US President Joe Biden touted his administration’s economic record and warned against a revival of Republican “trickle-down economics” during Donald Trump’s second term in what could be his last speech on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Tuesday.
In his speech, which came a month after an election defeat for Democrats fueled by voters’ concerns about inflation, Biden argued that his efforts to increase investment in infrastructure, construction and underserved communities averted a major economic crisis and laid the groundwork for continued growth. .
“Most economists agree that the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy,” Biden said. “It is my deepest hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress.”
Biden boasted that his administration had taken a new approach after decades of trickle-down economics that first benefited wealthy Americans, and was now growing the economy from “the middle out and the bottom up” to benefit the middle class.
He acknowledged that American workers are still struggling with inflation and high housing prices.
Biden highlighted the creation of 16 million jobs, the most of any president in office, the lowest average unemployment of any administration in 50 years, and the smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years.
He faulted Trump’s first administration for failing to develop a plan to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and said Republican moves to cut taxes, offshore jobs and destroy unions have put the economy in a difficult spot and worsened the U.S. fiscal outlook.
Biden warned against further tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations in a second Trump term, and said Trump’s promise to tax foreign goods could be a “huge mistake.” He added that he thought Trump would have trouble ending the investments made under his administration, as they benefited many Republican-led states and Democratic-led ones.
The speech echoed Biden’s message during his aborted 2024 election campaign, which Vice President Kamala Harris continued after he left, though neither was able to win over voters affected by high food and housing prices.
Despite the strength of key economic indicators and inflation falling to 2.4% from a peak of more than 9% two years ago, voters punished Democrats and handed Republicans control of both the White House and the US Senate and House of Representatives.
Investment banks expect Trump’s return to the White House to boost investment banking revenue globally next year to $316 billion, a deal-making revival that could grow by about 5.7 percent in 2024. But economists have warned that the Republican promise of higher tariffs could reignite inflation. While additional tax cuts could increase the already high US deficit.