Jean-Pierre tries to sell.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.


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