Here’s What Biden Didn't Say About the Economy
The president’s optimistic outlook masks an uneven labor market, elevated inflation and continuing income inequality.
Bidenomics has some weak spots.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images
President Joe Biden on Wednesday launched his effort to persuade voters that his policies have made the economy stronger and more resilient and will continue to do so far into the future. Indeed, the US economy has the fastest growth rate and lowest inflation rate of any of its developed-market peers. But all political speeches have a fair amount of positive spin that deserves a reality check, and this one was no different.
Biden spent part of his speech at the Old Post Office building Chicago trumpeting his record on employment. Indeed, as my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Matthew Winkler has noted, Biden has created the equivalent of six times more jobs than the last three Republican presidents combined. Biden himself pointed out that the unemployment rate has been below 4% for a record 16 consecutive months. “Bidenomics is working,” he said in Chicago, defining the term as building the economy from the middle out and bottom up — not the top down.