President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, both claimed strong economic performance during their terms and blamed each other for painful inflation during a debate held before the November 5 election.
"He performed poorly, and inflation is destroying our country, absolutely destroying us," said Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021. During his term, Trump stated, "Everything was very good."
Biden attributed the peak inflation rate of 9% two years ago, now reduced to 3.25%, to Trump's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and corporate greed.
"The economy collapsed under Trump's watch," Biden said. When he took office, "we had to try to piece everything back together."
The massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 has made it difficult to compare the economic records of the two rivals.
But one thing is clear—during Biden's term, inflation has been significantly higher compared to the Trump era. Under Trump, there was not a single month when consumer price inflation exceeded 3%, and most of the time, the Federal Reserve, responsible for maintaining price stability, was concerned about inflation being too low.
During Biden's term, inflation has remained above 3% except for his first three months in office, and for more than half of his term, inflation surpassed 5%.
Higher prices have caused significant damage: despite wage increases, American workers' weekly take-home pay buys less than it did when Biden took office in 2021.
