White House assesses state of US economy

It is better than it was a year ago, despite what the American public believes, Biden’s press secretary claimed

American consumers may feel gloomy about the US economy, considering the rampant inflation, but its state is actually better than it was only a year ago, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed during her regular press briefing on Tuesday.

She was commenting on the recent Wall Street Journal-NORC opinion poll, in which some 83% of people described the state of the American economy as “poor or not so good.” The number reflects general anxiety about gas prices and other necessities, but the country is “in a fundamentally different place compared to when the President took office and compared to this time a year ago,” the spokesperson told journalists.

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She countered the fresh data with a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve in October and November of last year, which showed 78% of American adults “doing OK” or better financially. The same report was mentioned by the president on Friday in his remarks about employment in the country.

The WSJ poll gave a less rosy picture of the financial circumstances of most Americans, with 35% saying they were not satisfied with them at all.

“What we’re trying to say, what I’m trying to say to you is that the economy is in a better place than it has been historically,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to the fact that the Federal Reserve started compiling its data in 2013 and that last year’s metric was the best so far.

She also said the Biden administration sympathized with the hardships of Americans and assured that it had “the best tools to make sure that we bring down inflation.”