Staff Reports
The Biden-Harris duo seems determined to revive an old favorite playbook from the 2020 campaign, and once again, it features an array of economic mischaracterizations designed to mislead the American public. Four years ago, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris achieved their presidential victory by portraying the economy under Donald Trump as a disaster. Yet, like a misguided DJ at a wedding, Harris chooses to spin the same tired records, despite the fact that any reasonable person can recognize the economy was rebounding strongly even before the accolades of the Trump administration came into play.
In the fall of 2020, while the nation was still dealing with the effects of pandemic-induced lockdowns, economic growth rebounded explosively, showing a remarkable annual rate of 33.4 percent. This was a shocking turnaround that many experts, including Trump’s chief economic adviser, correctly predicted would resemble a “V-Shaped” recovery. In fact, by the end of the fourth quarter of that year, growth still hummed along at a solid 4.3 percent. But why let a little factual truth get in the way of a good narrative? Biden and Harris decided that portraying an economy on the mend as a complete disaster would suit their political ambitions much better.
Kamala Harris BUSTED In Campaign DESTROYING Lie & Coordinates MORE Crimi… https://t.co/ZhzUtKf7uu via @YouTube pic.twitter.com/LoNsZya9Yk
— Edward,an author of hard science fiction (@Geek4MAGA) September 25, 2024
Upon entering the White House, the duo wasted no time letting loose $1.9 trillion through the American Rescue Plan. This audacious spending spree was accompanied by promises of even more spending that were quickly curtailed once the reality of rising deficits and inflation set in. With their agenda relying heavily on big government expansions, claiming that the economy was perpetually on the brink of collapse worked out beautifully—for their goals, that is. The only issue? They had a robust economic recovery to contend with, which was inconveniently visible to the everyday American.
Flash to the present and Harris is back at it. Delivering a speech in Pittsburgh, she shamelessly continues to lambast Trump’s economic record while portraying Biden-Harris policies as the key to restoring America’s industrial glory. With grand proclamations about America’s future led by strong industrial growth, the glaring truth is that the Democrats’ industrial policies have not only failed to produce results, but they have also contributed to record inflation—the likes of which are hitting Americans in their wallets more than ever.
In her recent rhetoric, Harris brazenly declares that the economy has added 800,000 manufacturing jobs. However, a deeper dive into the data reveals a different narrative. The actual increase in manufacturing jobs is a much more modest 147,000 since before the pandemic, and during the past two years, manufacturing employment has been alarmingly stagnant. Despite extravagant subsidies funneled into the sector via the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act, manufacturing appears to be going the way of the dinosaur, contracting by 36,000 jobs in just the last three months.
Harris’s rhetorical flare also includes a penchant for falsifying statistics regarding Trump’s economic performance. While she continues to assert that manufacturing jobs plummeted by 200,000 under Trump pre-pandemic, the facts tell a different story—there were actually 414,000 more factory jobs prior to the pandemic. Even with the pandemic factored in, the supposed job losses never amounted to her exaggerated claims. If Harris thinks that repeating these distortions will win over voters again, she may want to reconsider—most Americans are recalling the economic growth of the Trump years with fondness and skepticism toward her claims. Perhaps this go-around, the misleading narratives won’t carry the same weight as they once did.
