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** Biden's Final Numbers
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We publish quarterly reports on how the country has fared under the president according to various statistical indicators. But it takes some time for many of the final figures for a president's full term to be gathered and released. We're nearly at that point now for former President Joe Biden.
Four of our staffers, led by Staff Writer D'Angelo Gore, with an assist from Director Emeritus Brooks Jackson, wrote "Biden's Final Numbers ([link removed]) ," a compilation of data on the economy, immigration, energy and many other issues.
The highlights include:
* Inflation roared back, shrinking the value of workers’ paychecks. Consumer prices rose 21.5%. Gasoline alone rose 31%. After adjusting for inflation, private-sector average weekly earnings shrank 4%.
* The economy regained millions of jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic and around 6 million more. Unemployment averaged 4.1%, well below the historical average.
* The economy grew by at least 2.5% each year, with real gross domestic product growth of 2.8% in 2024.
* The percentage and number of Americans who lacked health insurance went down by 0.6 percentage points, or 1.2 million people, when measuring those who were uninsured for an entire year.
* The nationwide violent crime and property crime rates declined. The murder rate dropped by 1.7 points.
* Apprehensions of those trying to cross the southern border illegally were 107% higher in Biden’s last year compared with the year before he took office.
* The monthly average for refugee admissions was 157% higher than during his predecessor’s time in office.
* Crude oil, natural gas, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, solar and wind all set domestic production records in Biden’s last year in office.
See our full story ([link removed]) for more about these statistics and several others. As we've said many times, whether these figures are good, bad or neutral is a matter of opinion, and we leave that up to readers.
We'll launch our "Trump's Numbers" series for President Donald Trump's second term in January, one year after his inauguration, the same timing we've used for this feature in the past.
HOW WE KNOW
Some members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s newly reconstituted vaccine advisory committee misrepresented the results of Pfizer’s maternal COVID-19 vaccination trial. They cited an imbalance in fetal anomalies, but experts told us that a closer look shows no cause for concern. Most, if not all, of the observed birth defects occur in early pregnancy or are genetic and could not have been caused by the vaccine, which was administered later in pregnancy. Read more: "Vaccine Advisory Committee Members Mislead About COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy ([link removed]) ."
FEATURED FACTS
The stock market gains under Trump's first term continued under Biden, setting new records. On Jan. 17, 2025, the S&P 500 ([link removed]) closed at 57.8% above where it had been the day before Biden was inaugurated in 2021. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ([link removed]) , made up of 30 large corporations, and the Nasdaq composite index ([link removed]) , made up of more than 3,000 companies including many in the technology sector, increased by 40.6% and 48.7%, respectively, during Biden’s time in office. During the first Trump administration, the S&P rose 67.8%, the Dow Jones went up 56.7%, and the Nasdaq more than doubled.
REPLY ALL
Reader: Is Antifa a dangerous radical left extremist group?
FactCheck.org Director Lori Robertson: "Antifa" is an umbrella term for far-left militant anti-fascism groups.
In September 2020, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray told ([link removed]) Congress: "We look at Antifa as more of an ideology or a movement than an organization." He said the FBI had conducted investigations into "violent anarchist extremists" and "some of those individuals self-identify with antifa." He also said there was some organization on a regional level among people who self-identify with the movement and coalesce into "small groups or nodes."
Last month, the Washington Post quoted ([link removed]) experts saying similar things about antifa being more of an ideology and not a singular organization.
On Sept. 22, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ([link removed]) designating antifa a "domestic terrorist organization," something he also tried to do in his first term in 2020. However, as we wrote then ([link removed]) , there is no official federal designation for domestic terrorism organizations.
The secretary of state has the legal authority to designate groups as foreign terrorist organizations under federal law, but there's no equivalent for domestic terrorism, experts told us. One issue with such a designation would be legal challenges that it infringes on First Amendment freedoms. “Such a list might discourage speech and expression related to the ideologies underpinning the activities of named groups,” a 2017 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said ([link removed]) .
Also, if it were possible to designate domestic terrorist groups, there would be difficulty with antifa being more of a movement. James J.F. Forest, professor in the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s School of Criminology and Justice Studies, told us in an email for our 2020 story: “So, imagine the difficulty a prosecutor would face in a court of law ‘proving beyond a reasonable doubt’ an individual was a member of ANTIFA.”
See our full story for more: "Trump Can’t Designate Antifa — or Any Movement — Domestic Terrorist Organization ([link removed]) ."
** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* Trump, Project 2025 and ‘Culture Wars’ ([link removed])
In this story, which is the last in our five-part series on Project 2025, we look at how Trump implemented the document’s recommendations on divisive cultural issues, including reproductive rights, transgender protections, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* Trump, el Proyecto 2025 y las políticas de inmigración ([link removed])
El Proyecto 2025 y el presidente Donald Trump están en gran medida sincronizados en materia de inmigración. Como parte de nuestra serie sobre el Proyecto 2025, examinamos algunas de las muchas acciones que Trump ha tomado y que fueron propuestas en el documento conservador.
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