Biden rips media for economy coverage: ‘Start reporting it the right way’
Story by Sylvan Lane
President Biden criticized news coverage of the U.S. economy as he faces growing backlash from voters over his handling of inflation.
In brief remarks Saturday before boarding the presidential helicopter, Biden expressed confidence in the economy and ripped the reporters for the way it has been portrayed.
“All good. Take a look. Start reporting it the right way,” Biden said when asked about his economic outlook for 2024, according to a transcript released Sunday by the White House.
Biden’s criticism is the latest flash of frustration from the president over how Americans view the U.S. economy.
The economy has roared back from the COVID-19 recession under Biden, who enacted legislation for trillions of dollars of economic relief and investments shortly after taking office in 2021.
The U.S. unemployment rate was just 3.7 percent in November — barely above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5 percent, which was a five-decade low. Annual inflation has also fallen sharply from a peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022 to 3.1 percent in November, and the economy has defied widespread predictions of a recession.
Even so, Biden’s standing with voters has fallen throughout the year as they’ve become increasingly frustrated with the economy under his leadership.
Biden’s approval rating fell to a record low of 34 percent in a Monmouth University poll released last week, with nearly 70 percent of respondents disapproving of his handling of inflation.
More than half of respondents also disapproved of Biden’s record on jobs, even as he presides over a historically strong labor market.
Biden and his Democratic allies have largely blamed the media and Republican critics for skewing the public’s views on the economy by exaggerating recession fears and dismissing record-setting job growth.
After the monthly jobs report for September far exceeded economists’ expectations, Biden ripped reporters — ”not the happiest people in the world,” he said — for hyperfixating on inflation and recession speculation.
The Biden administration and campaign have sought to highlight the resilience of the economy and gain an edge on the issue over former President Trump, who presided over three years of low unemployment and low inflation before the COVID-19 pandemic claimed 21 million jobs.
But economic experts have warned that Biden and his team must also be sensitive to the myriad ways Americans are still suffering from the economic scars of the pandemic.
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Inflation, while much slower now, is continuing to boost the cost of goods and services that already skyrocketed in price over the three years. Pandemic stimulus and restrictions also fueled a surge in home prices and rents, deepening an affordable housing crisis that began long before COVID-19.
Many voters are also struggling with the long-term changes to their jobs and industries caused by COVID-19, along with the lapse of economic relief programs that temporarily lifted millions of Americans out of poverty.
There is the right way, the wrong way and then there is the facts. If most of Americans are not feeling that the economy is not good. Maybe the President is the one that needs to take a look at it. Those people are the ones going that will be voting in Nov. Those people are the ones feeling the pain of what the Presidents economy is doing to them.
But economic experts have warned that Biden and his team must also be sensitive to the myriad ways Americans are still suffering from the economic scars of the pandemic.
Those scars were self inflicted. The continued lockdowns, the rampant spending. Then inflation started going up and what did the government do? Piled on more spending. Now Biden is giving all federal worker a 5 percent pay raise. That is not the private sector using the free market to raise wages. That is the government using taxpayer dollars to give themselves raises. For doing what! Making it harder for the American worker to make a living?
Many voters are also struggling with the long-term changes to their jobs and industries caused by COVID-19, along with the lapse of economic relief programs that temporarily lifted millions of Americans out of poverty.
The changes were not caused by Covid they were caused by the reaction to covid. The so called economic relief was nothing more than a temporary free money giveaway. It in no way lifted anyone out of poverty. All it did create a bigger national debt, that was shifted to the people, to have to pay off later down the road. What most people don’t realize is that nothing is free. At some point the piper has to be paid!