Just three days after declaring his disastrous Afghan operation that abandoned Americans and allies an “extraordinary success,” President Joe Biden tried more gaslighting, insisting that the grim news that the nation added a half-million fewer jobs than expected last month was “more evidence of the progress of our economy” under his leadership.
And, just as in Afghanistan, he’s sticking to his course, though Bidenomics is clearly a serious threat to the already-fragile recovery.
The economy gained just 235,000 jobs in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, way off economists’ projections of 720,000 and a huge dive from July’s 1.05 million.
Addressing the dismal data from the White House, the prez actually pretended to see it as good news. “The Biden plan is working. We’re getting results,” he said. “I’ve added more jobs than any first-year president.”
That’s no big accomplishment when a once-in-a-century pandemic destroyed economies worldwide and your predecessor’s program brought vaccines to market in record time just before you entered office.
Biden did admit “some wanted to see a larger number today, and so did I,” but, as with the Afghan debacle and the border crisis, he refused to take any responsibility for the consequences of his policies.
“There’s no question the Delta variant is why today’s jobs report isn’t stronger,” he deflected.
But Delta hasn’t brought last year’s mass lockdowns and layoffs; job openings remain at record levels.
Employers squarely put the blame on Biden’s business-busting bills. His COVID “relief” package, passed in March without a single Republican vote, extended the $300 weekly federal unemployment bonus to September and threw another $1.9 trillion into an economy that had gained trillions the year before.
The result? Soaring inflation — with consumer prices up 5.4 percent year over year, the largest jump since August 2008 — that’s only accelerating as employers can’t fill 10 million job openings despite 8 million unemployed.
A record 50 percent of all small-business owners couldn’t fill job openings, the National Federation of Independent Business just found. “Owners are raising compensation in an attempt to attract workers, and these costs are being passed on to consumers through price hikes for goods and services, creating inflation pressures,” NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg warned.
Biden crowed Friday, “Wages are up, especially for working-class Americans.” But inflation more than consumes those gains: Average hourly earnings are up 4.3 percent from this time last year (when the pandemic was still in full swing), but prices are up 5.4 percent.
August’s 5.2 percent unemployment rate is nowhere near the 3.5 percent of pre-pandemic February 2020. And Biden seems determined to keep it high.
Friday, he encouraged states to use unspent federal relief funds to extend the expiring jobless benefits, which can continue to harm hiring. And he pushed Congress to pass his $4.7 trillion spending plans, to be paid for in part with job-killing tax hikes, in part with further-inflationary new debt.
No one can stop the president from denying reality, but Congress needs to stop his agenda in its tracks before he pushes America back into recession.
