President Joe Biden on Thursday used part of his State of the Union address on Thursday to try and convince voters the economy is getting better.
The president said more jobs are being created, wages are up and inflation has cooled.
All well and good. But we doubt he convinced many average American working people.
That's because those numbers, those stats, don't have much meaning in the real world.
More jobs? How many offer what most would consider a living wage and how many are low-paying service industry jobs? How many of those that do pay high wages are open to workers with no more than a high school education?
Wages are up? Well, that depends. In some high demand jobs, sure. But far too many Americans are still employed in jobs that barely pay the bills -- if there is enough to pay the bills at all. About 43% of all U.S. workers make under $15 an hour. They haven't seen their wages go up significantly -- certainly not enough to keep up with the higher cost of living.
Speaking of that: Inflation is cooling? That doesn't mean prices are going down, it just means prices are rising more slowly than in the past couple of years. Americans still spend more of their paychecks on food, fuel, rent and other essential than they did before the pandemic. And it doesn't look like there will be relief anytime soon.
Democrats say most of this is beyond Biden's control. And Republicans are quick to lay blame at Biden's door and say things are sure to get better if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Truth is there is no one person to blame, nor is there one person who can turn this around.
But, like the numbers showing the economy is recovering, that doesn't matter to a lot of struggling Americans. They want someone to blame and they want someone to give them hope.
And that may well be a dominant factor come election day in November.