Fact-checking Trump’s speech on inflation, wages and a military dividend

This article originally appeared on PolitiFact . In a prime-time White House address, President Donald Trump told the nation that his 11 months in office have brought historic improvements to American lives after years of what he described as immigration and economic chaos. WATCH: Trump addresses the nation from the White House And more good news was coming, he said during the 18-minute, live-televised speech Dec. 17. He said the U.S. would be sending $1,776 checks to 1.45 million U.S. military personnel, a new “warrior dividend.” “The checks are already on the way,” Trump said. “Nobody understood that one until about 30 minutes ago.” The picture Trump painted contrasts with what Americans say they feel. Just 36% of Americans polled in December by NPR/PBS News/Marist said they approve of how he is handling the economy, and more than 1 in 3 said their personal finances had deteriorated in the past year. Consumer confidence is near the lows reached when inflation was around 9% in mid-2022 under President Joe Biden. The picture Trump painted also skewed the facts. Trump exaggerated, by trillions of dollars, the amount of expected foreign investment he has attracted to the U.S. He overstated the historic scale of tax cuts in his domestic spending law and its savings for older Americans, and he repeated false talking points about the number of immigrants in the country illegally and their origin . He said crime has been at record levels, but violent crime rates were roughly twice as high in the early 1990s. WATCH: Trump vows to ‘dramatically reduce’ drug prices, announces new TrumpRX website While Trump repeated some statements we have fact-checked before, we took a closer look at his big-picture summation of the economy, drug prices, the newly announced military dividends and tax refunds. Trump: “Inflation has stopped, wages are up, prices are down.” Inflation hasn’t stopped. Wages are up. Prices, which are measured by inflation rates, aren’t down. The most recent inflation data - which will be superseded by new data released Dec. 18 - shows that prices increased by 3% year over year in September. That’s not zero, and it’s above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% inflation. It’s also exactly where year-over-year inflation stood when Trump took office in January. Trump has a better story to tell on wages. Since he’s been in office, wage gains have outpaced inflation, though the Dec. 18 inflation data release will show if that gap narrows. Trump: I have worked to “slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500, and even 600%” Trump has made similar claims before - citing decreases as high as 1,000% - but price cuts this large are not mathematically possible . A 100% reduction would mean that a consumer pays nothing for a medication. A 200% reduction would mean the pharmaceutical company pays the consumer the full price of the medicine. A 400% reduction would mean the company pays the consumer three times the price of the medicine. A...

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