JOE LIVES IN ALTERED STATE
Finally, something President Biden and his critics can all agree on.
The commander in chief told AFLCIO union members in Philadelphia Tuesday that government spending was “changing people’s lives.”
Biden’s opponents bitterly concurred, pointing to annual inflation that soared to 8.6% last month — the highest level since 1981.
“I don’t want to hear any more of these lies about reckless spending. We’re changing people’s lives!” the president shouted during his remarks.
But “under President Biden, Americans’ lives have changed for the worst,” responded Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) on Twitter.
“Pres. Biden is right,” tweeted Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “Forty-yearhigh inflation, [baby] formula shortages, and $5 gas are changing lives.”
On the Philadelphia stage, Biden touted two large spending measures: his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which Democrats passed last year without Republican support, and last year’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
No spending offsets
The larger bill provided $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, an extended $300 weekly unemployment supplement and an expanded annual child tax credit. It also wasn’t offset by new revenue, adding to the $30.5 trillion national debt. As for the infrastructure bill, the Congressional Budget Office said it would add $256 billion to the deficit.
Biden went on to claim he “put America in a position to tackle a worldwide problem that’s worse everywhere but here: inflation” — even though US inflation actually is higher than in most Western nations.
Inflation in the US in May was higher than the Eurozone average of 8.1% and South Korea’s 5.4%. Australia’s most recent data — 5.1% in March — was lower than the US inflation rate of 8.5% that month. Canada’s most recent data — 6.8% in April — was lower than the comparable 8.3% US rate.
Biden also claimed the federal deficit declined due to his leadership.
“Last year we cut the deficit by $350 billion,” he said. “By the end of the fiscal year, we will have cut the federal deficit by another $1.6 trillion in one year.”
But Biden didn’t mention that the deficit was so large in 2020 because it was the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and featured enormous bipartisan spending bills — including
the $2.2 trillion CARES Act — while the Treasury brought in less revenue due to the economic shock.
Taking all the credit
Biden recently has blamed economic problems on Republicans in Congress, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, meat producers, oil companies, and shipping conglomerates — while casting himself as the person most responsible for improvement in his first year in office.
The president said his rescue plan “put money in the pockets of hardworking Americans who were in trouble and being thrown out in the street because they couldn’t pay the rent through no fault of their own” — neglecting to mention he took office while eviction protections ordered by predecessor Donald Trump were still in effect.
“Remember those long lines of cars stretching miles back waiting for just a box of food?” Biden asked. “It wasn’t just poor folk.
“And while it was going on, America created more billionaires during that crisis in 2020 than any year in history . . . Ordinary people waiting in line for an hour for a box of food. The policies in the past created more billionaires than ever in American history. Folks, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”
Although the US did add about 56 billionaires in the first nine months of the pandemic, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, Biden’s invocation of food lines ignored the fact that local government-ordered shutdowns forced people into needing the aid.