It was exactly a year ago yesterday when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, and Democrats were eager to celebrate the measure’s anniversary. The party’s victory lap was understandable: The Inflation Reduction Act has been a success across multiple fronts.
Sen. Tim Scott, the only sitting senator in the Republicans’ 2024 presidential field, published a message to social media yesterday arguing that the Democrats shouldn’t be too pleased with their triumph:
“Today, President Biden is celebrating his Inflation Acceleration Act while Americans are living the truth: we’re all worse off today than we were one year ago. You can’t sugar coat [sic] reality.”
If the message sounds at all familiar, it’s because the South Carolinian has gone down this road before. As recently as late-June, Scott argued online, “Three years ago, our economy was thriving. Today, we’re all worse off under the Biden administration.”
This led to all kinds of fact-checking — from, among others, me — noting that the economy had improved dramatically between June 2020 and June 2023, and by bringing this up, Scott was helping promote a point that made Biden look better, not worse.
Soon after, the senator’s unfortunate missive was quietly deleted, which was probably for the best. There was no point in having a GOP presidential candidate inadvertently help remind the public about the Democratic incumbent’s successes on the nation’s most politically potent priority.
But now, evidently, Scott is giving it another try. Never mind that stuff he said about the economy being better off three years ago; the new pitch is that the economy was better off one year ago.
Except, that’s wrong, too.
The Republican senator didn’t point to any specific metrics, but it’s not difficult to review the basics. In August 2022, the available economic data showed the economy contracting slightly, while in August 2023, the latest data found the economy growing at a healthy clip.
In August 2022, the nation’s unemployment rate was 3.7%. While we don’t yet know the jobless rate for August 2023, the most recently available data shows an unemployment rate of 3.5%.
To the extent that the stock market is a metric that Republicans consider relevant, on August 17, 2022, the S&P 500 index closed at 4,274.04. As I type, the S&P 500 index stands at 4,404.30.
And what about inflation? Scott might’ve thought it was clever to publish an online message that described the Inflation Reduction Act as the “Inflation Acceleration Act,” but when Biden signed the legislation into law a year ago, the nation’s inflation rate was above 8%. Now it’s down to 3.2%.
At this point, some Republicans might push back, noting polls showing public dissatisfaction with the economic recovery. There’s some truth to that: Despite the encouraging data, and the lowest unemployment since the 1960s, public-opinion research continues to point to a discouraged public, with much of the population saying they’re not yet feeling real economic progress.
But as important as those attitudes are, the GOP senator didn’t reference perceptions. On the contrary, Scott wrote, “[W]e’re all worse off today than we were one year ago.” The Republican presidential hopeful characterized this as “the truth,” adding that people can’t “sugar coat” reality.
Perhaps not, but apparently people can mischaracterize reality for political purposes. By any fair measure, the economy is better off today than a year ago.
