topical.day

Trump Economy Beat Biden’s For All Americans, Economist Says

According to newly released Census Bureau data, all income groups in America advanced more during President Donald Trump’s first term than they did during the Biden administration.

Stephen Moore, a senior visiting fellow in economics at The Heritage Foundation, presented the unpublished data for the first time in an Oval Office presentation with Trump on Thursday. The data divided Americans into three groups: lower income (bottom 25% of earners), middle income (middle 50%), and upper income (top 25%).

“What I find fascinating about this, Mr. President, is every income group did better,” said Moore, displaying a chart showing the percentage gain that accrued on average in each income bracket.

Under President Joe Biden, the lower class, after adjusting for inflation, lost income over the course of four years. The middle-income earners stayed about the same. But the upper income earners did noticeably better, according to Moore.

“The rich were the only group that did better under Biden, which is ironic because Biden keeps saying he was trying to get rid of income inequality. He made income inequality worse, not better,” Moore said. “It was President Trump that reduced income inequality.”

The economist tallied the numbers in dollars, as well, showing that the lower income gained about $4,000 in annual revenue over Trump’s first term. The middle income gained about $6,400 in annual earnings, and the wealthiest earned $10,000 more a year from the start of Trump’s first term to its end.

The data takes into account the COVID pandemic, which hit at the end of Trump’s first term and caused a general dip in income.

In addition to data on income growth, Moore also showed graphs on Bureau of Labor Statistics data and median household income during Trump’s first months of his second term. In the first five months of Trump’s second term, the average household’s income has increased by an inflation-adjusted $1,174, Moore said.

Trump last week fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after the bureau, responsible for collecting and releasing jobs data on the U.S. economy every month, issued a significant downward correction this month on data for May and June.

“Revisions for May and June were larger than normal,” the agency said in a report issued August 1. “The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised down by 125,000, from +144,000 to +19,000, and the change for June was revised  down by 133,000, from +147,000 to +14,000.”

Moore supported Trump’s decision to fire the agency head, citing similar significant corrections that were made to jobs data under Biden, which Moore said showed “incompetence.” Trump, however, told Moore he believed the figures had been deliberately manipulated.

Read More Stories