The Wall Street Journal Warns Trump He Can’t Blame Biden for ‘Economic Malaise’
(Saul Loeb/Pool photo via AP)
The Wall Street Journal warned in a new editorial that President Donald Trump can’t blame his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the “economic malaise” recent reports indicate the country may be experiencing.
Under the sub-headline, “Blaming Biden and the Federal Reserve for slow growth won’t work forever,” the Journal observed that “President Trump finds vindication wherever he looks. So it’s no surprise that he blamed a big downward revision in job growth announced Tuesday on the Federal Reserve and Joe Biden,” before submitting that “He’d be wiser to see it as a warning about the current fragile labor market.”
After making note of significant downward revisions to job numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Journal argued that ” blaming Joe Biden for bad economic news won’t work as an excuse for much longer.”
The editorial board continued:
For more evidence of economic malaise, see the U.S. Census Bureau’s report released Tuesday on household income for 2024. Real median household incomes rose last year by a mere $1,040, which wasn’t statistically significant. Real median incomes for blacks fell $2,060.
The rich continued to do well, but most Americans treaded water. Real incomes among the top 5% increased by $11,500 on average last year (which notably doesn’t include capital gains), but barely budged for the bottom 50%. This is why Americans elected Mr. Trump: To lift real wages as he did during his first term with tax cuts and deregulation.
His border taxes and deportations are doing the opposite. Job growth stalled this summer amid his tariff barrage. The BLS establishment survey showed that an average of 27,000 jobs were created over the last four months. The number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million since April, more than half of whom said they want a job. The share of teens who are employed has fallen 2.1 percentage points since April, and they are usually the first let go when employers do layoffs.
“The Fed is likely to cut rates by 25 or perhaps even 50 points next week. But the President could do far more to help businesses, workers and consumers by dropping his anti-growth policies. He may have inherited a weak economy, but he’s in charge now,” concluded the influential center-right newspaper.
