For the second time in as many months, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a press briefing that the U.S. is now at a stronger point economically than it has been “in history.”
Jean-Pierre’s latest comment on the economy echoes her claim a month ago that the U.S. economy is doing better now than it has done historically. On Thursday afternoon, the press secretary referenced the unemployment rate and job growth in recent months, claiming those numbers prove the U.S. economy is strong, even as inflation and gas prices have hit record highs under President Joe Biden’s watch.
“When we look at where we are economically — and we are stronger economically than we have been in history,” Jean-Pierre said. “When you look at the unemployment numbers at 3.6%, when you look at the jobs numbers, more than 8.7 million of new jobs created, that is important.”
WOW: Karine Jean-Pierre actually just said, "We are stronger economically than we have been in history." pic.twitter.com/xbAcYpYfk2
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) July 7, 2022
In early June, Jean-Pierre made the same claim to reporters when she attempted to explain that the economic state of the U.S. puts it in a “good position” to address inflation.
“What I’m trying to say to you is that the economy is in a better place than it has been historically. And so we feel here at this administration, and other experts as well, is that we feel that we are in a good position to take on inflation,” Jean-Pierre commented.
The repeated affirmations from the Biden administration on the “strength” of the American economy have done little to quell the frustrations of the American people as inflation rips into their wallets and savings accounts.
The Daily Wire reported Tuesday that Americans continue to save at dismally low levels as inflationary pressures hit their wallets. The personal saving rate — the portion of disposable income Americans devote to savings — was 5.4% as of May, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Remaining below 6% for every month of 2022, the measure is far from the 7% to 9% seen over the previous decade.
Not only has inflation taken a toll on Americans’ savings accounts, but now more than 150 million Americans are having trouble saving at all and are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a June poll from LendingClub and PYMNTS.
The survey of more than 4,000 Americans showed that “consumers in all income brackets — including those who make more than $100,000 annually” — are devoting nearly all of their salaries to paying their expenses, with little to nothing left over for savings.
Biden has continued to deflect the blame for rising inflation and prices to corporate price gouging and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has even falsely claimed that inflation is “worse everywhere but here.”
“Under my plan for the economy, we’ve made extraordinary progress,” Biden said at an AFL-CIO labor conference in June. “And we put America in a position to tackle the … worldwide problem that’s worse everywhere but here: inflation.”
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.