Here’re some questions we’ve been pondering about Joe Biden’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Did he write it? Did he READ it? Did anyone in the White House fact-check it?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-plan-for-fighting-inflation-joe-biden-gas-prices-economy-unemployment-jobs-covid-11653940654?mod=opinion_major_pos5

There were so many untruths from the first sentence to the last, that we got weary trying to correct the record, but fortunately, our friends Jim Carter et al at America First Principles project did the work for us. So we crib from their excellent truth squading:

CLAIM: “The fastest decline in unemployment on record.” VERDICT: False.

• • • From May 2020 to January 2021 employment grew by 12.5 million (more than Biden’s 8.3 million).
    • From April 2020 to January 2021, the unemployment rate fell from 14.7% to 6.4%, a decline of 8.3% (more than Biden’s 2.6%).

CLAIM: “Millions of Americans are getting jobs with better pay. VERDICT: False.

• • • Over the last twelve months, real wages are down 2.8%: earnings have only risen 5.5% while prices have gone up 8.3%.
    • The average American has lost about $1,350 in purchasing power from President Biden’s inflation tax.

CLAIM: “In January 2021, when I took office, the recovery had stalled.” VERDICT: False.

• • • The economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020. GDP growth in the most recent quarter under President Biden was -1.5%

CLAIM: Before the pandemic, the country was characterized by “low growth, low wage gains, and an economy that worked best for the wealthiest Americans.” VERDICT: False.

• • • From 2017 until 2019 (the pre-pandemic Trump years), GDP growth averaged 2.54%.
    • From February 2017 to February 2020, hourly earnings averaged 2.97% compared to inflation averaging just 2.13%. Between 2016 and 2019, weekly earnings for low-wage earners rose 14.6% compared with 13.5% for the top earners.
    • In 2019, median household income saw its largest increase on record, the unemployment rate hit its lowest rate in nearly 50 years, poverty rates for all races were the lowest on record, and income inequality declined.

If you’re not exhausted already with this string of Biden fibs, you can find more in a Fox News piece by CTUP’s Stephen Moore and E.J. Antoni.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-inflation-prices-wages-government-spending