Businessman Robert Wolf—the former Chairman and CEO of UBS Americas as well as the President and COO of UBS Investment Bank—called out Fox News' America's Newsroom for misinformation, issuing a blunt fact-check about President Joe Biden's economic record live on air.
It all started after Wolf was asked the following question about Vice President Kamala Harris, who is facing attacks from conservatives who have yet to make anything stick against Harris ever since Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed her, making her the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Wolf was asked:
"Robert, you cover the economy. If we're heading for recession, how bad can this be for Kamala Harris?"
He answered:
"I'd love to debate both you guys on the economy. GDP's higher, jobs [are] higher, wages [are] higher, the stock market's up huge under Biden. There’s more 2,000 day [stock market] losses under Trump than 500 day losses under Joe Biden."
"You should get the facts right on how the economy is but we know that Friday, if not for the outstanding 15 million+ jobs [due to] the Biden-Harris campaign over the last three years ... there's not going to be a recession."
"I actually think there's a possibility we're going to have our August numbers look incredibly strong."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
It was a damning assessment—and people appreciated Wolf's fact-check.
Equity investors worldwide appear convinced that the U.S. labor market is weakening. A broad stock sell-off on Monday followed disappointing employment figures for July, reigniting recession fears. However, this pessimistic outlook overlooks the unique dynamics of the U.S. workforce.
Granted, Friday’s jobs data showed a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.3% from 4.1% in June. Yet, employers still added 114,000 jobs last month—below economists' expectations but still indicative of a healthy labor market.
Additionally, the employment rate for prime working-age individuals is at its highest in over two decades, at 80.9%. Moreover, much of the increase in unemployment is due to more workers, both native-born and immigrant, joining the workforce.
Trump has leaned into these concerns in the past to stoke the flames of economic anxiety among his voter base. However, his own predictions about Biden's economic record have not come true.
Last December, his old prediction that the stock market would "crash" if then-candidate Biden was elected in 2020 came back to bite him afer the Dow Jones hit a record high on Wednesday, December 13.
The Dow closed at a historic high of 37,090, climbing over 500 points or 1.4 percent for the day, surpassing a previous peak from January 2022. The boost was fueled partly by the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain steady rates due to progress in controlling inflation.
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