It's no secret to American families that the state of the economy is poor. Each time they go through the grocery store checkout, stop for a fill-up at the gas station, or pay monthly energy bills Americans are confronted with the consequences of President Biden and Democrats' spending binge.
Still-rising inflation, reduced real wages, and the highest interest rates since early 2001 have made the economy a leading issue among voters who overwhelmingly disapprove of "Bidenomics." The White House denies all the economic pain felt by Americans, but the numbers don't lie. When data on Americans' economic health since Biden took office are put on a graph and compared to the Trump years, it's clear why these are "two charts the Democrats don't want you to see."
Published on Friday by the Wall Street Journal, the comparison of household wealth and stock market performance between the Trump and Biden years noted that Biden's recent bragging about the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 40,000 for the first time was a victory lap on a "superficially" strong economy:
As of Thursday’s close, the Dow is up 28% since [Biden] was inaugurated in January 2021—a respectable run. It is also slightly more than where the Dow was at the same point of Donald Trump’s presidency.
This, however, understates how well the market performed under Trump. At this point in his term, stocks had been nosediving as the economy shut down to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Once the federal government and Federal Reserve flooded the economy with money and businesses reopened, the Dow turned around and shot up, finishing Trump’s term up 57% from the inauguration date.
Yet, as WSJ reminds, the stock market doesn't tell the whole story about the status of average American households. The markets are just "one part" of a household's wealth and "their ownership is most concentrated among the wealthy." For a "better measure of financial health," the report looked at net worth, inclusive of "all assets, including stocks, bonds, cash and property, minus debts."
Comparing the first three years of both presidents, the incumbent has so far overseen a 19 percent increase in total household net worth compared to the 23 percent growth experienced in the first three years of the Trump administration.
But once inflation is factored in, net worth "was up just 0.7% through Biden's first three years, compared with 16% through Trump's first three years," WSJ noted. Absolutely brutal numbers for President "Build Back Better" Biden and the Democrats in Congress who enabled his spending binge that drove inflation to gut Americans' wealth-building.
These are two charts that the Democrats don't want you to see.
— Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) May 20, 2024
WSJ: "Adjusted for inflation, net worth was up just 0.7% through Biden’s first three years, compared with 16% through Trump’s first three years."
President Biden's agenda has destroyed the American Dream. pic.twitter.com/92ML7SocFT
Does that sound like an economy being built "from the bottom up and the middle out" to anyone? Of course not, which is why Biden's ratings on his handling of the economy are terrible.