I knew we couldn't go back to the same pale policies when I ran.
So I came into office determined and change the economic direction of this
country, to move from trickle down economics to what everyone on
Wall Street Journal or Financial Times began to call Bidenomics.
I didn't come up with a name, I really didn't.
I now claim it.
>> President Biden touted how the economy is performing under his leadership
during a recent speech in Chicago.
And what he really emphasized during the speech was his rejection of
trickle down economics.
Now before we do an analysis of how the economy is actually performing,
why don't we hear more from his speech and then we'll break it down.
>> Bidenomics is working.
When I took office, the pandemic was raging and our economy was reeling.
Supply chains are broken, millions of people unemployed, hundreds of thousands
of small business on the verge of closing after so many had already closed.
Literally hundreds of thousands on the verge of closing.
Today US has the highest economic growth rate leading the world
economies since the pandemic, the highest in the world.
Bidenomics is about building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up,
not the top down.
Vision is a fundamental break from the economic theory that has failed
America's middle class for decades now.
It's called trickle down economics.
Fundamental economics, trickle down.
The idea was, it's believed that we should cut taxes for the wealthy and
big corporations.
And I know something about big corporations.
There's more corporations in Delaware incorporated than every other state and
union combined.
I want them to do well, but I'm tired of waiting for the trickle down.
It doesn't come very quickly.
>> We should raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
That would be a great way of proving that you really are against trickle
down economics.
But nonetheless, to be fair, let's take a look at what the economy currently looks
like because there are some metrics you could look at that have certainly
improved since Biden took office.
The Conference Board said that consumer confidence this month reached
the highest level since January of 2022.
Unemployment stands near a historic low at 3.7%.
The inflation that has plagued Biden's presidency
has fallen to 4% from a peak of 9.1% last June.
So Jank, what are your thoughts on, okay, there's the politics of Biden giving this
speech and then there's the reality of what's transpiring with the economy and
the actual substance of his speech.
So comment on both.
>> I actually think there's a third factor too.
So first off, on the economy, I think it's doing pretty well and
I think that he deserves some credit for it.
3.7% is near historic record low in unemployment and that's just a fact.
And by the way,
it's also a fact that Trump did a pretty good job of bringing down unemployment.
For however much you give presidents credit for
the state of the economy, whether they're a Republican president like Trump, or
Democratic president like Biden, but Trump brought it from around 5% down to 3.7%.
Then during COVID obviously it spiked, and
then Biden brought it all the way back down to 3.7.
So that's a great number.
Obviously, inflation is not a great number, but
a lot of parts of the economy are booming.
That's point one, point two is I like that Biden is taking credit for it politically.
That's what you should do.
You should brag, I got a great economy.
I got a great economy.
He calls it by Bidenomics, I don't know or care who named it that.
If I was him, I'd say, yeah, goddamn right I named it, right, and I'd brag about it.
So check on both of those, good.
Now, the third branch is the problematic one, which is that he doesn't mean it,
that whole speech about trickle down economics is absurd because Biden is one
of the most conservative Democrats economically in American history.
That's not fair because there was the racist Dixiecrats,
but in my lifetime, okay, and so,
he has been in favor of trickle down economics for the past 50 years.
So how do I know that?
Because I know all the legislation that has been passed and
all the different things that happened.
For example, he helped Mitch McConnell make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
And those tax cuts, I've seen the number 94% going to the top 1% and
extreme, the most conservative number was.
So this is the best case scenario for Biden.
Two thirds of those tax cuts went to the top 20%, okay?
So the enormous majority of the cuts went to the richest people in the country,
and that cost us $3 trillion every ten years.
And that was Biden negotiating for Obama in 2013.
So don't tell me you're against trickle down economics when that's what you've
done your entire life.
>> Yeah, you're absolutely right about that.
So there are a few other things I wanted to just quickly mention in regard to
Biden's economy.
First off, look, I think it's important to also be fair, because if Donald Trump
were in office right now and we were talking about the unemployment rate,
we would of course mention that there's a massive population of people who
are unemployed, but they're no longer looking for work, right?
So that exists, and that is not calculated into that 3.7% unemployment rate figure.
>> Okay, that's fair, but it was never calculated in.
>> No, it was never calculated in.
But I just wanna be clear that that unemployment rate it doesn't give you
the full picture, but still, it's an incredibly low unemployment rate.
With that said, there are other issues.
Prices are still rising significantly faster than
the Federal Reserve's target of 2%, a worry for voters and a line of attack for
Republican lawmakers and other presidential candidates.
So inflation is still impacting workers.
We need to keep it real.
Wages have not kept up with inflation since the late 1970s,
and the current minimum wage is $7.25.
The federal minimum wage has not been updated since 2009.
It was implemented in 2009, but
it was the Bush administration that had raised the minimum wage last.
So that's just giving you a fuller picture.
There are other issues as well.
So for instance, if you look at the polling,
the majority of Americans do not have a favorable view of Biden's economy, and
it's because of what they're experiencing within their households.
Housing is still unaffordable and unattainable for many people.
They're dealing with that.
So all of those issues also play a role.
It's just that the metrics that the news media tends to look at,
the government tends to look at, has more to do with GDP,
has more to do with the stock market, the unemployment rate.
Yes, but there are other metrics that I think give you a more holistic picture of
how the economy is impacting ordinary Americans.
