Biden: 'Notwithstanding the Inflation,' the Job Market Is 'the Strongest It Has Been'

Brittany M. Hughes | June 13, 2022
DONATE
Text Audio
00:00 00:00
Font Size

The rising cost of gas, food, energy, housing, transportation and everyday goods and services aside, Joe Biden wants you to know the American economy is doing just splendidly - provided you don't check the price tags at the store, or your receipt at the pump.

"The job market is the strongest it has been since WWII, notwithstanding the inflation," Biden said during a speech this weekend, touting what he claims is a historic economic recovery with booming employment.

Which is kind of like saying, "Oh sure! Susan's doing great, notwithstanding the stage 4 cancer. I mean, her pancreas might be shot to heck, but her arm's just fine!"

But according to Biden, as long as people have access to jobs - any job, apparently - it doesn't matter how much they're paying for stuff, or whether their paycheck will cover their bills.

"Millions of Americans are moving up to better jobs and better pay, and since I took office, families are carrying less debt on average in America, they have more savings," he continued.

Related: Inflation Hits New 40-Year High As Meat, Gas, and Housing Prices Soar

The president touted "record" job creation during his first two years in office, omitting the fact that the vast majority of those jobs aren't new positions, but are jobs that opened back up following the government's forced COVID shutdowns that closed businesses across the country, putting millions of Americans out of work and bankrupting some businesses permanently.

In doing so, Biden conveniently glossed over "inflation" as a trivial issue, dismissing gas that's now hit a $5 a gallon national average, grocery prices that are now up 10% (with some items such as meat and eggs up even more), the cost of rent up 5.5% and still climbing, and a nationwide baby formula shortage that may have fallen out of the A1 headlines, but is still a very real and present concern for millions of parents of babies.

Biden's self-laudatory pat on the back also ignores polls that have repeatedly shown Americans are increasingly unhappy with his handling of the economy, and say they feel less financially stable than they did a year ago.

According to a Gallup poll from April, 48% of Americans say their financial situation is getting worse, compared to 37% who say it’s improving. Another survey found that “Americans are more likely today than they were a year ago to report being ‘very’ or ‘moderately worried’ about several aspects of their finances, reversing the improvement seen last year,” with 40 percent saying they’re most concerned about being able to pay their monthly bills.

But, all that "notwithstanding," everything's going just great.

donate