🧵In debating the economy, Democrats get caught arguing in the box Republican and media set.

First, what matters is purchasing power (income relative to prices), not inflation. Purchasing power has been above 2019 throughout the Biden era. 1/

https://x.com/David_Charts/status/1857895171666465040

"Wages have outgrown inflation so you're better off" should have been the party line from the start. Too often, Democrats apologized for the price level, or talked about how the inflation rate was slowing. 2/

@RadioFreeTom Biden's first term was the most successful economically since the late 1960's. Wages, net worth, stocks, GDP and housing far outgrew inflation. The 3.6% unemployment rates in 2022 & 2023 were better than 2019 at 3.7%. Biden's job creation much faster no matter how it's sliced. @RadioFreeTom Source data for the graph.
fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_i…

🧵Monthly economic update, through the September data. We added a robust 254,000 jobs in Sept. We are now 6.8 million jobs above pre-pandemic peak, regained in June 2022. 1/ Job creation much faster under Biden than Trump, no matter how you slice and adjust it. Obama's 2nd term also had faster job creation than Trump pre-pandemic. 2/

🧵Immigration thread with talking points, supporting sources & graphics.
❌There is no border crisis.
⬆️Immigrants are boosting the economy to the tune of $65,000 per U.S. household over a decade.
❌There is no immigrant crime wave.
⚖️There is a court backlog to solve. 1/ CBO: Immigrants forecast to add nearly $65,000 per household to income and wealth over next decade, or $9 trillion in GDP. Why? Immigrant spending is our income. They also help reduce deficits, with $1 trillion more revenue. 2/
cbo.gov/publication/60…

🧵If the economy is your issue, then who has performed better, Trump or Biden? Let's exclude the pandemic years (2020-2021) from the analysis, which helps boost Trump's results vs. Biden.

Unemployment rate avg:
4.0% 2017-2019 Trump
3.7% 2022-2024 Biden ☑️ 1/ Monthly job creation, just averaging the numbers shown in the graph:

177,000/mo 2017-2019 Trump
271,000/mo 2022-2024 Biden ☑️ 2/

🧵Monthly economic update for the August data. First, a record 158.8 million were working, up 6.5 million from the pre-pandemic peak, regained in June 2022. We added 142,000 jobs in August. 1/ Job creation is faster under Biden than Trump, no matter how you adjust it. July '22 to present averages 247,000 jobs/month, faster than the 180,000 pre-pandemic for Trump. Adjusted for the preliminary benchmark, the 247k would be 216k. 2/

🧵A few recent slides comparing Democrats and Republicans on the economy. First, Biden has the lowest average unemployment rate of any president from LBJ to present. 1/ Since WW2, the unemployment rate has increased under every Republican president except Reagan measured start to end of term, and fallen under every Democrat but Carter, who had no net change. 2/

🧵To what extent has food industry "price gouging" happened? I'll explain & graph as we go, but here's the tl;dr: Companies that increased their gross margin rate on average 2020-2023 vs. 2019 could be considered gougers; sorted by $ impact on consumers. 1/ First, here's how the math works for each company; JNJ example shown. Sales and cost of goods sold (COGS) data from annual reports, the rest is math. Gross margin reflects pricing most directly, as opposed to net income after many other expenses are considered. 2/

🧵Monthly economic update for the July data. First, a record 158.7 million were working, up 6.4 million from the pre-pandemic peak, regained in June 2022. We added 114,000 jobs in July. 1/ Job creation under Biden has been faster than Trump, no matter how you slice it. Since we regained the pre-pandemic peak jobs level in June 2022, job creation has averaged 255,000/month under Biden, vs. 180,000/month pre-pandemic under Trump. 2/

🧵A few slides comparing Biden vs. Trump on the economy. First, Biden has the highest real hourly wages on avg of any president at $29.74/hr vs. $28.82/hr for Trump. Yes, workers have more purchasing power under Biden than Trump, despite inflation. Real=Infl-Adj. 1/ Biden also has the lowest unemployment rate on average of any recent president, at 4.11% vs. 5.01% for Trump. 2/

🧵Monthly economic review through the June data. First, about 6.3 million more were working in June than pre-pandemic. We regained peak employment in June 2022 and have set records monthly since. We added 206,000 jobs in June. 1/ No matter how you slice it, job creation has been much faster under Biden than Trump: 2/

🧵Let's go through a few of the ways Trump's economic agenda would damage the U.S. economy.

