Donald Trump has convinced many Americans that the economy is terrible, but a new analysis shows that's just as false as his election fraud claims that fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Many Americans are struggling economically, and inflation was indeed high two years ago, but the unemployment rate is low, inflation has dropped significantly, economic growth is strong and median household income is higher than in Trump's last year in office, wrote journalist and author Steven Greenhouse for The Guardian.
"If Donald Trump wins next week’s election, it would be the first time in U.S. history that a candidate wins based on such a huge lie – his falsehood that we have 'the worst economy ever,'" Greenhouse wrote. "The former president’s big lie has distorted the views of millions of Americans, wrongly convincing many that the US economy is in bad shape."
The country has added a record 18 million jobs under the Biden-Harris administration, including a five-decade high 700,000 factory jobs, and the stock market is hitting record numbers, but 62 percent of the public say the economy is in bad shape, versus just 38 percent who say it's in good shape.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court clears Virginia governor to purge voters days before election
"Trump’s repeated claim that today’s economy is the worst ever shows either an appalling ignorance of history or an appalling contempt for the truth," Greenhouse wrote. "The truth is that the economy was in far worse shape during Trump’s last year in office, when the unemployment rate soared to 14.8 percent during the pandemic, compared with 4.1 percent now. Moreover, there were many other times when the economy was in worse shape – it was worse during the 2008 recession under George W Bush, far worse during the 1980-81 and 1974-75 recessions, and catastrophically worse during the Great Depression of the 1930s."
Only 11.1 percent of Americans currently fall beneath the poverty line, about the same percentage as under Trump and just barely above the lowest point in 50 years, and while many bitterly remember the high inflation that started receding last year, wages have risen faster than inflation over the past two years, and real wages are higher than they were before the pandemic hit, and U.S. oil production has hit record levels.
"When Trump tells his MAGA crowds that today’s economy is the worst ever," Greenhouse added, "he’s taking everyone for an idiot."