Our readers are well aware that one of MRC Business’s biggest pet peeves has been the extent to which the leftist media went to bat for the insanity of Bidenomics the past four years. But The Washington Post’s pseudo-conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin is arguing like they just discovered its made-up stroke of genius yesterday.
“Surprise! The media just discovered Bidenomics works,” railed Rubin in yet another senseless screed published Jan. 9. “Trump is getting a strong economy. If only the media had explained the Biden economic achievements,” Rubin whined, as if simping for Bidenomics wasn’t exactly what the media have been doing throughout President Joe Biden’s entire term, including her own newspaper. Was she living under a rock this whole time?
Her delusional reference to “Biden economic achievements” is also nothing short of laughable, given the inflation-laced nightmare Biden’s policies stimulated in the first place and is still reverberating throughout the U.S. economy.
One of the examples she used to support her premise was New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker’s insulting Jan. 5 news item, which bloviated how the Biden economy was supposedly great whether voters knew it or not. Then came the kicker from Rubin: “Gosh, you are not alone if you are wondering where such upbeat reporting has been for the past few years.” Is she serious?
It’s too bad NewsBusters Media Editor Bill D’Agostino already did an extensive compilation in January 2024 of media talking heads doing the very mindless Bidenomics fangirling Rubin claimed was lacking during Biden’s presidency, completely blowing up her argument.
The above video compilation makes the following statement from Rubin claiming that the media had a "negative news bias" on Bidenomics look completely ridiculous:
There are several explanations for why we did not have coverage commensurate with the success President Joe Biden enjoyed. The news media’s fixation on polls showing what voters thought about the state of the economy and its negative news bias (which I have written about) that refused to give proper weight to Biden’s successes failed to give voters an accurate picture of Biden’s achievements. And yet now, somehow, with the election over, the media widely acknowledges that Biden’s record is strong, something they downplayed during the election, [emphasis added.]
Really? Is that why Politico had the utter temerity to claim in October 2024 that Biden’s arbitrarily appointed 2024 successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, was riding a so-called “dream economy” into the election? The leftist media were doing everything they could to hoodwink Americans into believing that Bidenomics was the best thing since chocolate milk right before the election. But if you’re a talking head like Rubin who’s spent the past four years trying to drag Bidenomics over the finish line, living in La-La-Land is common practice for those completely out of touch with reality.
But Rubin wasn’t finished: “Overall, the Biden record is impressive, especially in light of the recession and pandemic he inherited.” Of course, none of the statistics Rubin cited were much different from the devoid-of-context White House talking points being regurgitated by the leftist media, such as the supposedly stellar jobs market, GDP growth, or that the U.S. economy is the envy of the world.
Here are a few points. A recent analysis by The Economist found that of the economic performances of 37 “mostly rich” countries in 2024, the U.S. was ranked a ridiculous 20th overall. As National Review senior political correspondent Jim Gereghty noted,”in what can at best be called a very mixed bag — ranking ninth among the 37 countries in GDP, fourth in stock market performance, 23rd in inflation, 29th in change in unemployment rate over the past year, and 31st in estimated deficit growth compared to GDP.” Not exactly flying colors, to say the very least.
Much of the economic growth Rubin is slobbering over is being bolstered by a massive government debt bomb. In other words, it’s easy for an economy to feel artificially energetic when it's running on the equivalent of a massive sugar high. Economist Daniel Lacalle wrote in a Nov. 17 column, “Anyone who has delved into the supposedly solid headline figures can clearly see the real weakness of the U.S. economy.” Specifically, Lacalle added, “An unsustainable increase in government spending and federal debt bloated the official GDP, making gross domestic income significantly weaker than headline GDP.”
America is also in the midst of battling a major labor shortage, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pointed out in a Dec. 13 report. “Even if every unemployed worker were to fill an open job within their respective industry, there would still be millions of unfilled job positions, highlighting the widespread labor shortage,” the Chamber summarized.
Also, more than half of Americans are struggling to pay bills and save money in the Biden economy due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Rubin even conceded this, but outrageously spun that this as only damaging public perceptions about the economy, “(which in turn got amplified to the exclusion of ‘good news’ by the media).” Yes, she actually wrote that.
NewsBusters Media Editor Bill D'Agostino contributed to this report.