First, tariffs raise prices Americans pay. That is the point, to deter imports.

CBO estimated Trump's tariffs cost families about $1,300/year. But this next round would be bigger. 1/ Trump is proposing a 10% tariff across the board. We imported about $3 trillion in goods in 2023. So that's $300 billion, divided by ~130 million households = $2,300 per household. We can't just make that stuff overnight here, so people will be paying that indefinitely. 2/

🧵CNN released a transcript of the debate. Some observations. First, it's informative to put it in Word and highlight Trump's lies, which are nearly continuous. Here's an example on tariffs, a key plank of Trump's platform. 1/
cnn.com/2024/06/27/pol…
Trump did something Biden should learn from: On the economic question at the start, Biden struggled with a coherent message, while Trump said right away he presided over the best economy ever and spent what he had to. Biden lost the initiative immediately on the subject. 2/

🧵Monthly economic briefing, through May data. First, we're up 6.2 million jobs vs. pre-pandemic peak, which was regained June 2022. A record 158.5 million jobs were reported in May. A robust 272,000 net new jobs were added as the labor market boom continued. 1/ Job creation is much faster under Biden than Trump, no matter how you slice it. Job creation has averaged 390,000/month since Biden inauguration, and 269,000/month since the pre-pandemic peak jobs level was regained in June 2022. 2/

🧵So far, consumer sentiment under Biden has been about 27% below what historical economic conditions would predict on average; it was 0% different for Trump.

The Apr '24 sentiment score was 77, when conditions merited a 93, about a -16% difference.

I'll explain method. 1/ We need an equation relating historical economic conditions pre-pandemic to U of M sentiment. We can use the misery index (inflation + unempl) for conditions. I'm using 100 - Misery Index so both variables are positive. 2/

🧵Here are 12 economic talking points for President Biden and Democrats, with charts in the thread on each.

Repeat them so much you memorize them and share them often with our media and political friends! #1: We're 6 million jobs above the pre-pandemic peak.

🧵Monthly economic review for March data. First, record 158 million with jobs, setting new records monthly since June 2022, when pre-pandemic peak regained. Biden has fastest monthly job creation of any president in # terms, 400k from start and 275k from July 2022. 1/ The unemployment rate was a very low 3.8% in March, the 26th straight month below 4%, a more than 50-year record per CEA. The rate has averaged 4.18% under Biden, essentially tying him for first place with LBJ for lowest of any president 1964-present. 2/

🧵A collection of articles explaining how the economy does much better under Democratic presidents.

1. It's all the key measures.
2. It isn't close.
3. Conclusion same regardless of who controls Congress.

NYT 1/
nytimes.com/2021/02/02/opi… The Economist 2/
economist.com/united-states/…

🧵The Economist did a cover article on how great the U.S. economy is. First, real (infl-adj) GDP +8% vs. 2019, making "America...the only big economy that is back to its pre-pandemic growth trend." 1/
economist.com/briefing/2024/…
This strong growth happened with inflation falling, which economic theory says is unusual.

Why? Cushions" from the big deficits in 2020-2021 (e.g., excess savings still getting spent) and consumers & corporations who locked-in lower interest rates before hikes. 2/

🧵State of the Union economic briefing; the key facts you need about the economy. First, monthly job creation over 50% faster in 2023 than 2019, the most comparable pre-pandemic year. 1/
fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_i…
Unemployment rate averaged 3.6% in 2022 and 2023, both lower than pre-pandemic 2019. You have to go back to 1969 for a 3.5% year. 2/ fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_i…

🧵Biden vs. Trump on the economy. The relevant frame is 2023 vs. 2019 pre-pandemic, as 2020-2021 distorted (mostly in Biden's favor).

First, monthly average job creation is the most important measure of how the economy is doing. It was about 50% faster in 2023 than 2019. 1/ The unemployment rate averaged 3.6% in 2022 and 2023, vs. Trump's best 3.7% in 2019. You have to go back to 1969 for a year with 3.5% unemployment. Black unemployment was the lowest ever in 2023. 2/