This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The American economies under President Donald Trump, and then under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, have been put on a scale side-by-side, and a report from the Washington Examiner suggests there's a clear winner.
"It's difficult to compare the Trump and Biden economic track records because of the unique circumstances created by the pandemic. But it appears that, on balance, voters do not hold Trump responsible for the hardships created by the COVID-19 shutdowns — but they do blame Biden for the high inflation of the past few years," the report said.
The report explained, "For much of Biden's presidency, consumer sentiment was as bad as it was during the worst days of the Great Recession following the 2008 financial crisis, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. Over the course of his tenure, the sentiment index has averaged just under 81%. By comparison, it averaged nearly 93% under former President Donald Trump — even though Trump presided over the pandemic recession. Now, it's no mystery why the public isn't happy about the economy or Biden's record: Prices have risen 20% since he came into office. The spike in inflation on his watch will define his economic legacy."
In fact, one assessment of the American economy by independent economists suggested the real inflation under Biden-Harris has been 25%. And Harris, now the Democrat nominee for president, has confirmed she can think of nothing she would have done differently from Biden, and would continue his policies.
First, there have been some positive notes out of the Biden-Harris regime, the report said, although the numbers are impacted by the COVID catastrophe, the China-born virus that decimated the economy at the end of Trump's term, allowing job recovery to make its mark during Biden's.
Average annual real gross domestic product growth was 1.85% under Trump; 3.24% under Biden-Harris.
Jobs lost under Trump totaled 2.7 million, the effect of the pandemic; growth under Biden was 15.8 million.
But outside of those two categories, there's little good news for Biden.
The S&P 500 was up 65% under Trump, 48% under Biden.
Inflation, measured by the CPI, was 7.7% under Trump, 19.9% under Biden.
Grocery prices were up 6.5% under Trump; 21% under Biden.
The price of gasoline was $2.41 under Trump; $3.37 under Biden.
Housing costs rose 11.5% under Trump; 23% under Biden.
Mortgage rates were 3.9% under Trump; 5.4% under Biden.
The report noted the pandemic was "a big part" of the GDP assessment.
Excluding the pandemic years gives Trump a GDP rate of 2.82%, while Biden's would be 2.26%.
And regarding job creation, "The job losses during the Trump era were largely temporary separations caused by pandemic disruptions. Similarly, much of the job growth during Biden's tenure was simply people rejoining their employers as the economy began reopening," the report said.
One way of balancing the assessments, the report is to look at the total employment rate.
"Before COVID-19, the employment rate rose throughout Trump's term, which is probably a major factor in voters' positive memories of that time. The employment-to-population ratio hit 61.1% in February 2020, on the eve of the pandemic, the highest such rate since the 2008 financial crisis. Under Biden, the ratio has come close but never regained that level, maxing out at 60.4% in November of last year," the report said.
On inflation, the report said, "The bottom line is that it appears that, pandemic aside, inflation-adjusted income growth was strong under Trump and has also been strong under Biden — but some people have been left behind as prices have soared."
It added, "To sum up, then: By this measure [of disposable income], households did very well in the Trump years and then found themselves surprisingly flush during the pandemic. The stimulus-induced highs of the COVID era waned under Biden, but the trend has otherwise been almost exactly the same as it was under Trump, even accounting for inflation."
And it explained, "Prices were much more stable under Trump than Biden. This is probably the factor that has hurt Democrats more than anything."
While inflation has receded under Biden, "But families and voters don't care about the rate of inflation in a given month. They care about the fact that they're paying more at the grocery store and gas pump and that the costs of some big-ticket items, such as houses and cars, have soared during the time Biden has been in office."
And Biden's green agenda has pushed energy prices overall up nearly 30%, to the 2.3% increase under Trump.
