President Joe Biden is mocking his predecessor for focusing on stock market records that occurred during his tenure.
During an event at the White House on Friday, Biden touted the job gains during his young presidency. He also noted that the stock market notched several records since he took office.
“I wanna hold here for just a second,” Biden said. “There have been so many records the stock market has hit under my presidency.”
He continued to take a swipe at former President Donald Trump, “Imagine if the other guy was here. ‘We’re doing great. It’s wonderful. The stock market is surging. It’s gone up higher under me than anybody.’ But that doesn’t mean that it’s the best for the economy.”
Watch the video below:
.@POTUS: "There have been so many records the stock market has hit under my presidency. Imagine if the other guy was here. 'We're doing great… The stock market is surging. It's gone up higher under me than anybody.' But that doesn't mean that it's the best for the economy." pic.twitter.com/EYTaLhPu9l
— The Hill (@thehill) September 3, 2021
Biden acknowledged that the August jobs report was lower than expected and blamed the delta variant for the slowing job gains.
“There’s no question the delta variant is why today’s job report isn’t stronger,” he said, adding, “I know people were looking, and I was hoping for a higher number. But next week, I’ll lay out the next steps we’re going to need to combat the delta variant to address some of those fears and concerns.”
The latest jobs report found that employers added 235,000 jobs in August, short of the expected 750,000.
Still, Biden claimed, “This jobs report shows the steps we’ve taken, passing the rescue plan and vaccinating 175 million people, make our economy capable of growing and adding jobs even in the face of this growing delta surge.”
Additionally, he urged Congress to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and a $3.5 trillion spending bill to help the economic recovery continue.
Throughout his presidency, Trump repeatedly focused on stock market gains. During a town hall event with ABC News in Oct. 2020, Trump said, “Look, we’re having a tremendous thing in the stock market, and that’s good for everybody, but people that aren’t rich own stock and they have 401(k)’s.”
However, Edward Wolff, an NYU professor, told CNN Business, “Holding up the stock market as the barometer for how the middle class is doing is totally erroneous — and very misleading.”
According to the Pew Research Center, just 52% of Americans have an investment in the stock market, most of which are 401(k)s, and 14% are directly invested.
