Like most politicians, Joe Biden has gotten quite good at deflecting responsibility while at the same time taking credit for anything good he possibly can. Thankfully, not everything he claims can be backed up by reality or hard-core facts.
A perfect example of this came to us on Saturday when Biden’s X account proclaimed the good works of the American economy, undoubtedly tooting his own horn and insinuating that he has done well in handling our nation’s finances.
The only problem with his claim is that, well, just a day later, the very thing he was boasting about took a major hit.
The post written by Biden, or more likely some intern or staff member, proclaimed, “Good news for folks as we start the weekend. The stock market going strong is a sign of confidence in America’s economy.”
Good news for folks as we start the weekend. The stock market going strong is a sign of confidence in America’s economy. https://t.co/3nnSiVWOYP
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 10, 2024
And usually, I’d agree. A strong stock market usually means the economy is doing well, or at least people are confident enough to still be investing.
However, as Fox Business pointed out, it can also be a sign of a “hotter than expected inflation report” when looking at specific days.
Biden, or whoever, was commenting on the fact that the S&P 500 had closed above 5,000 for the first time ever. It was also the fifth straight week of wins for the market performance measuring index.
But as anyone with even a slight head for economics knows, one day or even a couple of weeks of wins doesn’t necessarily mean a strong economy.
That was proven on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the index most cited when talking of market performance, falling a whopping 524 points in a single day. If you weren’t aware of current averages, this fall erased almost half of all the wins Biden was so clearly bragging about.
And the S&P 500 wasn’t without its hits either, losing 1.4 percent of its value on that same day.
It’s important to point out here that this wasn’t just one or two major sectors involved either. All 11 were hit, although financials, real estate, and utilities were hardest hit.
As Yahoo reported, inflation has been cooling for a while now.
This has given investors the assumption that things are slowly getting better for the American economy, which, as Biden said, has, in fact, instilled some “confidence” in the economy – hence the recent stock market wins.
However, assumptions will only get you so far. So, when January’s inflation report showed that while it is “cooling,” it’s doing so at a much slower rate than anticipated, it got people worried. Worried enough to sell off stock at record rates.
Now, to be clear, Biden has no real control over the stock market. However, it is thanks to him that inflation is up, as are interest rates. And that means people are treating the stock market differently.
So much for Biden’s claim of confidence in the economy…
