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Fact Check: Treasury in Denial About Shrinking Biden Economy

July 25, 2022 — Bidenflation    — Blog    — Facts Are Stubborn Things    — Press Releases    — Select Revenue Measures    — Work and Welfare   

With a recession looming – and Americans feeling like they’re already in one – the Biden Administration is in denial about our struggling economy. Below are recent claims by Treasury’s top official to the press downplaying President Biden’s economic failures.

CLAIM: President Biden succeeded in putting back to work those who had lost their jobs during the pandemic, and now, the labor market is “extremely strong.”

FACT: A year and a half into the Biden Administration, America is still 524,000 jobs short of the jobs we had prior to the pandemic.

  • Main street businesses face a record labor shortage with over 10 million job openings for nearly a year while small businesses lost jobs three out of the last four months.
  • Due to Biden-Flation, workers’ wages have dropped nearly five percent, prompting a majority of Americans to take up bargain-hunting.
  • According to CBS, “more Americans than ever hold two full-time jobs, amounting to more than 70 hours of work a week… according to federal labor data.”
  • Over half of business owners are still struggling to fill job openings after President Biden discouraged work. Of those hiring, 94 percent of small businesses reported few or no applicants for positions they were trying to fill.

As Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) said, “Red flags abound in the June jobs report with the worker shortage persisting, layoffs rising, and employment shrinking two of last three months, fueling inflation, empty shelves, and hurting the economy.”

READ: Americans Forced to Work Multiple Jobs to Survive in Biden’s Economy

CLAIM: The economy is strong and not in recession because “consumer spending remains solid” and “continuing to grow,” industrial output has grown in five of the six most recent months, and “credit quality remains very strong,” while “household balance sheets are generally in good shape.” 

FACT: Americans are beginning to skip meals, eliminate meat, and use their credit cards for daily essentials. And one out of four Americans are now forced to delay their retirement because they can’t make ends meet under President Biden’s economy. Without consumer spending, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of the economy, our economy will falter.

  • Consumer spending adjusted for inflation has remained flat since October 2021.
  • According to S&P Global, the private sector contracted for the first time since June 2020.
  • Accelerating inflation has wiped away 26 million low-income households’ savings, with these Americans losing nearly $16,000 under President Biden. Overall, American workers have received a nearly four percent pay cut under President Biden, which has prompted the majority of Americans to report they’re having to dip into savings to cover basic expenses.
  • Americans are reducing spending over the next six months as a result of inflation, and identify inflation as a top concern.

READ: Americans Slow Spending as Biden-Flation Fears Surge

CLAIM: The Federal Reserve will be able to bring inflation down, and the Biden Administration’s policies will help, particularly after cutting the deficit.

FACT: President Biden’s policies have made inflation worse, according to the San Francisco Federal Reserve and former Obama-Biden economic advisers. These findings were echoed in a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

  • The typical family now has to spend nearly $500 more per month to buy the same goods and services they did a year ago, prompting more Americans to rely on loans and credit cards to make ends meet, even as the Federal Reserve makes borrowing more expensive.
  • For six months in a row, Main Street businesses have faced double-digit inflation which costs were passed onto consumers.
  • Even a “slimmed down” version of Democrats’ plans would worsen Biden-Flation by imposing at least $1 trillion in crippling tax hikes on working families and Main Street businesses. Mark Zandi, the White House’s preferred economic forecaster, has warned the Build Back Better plan will worsen inflation.
  • Even CNN has reported that Biden’s claim of deficit reduction are “bizarro”:

“The Congressional Budget Office, however, had estimated at the beginning of Biden’s tenure that the fiscal 2021 deficit would be a decline of more than $870 billion if the Biden administration did not implement new policy.

“The Biden administration did implement new policy – notably including a massive pandemic relief package.

“Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an organization that advocates deficit reduction, said in an interview that Biden’s claims about having personally reduced the deficit are ‘almost bizarro world,’ a reversal of reality. The deficit would have fallen by much more ‘had President Biden come to office and not done anything,’ he said.”

READ: Democrats Vow to Make Biden-Flation Worse

READ: One-Pager: Steps to Fight Biden-flation

READ: Biden-Flation Burned Through 26 Million Low-Income Households’ Savings (and Then Some)

CLAIM: Releases of gas from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve are putting some downward pressure on gas prices. We have seen gas prices just in recent weeks come down by about 50 cents, and there should be more in the pipeline.

FACT: Families are still paying $120 more per month on gas than one year ago, thanks to President Biden’s policies. He is still seeking $145 billion in taxes on American energy companies, workers, and consumers, killing over 1 million jobs, raising fuel prices, and leaving America more dependent on foreign oil.

  • The first step President Biden took in office was canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and freezing leases for new exploration.
  • In May 2022, the Biden Administration canceled oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
  • The Biden Administration has touted their easing of restrictions on E15 gasoline as a way to address high energy costs. If Americans are able to find the E15 (which is sold at less than two percent of gas stations across the country), they will get five percent less fuel mileage.
  • The Biden Administration also depleted our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to its lowest level since 1987.
  • Energy expert Patrick De Haan in early July said that the recent decline in gas prices were due to a shift in fundamentals and that “no politician can take credit for this.”

READ: Pain at the Pump is a Result of Democrats’ Cruel Energy Policies

CLAIM: Democrats’ plan will lower prescription drug costs and maintain current levels of health care costs.

FACT: Democrats’ dangerous price-setting scheme would result in 342 fewer cures and their COVID-era Obamacare subsidies have done nothing to address the cost of health care – in fact, the Affordable Care Act has made costs worse.

  • Democrats’ Washington price controls would lead to a reduction of up to 342 cures according to a study by the University of Chicago, including for devastating diseases like Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, ALS, and diabetes, while letting countries like China take the lead.
  • Since the Affordable Care Act became law, the average price paid for health insurance (“premiums”) jumped by 143 percent between 2013 and 2019. Over a decade, spending on health care per person increased. At the same time that premiums more than doubled in the individual market, deductibles for ACA-compliant coverage also increased.
  • Americans prefer Republicans’ plan to lower costs for medicines delivered in a doctor’s office, cap out-of-pocket drug spending for seniors, and allow Americans with high-deductible plans to pay less for certain services and prescriptions, while fewer Americans support Democrats’ plan to set drug prices for Medicare.
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