Tipsheet

Biden's Biggest SOTU Lies Debunked

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  March 08, 2024 2:00 PM

"This is a moment to speak the truth, to bury lies," President Joe Biden declared Thursday night during his State of the Union address.

Then, the president proceeded to do nothing but lie before the nation. Biden's deceitful 2024 SOTU address was filled with so many falsehoods it may have broken a Guinness World Record for the number of lies told within an hour.

Here's a breakdown debunking Biden's biggest lies he told while addressing America:

Inflation

Biden took a victory lap on the reduced year-over-year inflation rate: "Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3%."

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While inflation did decline from a high of 9.1 percent in June 2022 to 3.4 percent by the end of 2023, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor (BLS) statistics, inflation soared to new heights during Biden's three years in office, spiking to its highest level in 40 years. 

Overall, consumer prices are up nearly 18 percent throughout Biden's time in the White House. Thirty-five months into Biden's presidency, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 17.6 percent, the worst inflation seen in four decades. As aforementioned, the 12 months ending in June 2022 saw a 9.1 percent increase in the CPI, which the BLS said was the largest 12-month increase since November 1981.

Also, Biden's said it's "the lowest in the world!" The U.S. does not rank No. 1 internationally in terms of managing inflation.

In December 2023, seven countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had lower inflation rates than the United States. Canada, Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and South Korea, per OECD data, outranked us.

Wages

Biden claimed that "wages keep going up" and "inflation keeps coming down."

In actuality, with inflation high overall, wages aren't keeping pace.

Over the entirety of Biden's presidency, wages are down when adjusted for inflation. Average weekly earnings for regular workers went up 14.8 percent during Biden’s first three years in office, according to monthly BLS figures. However, inflation ate up all that gain and more. Meanwhile, "real" weekly earnings, which are adjusted for inflation, actually declined 3.1 percent since Biden entered office.

The Federal Deficit

"I've already cut the federal deficit by over one trillion dollars," Biden declared.

It's his go-to boast he loves to repeat ad nauseam: the declining deficit, which he distorts to paint as a personal achievement.

The deficit (when the federal government's spending exceeds its revenues a.k.a. the difference between) did decrease by $1.4 trillion between 2021, when Biden assumed office, and 2022. It was a notable reduction over a one-year span than previous periods. However, as Townhall previously debunked, the decline is due largely to a phasing-out of pandemic-era relief programs.

Biden's regurgitated remarks omit important context. The deficit started staggeringly high because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Trump's fourth year, the deficit swelled to $3.13 trillion because of the government's aggressive response. It fell slightly to $2.78 trillion by the time Biden took over. Then, the drastic drop happened in 2022 ($1.38 trillion) as pandemic-related spending was expected to expire. Biden swiftly took credit. The non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a budgetary watchdog group, estimated that 100 percent of Biden's 2022 deficit decline can be explained by expiring or shrinking COVID relief.

Still, the deficit is higher on Biden's watch compared to pre-pandemic levels. The deficit in 2022 and 2023 ($1.7 trillion) under Biden's administration was higher than in each of Trump's first three years ($666 billion in 2017, $779 billion in 2018, and $984 billion in 2019), thanks to costly Bidenomics bills like the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a pandemic package. Budget hawks say once the relief lapsed, the deficit would've fallen much more "had President Biden come to office and not done anything."

Jobs Creation

Biden bragged he added "15 million new jobs in just three years—a record, a record!"

The coronavirus pandemic is why the U.S. economy was on the brink, causing unemployment to dramatically rise and forcing workers home. From January 2021 to January 2024, the U.S. technically added 14.8 million jobs, according to a BLS timeline.

But, as Townhall has repeatedly demonstrated, jobs were already being added back to America's beleaguered economy. After significant job losses in the 20 million range, a self-congratulatory Biden greatly benefited from the re-opening of the pandemic-hit country and the natural return of the workforce. This jobs recovery process began during former President Donald Trump's administration, but because Trump's tenure ended only eight months into the economic revival cycle, most of the job gains accrued under Biden.

Left-leaning Urban Institute's economics analyst John Buhl told Check Your Fact that much of Biden's job performance is attributable to the pandemic ending, specifically "a very, very, very, large chunk. Probably at least 90% maybe more than that."

"This is literally evidence that Biden was handed something on a golden platter," American Action Forum's president Douglas Holtz-Eakin told PolitiFact, adding: "This recovery from a deep recession would have happened no matter who was president."

Consumer Confidence

Biden exaggerated the "soaring" state of consumer confidence, which measures the degree of optimism consumers have regarding the overall status of the nation's economy. "Consumer studies show consumer confidence is soaring," Biden said.

Well, it depends on whose measuring.

Measured by the University of Michigan's survey, U.S. consumer confidence has climbed sharply since hitting an all-time low (51.5) in the summer of 2022, when inflation reached the four-decade high of 9.1 percent. It was the lowest reading on record. The last time that figure fell that far was May 1980 (51.7). The skyrocketing inflation under Biden weakened consumer sentiment. Inflation slowing down has helped confidence pick up again. But, the rating under Biden "remains lower than it was for four of the past five presidents at the same point in their tenures," PolitiFact reported. For more than two years through December 2023, the survey's score was lower than it was in April 2020, a bad look for Biden given that the economy back then was ravaged by the lockdowns.

Biden did score higher on the Conference Board's consumer conference survey. However, the non-profit's Consumer Confidence Index fell in February to 106.7, down from a revised 110.9 in January. February's descent in the index occurred after three consecutive months of gains. The dips in current conditions (Present Situation Index, which is based on consumer assessment of business and labor market conditions, fell to 147.2 from 154.9) and short-term expectations (a slippage to 79.8 from 81.5) "halt rising optimism." The Expectations Index reading below 80 "often signals recession ahead," the research organization says.

Bonus B.S.

Biden, a self-proclaimed constitutional scholar, said he "taught the Second Amendment for 12 years!"

In another speech, Biden called himself "a Second Amendment guy" who extensively taught the right to bear arms. It's a false claim of authority to push for greater gun control. Biden is no 2A expert; he's never instructed anyone on constitutional law.

Though he was paid over $900,000 by the University of Pennsylvania, Biden never taught a single class there.

UPenn gave Biden an honorary professor position post-vice presidency, which The Philadelphia Inquirer reported as "a vaguely defined role that involved no regular classes and around a dozen public appearances on campus, mostly in big, ticketed events."

Biden wasn't making money for what he was bringing to the classroom or lecture hall. If anything, the Ivy League school was likely paying Biden for the prestige of associating with an ex-vice president and the ability to brag about it to big-money donors.

UPenn President Amy Gutmann admitted it as much when she announced Biden's appointment as "an ideal fit to further Penn’s global engagement." Biden was named the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor, a made-up title for a bogus gig.

UPenn's payments raised eyebrows among faculty members when Biden's earnings were revealed as part of financial disclosures for his 2020 presidential campaign. Biden collected $371,159 in 2017, plus $540,484 in 2018 and early 2019. The average salary for a UPenn professor was $217,411 in the 2017 - 2018 academic year, per the Chronicle of Higher Education.