In early 2012, as Barack Obama’s re-election campaign took shape, there was ample debate about the strength of the economic recovery. The Great Recession that the Democratic president inherited was over, but much of the country was still feeling its effects.
It was against this backdrop that Sen. Marco Rubio thought it’d be a good idea to pick a different kind of fight: Instead of saying that the recovery was too slow, the Florida Republican told voters that the recovery didn’t actually exist at all. “The bottom line is this president inherited a country with serious problems,” Rubio said, before adding that Democratic agenda “made everything worse.”
I remember this because on my very first day at MSNBC, I explained how utterly bonkers the GOP senator’s argument was. The economy was clearly and demonstrably bouncing back in early 2012, and there simply weren’t any metrics pointing to conditions being “worse.”
More than a decade later, we’re apparently stuck in a similar conversation. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina published this tweet late last week:
“Three years ago, our economy was thriving. Today, we’re all worse off under the Biden administration. America needs to get back to what works: energy independence, responsible spending, and freedom from government control.”
The good news is, the underlying question isn’t entirely subjective. President Joe Biden and his White House team insist conditions have improved, while Republicans such as Scott says Americans are “all worse off.” Who’s right? Let’s check.
Three years ago, the unemployment rate was 11%. Now it’s 3.7%.
Three years ago, the U.S. economy was shrinking. Now it’s growing.
On June 29, 2020, the S&P 500 index closed at 3,053.24. On June 29, 2023 — the day the South Carolinian published his missive — the S&P 500 index closed at 4,396.44.
We’re also seeing related progress in manufacturing and construction.
At this point, if the senator were reading along, he’d likely say, “But what about inflation?” It’s not an unreasonable point, but let’s also not forget that (a) inflation rates have shown significant improvements in recent months; and (b) compared to our peer nations in the G7, the United States has the lowest inflation and the strongest economic growth.
Ahead of Obama’s re-election race, Rubio was completely wrong to say the Democratic White House “made everything worse.” Ahead of Biden’s re-election race, Scott is equally wrong to say “we’re all worse off.”
