President Joe Biden again struggled to defend the disappointing jobs numbers for August, promoting more taxes as a solution.
The United States economy only created 235,000 jobs in August, a disastrous number as analysts predicted as many as 740,000.
Biden acknowledged he was disappointed by the report but noted encouragingly the number was still positive.
“While I know some wanted to see a larger number today and so did I, what we’ve seen this year is continued growth month after month,” he said.
Biden blamed the Delta variant of the coronavirus for hurting the economy, as well as Americans who refused to get vaccinated.
The president inexplicably tried to compare the poor economic numbers of the coronavirus surge last winter, when the vaccine was not widely available, to the current disappointing jobs numbers.
“We are adding jobs, not losing them,” he said.
He also promoted his proposals to raise taxes in order to offer more entitlements to poorer Americans — such as free elderly care, free childcare, free preschool, and free college.
“We’re going to do it by leveling the playing field,” Biden said, saying corporations and the wealthy would be forced to pay more in taxes.
“The vast majority of Americans are struggling just to hang on,” he said, noting that the number of billionaires in American grew.
“They can afford to pay just a little bit more,” he said.
Chuckling, he noted the stock market was still setting records during his presidency.
“Imagine if the other guy was here,” he said, referring to former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly touted the stock market as a mark of success.
“That doesn’t mean that it’s the best for the economy,” Biden said.
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