America IS Better Off
America IS Better Off
The data is clear that Biden has done a far better job as President than Trump did.
The current line on repeat for the Republican party is “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”.
Taken literally, this is an easy answer, yes. Four years ago, the pandemic was raging, COVID was still misunderstood, vaccines didn’t exist, and freezer trucks were collecting the overflowing dead bodies from hospitals, an amount which would eventually total one million Americans dead from COVID-19. A significant number of those deaths were due to Trump’s lies.
On top of that, store shelves were empty, people were losing their jobs, and we were isolated. Life was miserable four years ago.
What about the bigger discussion? Is America better off after Biden’s Presidency, or was it better off after Trump’s?
Republicans are mainly focused on economic issues with this question, so this article will be as well. We will start with wage growth before discussing price increases to see how Americans were affected by the pandemic and the high inflation that followed.
In December 2023, the Treasury Department released an analysis of wage growth, prices, and Americans' performance post-pandemic. Wage growth over 2023 was higher than the average annual wage growth for the 10 years prior to the pandemic.
The highest real wage growth has been among the lowest and youngest earners, as shown here both by the Treasury Department and the Center for American Progress:
President Biden’s economy has not been smooth sailing throughout his whole term. The recovery from the pandemic saw global high inflation, which created an extended period of time that inflation was higher than wage growth, as shown here:
Let’s look at how that affected Americans overall.
The first misconception is that all items are more expensive today than they were before the pandemic. When looking at wages compared to prices, that simply isn’t true:
When looking at the total increase in costs from before the pandemic began to today, wages have increased more than costs have in that time. This chart is from November 2023, and wages have continued to outpace inflation since then. Current wage growth is 4.5% vs. inflation of 3.4%.
Or to put it in more direct terms. Americans had $1000 more to spend at the end of 2023 than they did at the end of 2019
While gas prices have come down from their high, they have been a major focus for Republicans. What isn’t being talked about is that those price increases were due to OPEC cutting back supply and Russia invading Ukraine, which caused sanctions against Russian oil. In the six months following those sanctions, US gas prices rose 88%, and Europe’s gas prices increased 157%.
That highlights a recurring theme in America’s post-pandemic recovery: the US has had the best economic recovery in the world.
Inflation came down faster than the other G7 nations, unemployment has stayed below 4% for over 2 years straight, GDP growth is high, wage growth is strong, manufacturing is returning to the US, and the US economy has been growing faster than China’s for the first time since 1976.
Even the federal debt is growing slower under Biden than it did under Trump, who increased it by 40% in just four years. The majority of Trump’s debt came before the pandemic, in large part due to the large tax cuts Trump gave to corporations and the wealthy.
Trump also ended his term with fewer jobs than he began with. Biden replaced all of those lost jobs and added millions more.
Economically, the US is doing better with Biden as President than it did with Trump.
Another big talking point by Republicans is claiming that President Biden is “waging a war on American energy”. Again this is false. Energy independence is higher under Biden than it was under Trump.
US oil production is at record highs. Higher than under Trump. Higher than any point in US history. Higher than any nation on Earth in all of history.
Natural gas is at record highs.
Propane exports are at record highs.
America is making huge investments in green energy and climate change, which has resulted in 40% of US energy production becoming emission-free and reducing America’s overall CO2 emissions.
Homicides saw the highest single-year increase under Trump. Meanwhile, crime has dropped nationwide by a large percentage over the last two years. Violent crime is now near a 50-year low.
The US standing on the world stage has recovered from the record lows seen under Trump, and NATO is the strongest it has ever been.
Infrastructure projects are happening all across the country under Biden, whereas Trump had “infrastructure week,” during which he made vague statements only to then undertake no infrastructure changes at all.
More Americans have healthcare than ever before, and healthcare costs have been reduced under Biden. Many years ago, Trump announced that he would unveil an amazing healthcare plan in two weeks. The nation is still waiting to hear what that plan would be, while Trump continues to want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is providing coverage for millions of Americans.
Even unions are the strongest they’ve been in decades.
America is, in fact, better off under Biden than it was under Trump.
