ICYMI: "The Biden Administration Is Leaving in Its Wake a Fantastic Economy"

Last night, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow laid out how the Biden-Harris Administration has built a strong economy, after the previous administration left office with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The results speak for themselves: 16 million jobs created—nearly 7 million more than before the pandemic; incomes up nearly $4,000, accounting for inflation—with wages rising fastest for lower- and middle-income Americans; inflation down to where it was before the pandemic; the economy has grown more than 10% in less than four years; and the stock market has hit record high after record high—up more than 50%.

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MSNBC: The Rachel Maddow Show
[Rachel Maddow, 10/14/24]

MADDOW: Today, the stock market closed above 43,000 for the first time in history. That's the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting all-time highs. The S&P 500 hit its all-time high today as well. And this isn't a flash in the pan. We just hit two years of this bull market. This year alone, the S&P 500 is up almost 23% in one year. Inflation is where it was when Trump left office. Economic growth under the first three years of the Biden-Harris Administration, we now know, is higher than economic growth was under the first three years of the Trump Administration.

Trump people don't like to count the fourth year. They don't like you to count the economic catastrophe we all experienced under Trump in his fourth year in office. They say the pandemic in his fourth year, it means it shouldn't count. It shouldn't count anything that happened under his watch then, which is frankly pretty weak sauce.

But even, you know, okay, even if you take him on those weak terms, and you cut out the real lived economic catastrophe on his watch during the pandemic, you know, other than that Mrs. Lincoln how was the play, even if you cut out his fourth year because of COVID, we now know, economic growth under Biden and Harris is better. And in their first three years than it was under Trump in his first three years.

Economic growth is up. Wages are up. Retail sales are good. Interest rates are dropping. We are having record highs on Wall Street. Biden and Harris, this administration, has produced the best job growth numbers of any presidential administration in American history by a mile. Unemployment numbers are profoundly low and in a sustained way. It's the best unemployment numbers we have seen in decades.

A few days ago, The New York Times summed it all up sort of begrudgingly with this. Quote, "the economy is robust, by many measures the U.S. job market is as healthy as it has ever been." As healthy as it has ever been. In the history of the United States of America, we right now have the best job market we have ever had as a country as long as we have existed as a country.

At The Washington Post economist Heather Long recently put it this way under the headline, quote, "this is a great economy." It says, quote, "growth is strong, unemployment is low, inflation is back down." Many Americans are getting sizable pay raises. Middle class wealth has surged to record levels. The United States has nearly 7 million more jobs than it did before the pandemic. And we have the largest share of adults aged 25 to 54 working in more than two decades. The largest share working in 24 years. Americans in the bottom 40% of income have experienced the fastest of all the wage growth. The largest surge in wealth since the end of 2019 has gone to the bottom 50% in income. Bottom line, quote, "2024 is shaping up to be one of the best economic years of many Americans' lifetimes."

[…] You're now seeing the political press, again, sort of begrudgingly admit that, you know, yeah, well, it turns out the Biden Administration is leaving in its wake a fantastic economy. But when I say begrudging, I mean that the sort of subtext for all of it and sometimes the overt text of all it of it in the political press is yeah, yeah, it's a great economy. Really great economy, historically great economy. […]

It is a dream economy. I mean, as it says in the piece, the unemployment rate stands at 4.1%. The S&P 500 stock index is up more than 20% this year. GDP has been growing at a robust 3% pace. Middle class Americans are more optimistic about their future. Gas prices are falling. The economy added over a quarter million jobs in September alone. It is a dream economy that is being left by the Biden-Harris Administration. […]

I have a question for business people or for business minded people. Or even just for people who say that business issues and economic issues are their main concern. […] And you know, I feel like even for those of us who don't think of ourselves as business minded peoples or as business people or for people for whom that's our top priority. A lot of us have respect for people who do define themselves that way. A serious way to look at the world, and maybe business issues aren't my top thing. Maybe economic issues aren't my top thing. But if those are top concerns for you, credit to you. I'm interested in how you make your decision on that basis. […]

Because as we come to the end of the Biden-Harris Administration now, I mean, here's the special report that's just put out today by the economist magazine. The title is, quote, "the American economy, the envy of the world."

This is a multiday special report that's coming out now from The Economist. Here's the first installment in this multipart series that's just out today. Quote, "the American economy has left other rich countries in the dust."

That's the American economy at the end of the Biden-Harris Administration. […] The Biden-Harris economy has not only left every other rich l country in the world in the dust, it has left the record of the Trump Administration in the dust. Right?

Literally, what they're calling a dream economy. The best job market in the history of the United States. That's what Biden, the Biden-Harris Administration has done in their management of the U.S. economy. So, is that what you're basing your business decision on? […]