>> Okay, and if you're thinking, hey, wait.
Now you talk about Biden's record for the last 50 years, and
he's been very conservative economically, and he used to be known.
Remember how he just talked about the corporations in Delaware?
The credit cards are all based in Delaware, and an old credit card company
was called MBNA, and Biden used to be known as the senator from MBNA.
So he has helped these corporations and the very wealthy his entire career.
But you say, okay, Jenk, but wait a minute, let's be fair.
How about lately?
I mean, the economy is doing pretty well.
Maybe he did well as a president that defies rest of his record.
Well, let's take a look.
So remember, Trump brought down the top rate for corporations from 35% to 21%.
And Biden said, no, I'm gonna stick it to the man.
I'm gonna bring it before the average guy.
I'm gonna bring it back to 28%.
What do you mean bring it back to 28%?
It was at 35.
So already Biden's telling you, nah, I wanna make the tax cuts that Trump did for
corporations as permanent as possible, because if I solidify them at 28 as
a Democrat, they'll never move past that up, right?
And then Manchin goes, no, I don't wanna say 28% is right.
I think it should be 25%.
That's ten points slower than what it used to be before Trump, right?
And Biden goes, pretty good idea.
We'll see how we negotiate and compromise.
And they did.
And you know what it's at now?
21%, they didn't move it an inch.
And is Biden planning to change that?
I mean, gives a fiery speech about trickle down economics.
Is he gonna propose tomorrow, god damn it, I'll bring it back to 35%.
No, he's not even gonna try.
He's perfectly happy to have it at 21%.
He didn't lift a finger to change that.
And so understand, and this is a thing that if you watch mainstream media,
it'll blow you away.
This fact I'm about to tell you, politicians lie.
They lie all the time, including Democrats, okay?
If you watch mainstream media, you know that the republicans are liars,
and they are.
But the idea that a democratic leader like Joe Biden or
Nancy Pelosi might lie is heresy.
All he does is lie.
And the mainstream media assiduously hides the facts that we just shared with you.
They're facts.
You can look them up, but they never talk about them in regards to Joe Biden.
>> So full disclosure.
As I was researching and producing this story, I was planning on going after
Biden, intervening and preventing the rail workers from striking.
Remember, they were about to strike because they just wanted to secure some
paid time off to deal with family emergencies, medical emergencies,
things like that.
When the rail companies refused to do so, they were planning to strike,
but Biden got involved and prevented them from doing so.
Well, it turns out that behind the scenes, he continued pushing the rail
companies in order to secure paid time off for the rail workers.
And I read today, I wish that this was something that he actually marketed,
talked about, advertised, because he deserves credit for it.
He and his administration continued pushing the companies, and
they did in fact secure paid time off for the rail workers.
So he does deserve credit for that as well.
And I'm giving you that full disclosure because, again,
I planned on coming on the show today and going after him for that.
But he did continue pushing the rail companies to do the right thing.
>> So, guys, this is exactly what we're talking about when we say we don't live in
a black and white world.
So generally I'm deeply frustrated by Biden.
I think he's gotten way too much credit from the press,
which I think is totally absurd.
But having said that, look at what a mixed bag this is.
So are we supposed to pretend that the rail workers did not get the days off, but
they did, and Biden did help them behind the scenes.
>> That's right.
>> Biden's national labor relations board is actually really strong.
>> That's right. >> Okay, and
you gotta give him credit for that.
On the other hand, whenever anybody's threatening a mass strike,
the first guy out the door is Biden saying, don't do it, and
I will support the corporate point of view.
Well, what are you doing that for, right?
And regulations, he wouldn't regulate a business if his life depended on it.
So he has given corporations so much, and
I would argue all the bills were structured to help corporate donors.
So which one is it?
Do you guys hate Biden or do you love Biden?
>> It's complicated like every issue,
everything is far more nuanced and far more complicated.
I wish things were as simple as good, bad, black or white, but they're not.
>> So our job is to bring you things that are true.
And anyone who always lands on one side or another, whether it's a person,
a politician that they're analyzing or a policy that they're analyzing,
they always land on one side or another, that shows you they're not being honest.
I don't like Biden, so I'm only gonna tell you the negative things about Biden.
I like Biden, I'm only gonna tell you the positive things about Biden.
No, he has both.
And if everybody was honest in media, you would know both.
>> Now, I do wanna give you the exact numbers in the polls regarding how
Americans actually feel about Biden's economic accomplishments.
This is a poll that was done by AP, The Associated Press, and NORC.
So apparently one in three US adults approve of his economic leadership.
That 34% figure is even lower than his overall approval rating of 41%,
and that's according to the survey by The Associated Press and
NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Overall just 30% of US adults say they think the national economy is good,
which is up slightly from the 25% who said so just last month.
And when you look at the Democratic base specifically,
pretty significant chunk of the Democratic base is unhappy with the economy,
although the majority of Democrats are happy with it.
So 72% within his party say they approve of his handling of the job overall,
but just 60% say they approve of his handling of the economy.
So I think that what explains that more than anything is how inflation,
especially in regard to housing, in regard to everyday goods that people need,
that is what is probably impacting their opinion of Biden's economy.
But to say that he's done nothing good, I think would be a lie.
It is a mixed bag, and
I hope we did a decent job kind of explaining all that for you.