Under Biden, US economy surpasses goals set by Trump

Not since “The Karate Kid” was playing in movie theaters and Wendy’s introduced its “Where’s The Beef?” ad campaign, has the U.S. economy seen such rapid growth.

America’s real gross domestic product, a snapshot of a country’s economic output, increased by 6.9% in the last quarter of 2021, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The average GDP was 5.7% during President Joe Biden’s first year in office — the fastest economic growth the country has seen since 1984.

“The GDP numbers for my first year show that we are finally building an American economy for the 21st Century, with the fastest economic growth in nearly four decades, along with the greatest year of job growth in American history,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday. “And, for the first time in 20 years, our economy grew faster than China’s.”

This week’s report confirmed that the country is seeing faster job growth under Biden than under the last three Republican presidents combined, according to Simon Rosenberg, founder of the liberal think tank NDN.

When he was in office, President Donald Trump often boasted about stimulating “the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America.” In reality, Trump oversaw the worst drop in real GDP in American history, largely because of his administration’s botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump once bragged about 3% growth, calling it “one of the great gifts to the middle-income people that they’ve ever gotten for Christmas.”

“The economy now is at 3%,” he told reporters in 2017. “Nobody thought it would be anywhere close. I think it could go to 4, 5, and maybe even 6%, ultimately.”

Trump’s prediction did ultimately come true — under a Biden presidency.

President Barack Obama also surpassed Trump’s quarterly growth rates, reaching a quarterly rate of 5.2% in the middle of 2014.

The U.S. added more than 6 million jobs during Biden’s first year in office. Trump, by contrast, presided over the loss of nearly 10 million jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the 42 million jobs created since 1989, almost all of them — a staggering 95% — have been added during Democratic presidencies, Rosenberg added.

Whether it’s real GDP, employment, stock prices, or income, nearly every economic indicator reveals what Trump himself admitted to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in 2004: “The economy does better under the Democrats.”

Behind 2021’s robust economic recovery is Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which sent $1,400 relief checks to most Americans, expanded unemployment benefits, and invested in state and local governments, small businesses, and health care.

A December report from the Roosevelt Institute found that the American Rescue Plan spurred massive job growth while protecting the economy from the pandemic’s worst effects.

Democrats in Congress passed the measure last March, over the opposition of every Republican in Congress. Since then, some of the same Republican lawmakers who voted against the American Rescue Plan have taken credit for the public projects it funded.

“It’s amazing how Democrats are creating economic growth and didn’t have to hand out trillions in tax cuts to big corporations and the wealthy!” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) tweeted on Thursday. “Instead, we supported funding to open schools, get Americans vaccinated, and people back to work. Trickle-down economics is a myth.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.