Are You Better Off?

This is the only question you ought to ask yourself if you have not yet voted. Have you and your family been better off under Trump or under the Biden/Harris administration?

The Democrats would have you focus on what a disaster it would be to have Trump elected again. But you were there for his first term. President Trump was not a dictator, a Nazi, a tyrant, or a racist! After experiencing his presidency for four years, you have no reason to believe that his serving as the 47th President would be any different. They want you to focus on Trump’s attacks on Harris while disregarding the outrageous attacks Harris and her surrogates have leveled at Trump. Harris claims that he’ll be putting Democrat “enemies” in jail. The Democrats have sure done everything they can to do that to Donald Trump and many of those who served in his administration. They keep calling January 6th an “insurrection,” but the only person killed on that day was an unarmed Trump supporter. They tried the “Hate Trump” message in 2020. But that is when the Biden/Harris administration had no track record. Now, we can compare, and when you do, Trump shines!

So, back to the central question: were you and your family better off under Trump or Biden/Harris? Let’s start with the long-standing adage—“It’s the economy stupid!”

The economy remains a critical factor impacting voters, and, unfortunately for Harris, inflation has brought many Americans to their knees. Americans enjoyed relatively low inflation while Trump was in office. Consumer price growth peaked at 2.9% on an annual basis in June 2018, and subsequently fell to a low of 0.2% year over year in May 2020 as the Covid lockdowns took effect.

Inflation’s resurgence is the biggest economic story of the Biden/Harris years. The Covid pandemic, and the government’s response to it, supercharged price growth. The consumer price index hit a peak of nearly 9%, year to year, in June 2022. Inflation has since cooled to 2.4% based on September’s CPI reading. Still, the fact remains that inflation has cumulatively increased by nearly 20% during Biden’s presidency having a debilitating effect on so many Americans.

Americans’ ability to spend also informs their view of the economy. It’s no surprise, then, that many Americans feel they did better under Trump. Wage gains were low, but so was inflation. Average hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, rose 6.4% during Trump’s term.

While a tight labor market delivered significant wage gains for most Americans in recent years, high inflation during the Biden-Harris era restricted purchasing power. Workers saw real wage gains of only 1.4% from January 2021 through September 2024. Indeed, there were times during Biden and Harris’ tenure when wages didn’t keep pace with inflation, particularly when price growth accelerated in 2022.

A Wall Street Journal op-ed by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) chronicled the devastating impact of higher interest rates on purchasing new cars and a home. The interest rate on an average new car today is more than 8%, compared with about 5% in January 2021, increasing the cost of a 60-month loan by $726 a year. The average annual auto insurance policy cost $1,567 in 2021. By the end of 2024, it’s expected to hit $2,469. A year’s worth of gasoline that cost $995 in 2021 now runs $1,281. A family in 2021 paid on average $11,579 to own a new car and cover its associated costs for the year. Today, doing so costs $15,337 a year. The car price rose 17% but its total annual costs—financing, insurance, and gasoline—rose 32%.

According to the Cruz/Scott op-ed, home ownership is where families have suffered the most from the Biden-Harris inflation. In January 2021, the average home cost $303,900; in August 2024, that cost hit $416,700. With mortgage rates recently at 6.44% versus 2.77% in January 2021, the total cost of buying and financing a home has more than doubled—from $14,928 to $31,404 a year. Homeowner’s insurance that cost $1,966 annually in 2021 costs $2,499 today. The average annual electric bill was $1,464 in 2021; today it’s $1,868. In short, the cost of owning and living in a home rose from $19,119 a year in 2021 to $36,736 today. When you add the annual cost of owning a new car and home, your cost is 70% higher than it was four years ago.

But let’s not forget another important issue for voters. Let’s compare the results of both administration in securing the Southern Border and limiting the influx of illegal immigrants, criminals, and terrorists. Since Fiscal Year 2021, the Border Patrol has recorded more than 55,000 arrests of illegal aliens with criminal histories, compared to just around 22,000 from FY2017-2020.

Between FY2017-2020, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 480,000 aliens with criminal convictions or pending charges on their record. By contrast, in the first three years of the Biden/Harris administration, despite the significant increase in border crossings, such arrests dropped to just around 165,000. Criminals have been let free into our country.

The Trump administration removed more than 604,000 criminal aliens from FY2017-2020, while the Biden-Harris administration only removed around 158,000 from FY2021-2023 (ICE has not yet released the FY2024 data)

The consequences of the Biden/Harris policy of non-enforcement have been deadly. Just ask the families of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray, and many others whose lives have been taken or otherwise irrevocably shattered at the hands of illegal immigrants.

It is not just criminal illegal aliens now in our communities. A historic number of individuals on the terrorist watchlist (392) have been caught illegally crossing our borders since FY2021, compared to just 14 between FY2017 and 2020.

Is this enough information to help you determine whether you were better off under Donald Trump or under the Biden/Harris policies? Looking at the comparative data, it’s time to give the Trump/Vance ticket the landslide it deserves! May it be so!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Terry Paulson has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a M.A. in lay theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. In addition to being a contributing author to The Epoch Times, he’s an op-ed columnist for Townhall.com. He's author of “The Optimism Advantage,” “They Shoot Managers Don’t They,” “Leadership Truths One Story at a Time,” and his new action novel "The Summit." As a professional speaker and trainer, he helps leaders and teams leverage optimism to make change work.

You may also contact Terry at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.