President Biden and White House officials have frantically scrambled to downplay Americans' economic concerns on inflation and gas prices as the midterm election quickly approaches.
Over the last few weeks, the White House has suggested the U.S. is in the midst of a "historic" economic recovery, that the narrative gas prices are high is false and that the economy is set for a "soft land," not a recession.
Biden and his top advisers have also touted Democrats' big-spending packages on infrastructure and climate as key measures boosting economic productivity and blunting record price increases.
"Today we got further evidence that our economic recovery is continuing to power forward," Biden said in a statement on Thursday after the Department of Commerce published a key economic report. "This is a testament to the resilience of the American people. As I have said before, it is never a good bet to bet against the American people."
"Even with our historic economic recovery, gas prices are falling – down $1.26 since the summer, and down over the last three weeks," he continued.
The Commerce Department report Thursday showed U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 2.6% during the third quarter, the period from July to September. The GDP had shown negative growth during the first two quarters of the year.
Also in response to the report, Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, retweeted a post from Mark Zandi, an economist at the firm Moody's Analytics, who argued the GDP growth was evidence a recession was less likely.
"Last week’s data suggest that the economy is on script to soft land. GDP posted a solid gain in Q3, further dispelling concerns we have suffered a recession," Zandi wrote. "And while GDP has gone nowhere this year despite the Q3 gain, that’s what’s needed to quell inflation without a recession."
Biden also told reporters the economy is "strong as hell" and downplayed inflation concerns when speaking to reporters on Oct. 16. A week later, Klain characterized economic concerns as "noise."
However, many economists, including a majority recently surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, believe the U.S. has already entered a recession or will likely soon enter a recession. And economists polled by The Wall Street Journal in mid-October said there was a 63% chance of a recession within the next 12 months.
Economists argued the positive GDP numbers Thursday signaled poor economic conditions.
"Conditions continue to deteriorate and all the indicators that I follow are pointing in the wrong direction," Heritage Foundation research fellow E.J. Antoni told FOX Business in an interview.
"The idea of a soft landing is complete nonsense at this point," he continued. "If you look at, for example, new orders, they continue to deteriorate. The latest report was out of the Texas Federal Reserve this morning and that shows, again, that new orders continue to deteriorate. So, businesses are working through backlogs from the pandemic and as soon as that's gone, the party's over."
Antoni noted that the GDP report last week was only positive due to a temporary spike in net exports. He said the figure was driven higher because Americans are consuming less due to higher prices and, therefore, importing fewer goods.
"I would say the Biden administration's talking point on the economy is ‘never let the facts get in the way of their political spin.’ It is absolutely astounding how they can proclaim one thing from the podium when Americans are feeling the exact opposite," Antoni added.
In addition, the White House has cheered gas price declines and Biden falsely said last week that the average price of gasoline when he entered office was $5 per gallon.
However, the average price of gasoline nationwide was $2.39 a gallon on Jan. 25, 2021, roughly 48% of what Biden claimed it was, according to the Energy Information Administration. The current average pump price nationwide sits at $3.76 per gallon, 57% higher than when Biden took office, according to AAA data.
The president, though, has largely blamed gas price increases on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Middle Eastern nations' decision to cut back on oil production. Antoni argued gas prices would be lower if Biden had pursued former President Trump's policies on energy production.
"I would love to know how Russia canceled construction of American pipelines or how Russia raised taxes on American oil and gas producers," he told FOX Business. "Or how Russia prevented drilling leases on American federal lands. All of that was done by the Biden administration and all of that has driven up prices."
Finally, the White House has sought to also paint Republicans as extreme ahead of the election. For example, Biden has argued that Republicans are "coming after Social Security" and Medicare.
But the comments, which are based on a plan set forth by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., mischaracterize GOP economic plans. Scott and other top Republican lawmakers have denied they want to end the popular welfare programs.
"No one that I know of wants to sunset Medicare or Social Security, but what we’re doing is we don’t even talk about it," Scott recently said.
"Medicare goes bankrupt in four years. Social Security goes bankrupt in 12 years. I think we ought to figure out how we preserve those programs. Every program that we care about, we ought to stop and take the time to preserve those programs."
One week from the midterm elections set for Nov. 8, the economy, inflation and gas prices continue to be major concerns for voters.
