Trust Index: Looking at President Biden’s statements about the economy

The News4JAX Trust Index team is taking a look at recent statements by President Joe Biden about the economy.

In recent remarks, he claimed economic success, even as there’s record high inflation, causing families to pay more for homes, cars, gas and more.

While speaking Tuesday at the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia, Biden said the United States has made extraordinary progress by laying out a new foundation for our economy, with the president pointing to 390,000 new jobs in May and decreasing unemployment numbers.

“Gas is up and food is up -- which we’re going to get down come hell or high water,” Biden said.

A defiant and combative Biden pushed back on the claims that his administration shares the blame for the country’s economic woes, including 40-year high inflation on everything from food to gas and the largest interest rate increase in 28 years.

“The bottom line is this: I truly believe we’ve made extraordinary progress by laying a new foundation for our economy -- which becomes clear once global inflation begins to recede,” Biden said. “There’s so much at stake, but the truth is I’ve never been more optimistic about America than I am today.”

Biden pointed to record-low unemployment, small business startups and wage growth -- particularly for low-income workers -- as signs that the U.S. economy is strong.

The statements are not sitting well with Republicans who blame Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan for fueling 40-year high inflation.

House Republicans tweeted this message from U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a member of party leadership in the House: “‘Biden’s inflation-increasing agenda is crushing the American dream for millions of families across the country…' - @SteveScalise.”

And The Daily Caller tweeted this in response to this statement by the president: “Inflation is soaring, gas prices are higher than ever, and the stock market is bottoming out. Doesn’t sound like the greatest recovery ever.”

News4JAX asked financial expert Joe Krier, with Tidal Flow Trading LLC, if America’s economy right now can be considered a success.

″I think so. Actually, you know, if you look back at the long history here, we had a period going back to 1999 where the middle-class wages barely kept up with inflation. In fact, they were falling behind,” Krier said.

Krier says middle-class wages are starting to perk up, and even though that is hurting corporate profits, he says there’s more money right now in the hands of the middle class -- which could be an insulating factor if America falls into a recession.

Biden blames rising gas prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, but Krier says Putin isn’t solely to blame, adding that record-high inflation -- and a potential recession -- could be the result of many factors.

“You absolutely cannot put your finger on one cause for inflation or one cause for recession. There’s at least a dozen on both of those issues,” Krier said. “And you know, it would be nice to see the politicians working together and just acknowledging that we’re all in this together, but they still have to focus on getting reelected in November, so, you know, that’s how it’s going to play out.

So the News4JAX Trust Index team is giving the president’s claim that America has made extraordinary progress by laying out a new foundation for the economy the rating of “be careful.”

Even though financial experts agree that from a big picture perspective the economy is strong, a recession is a real possibility, there are many unknowns, there’s still economic uncertainty for millions of American families, and as Krier points out, there can be multiple factors playing into the economy every day.

After reviewing this topic, we've found some issues - Be Careful.

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