Joe Biden: 'Something Is Wrong' With US Economy; Raises Speculation About Presidential Bid

Update 5:30 p.m. EST: During Vice President Joe Biden's speech on Monday about the U.S. economy, several people yelled in the background, "Run for president!"

Biden responded, ""No I'm not -- I gotta talk to my wife about that. ... In Delaware when you make people stand on a hard floor for more than 15 minutes, you lose their votes, and I don't want to lose your friendship."

Original Story:

In a speech on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden said that “something is wrong” with the U.S. economy, CNN reported. Biden gave the speech in Pittsburgh before a Labor Day march, raising further speculation that he will be jumping into the 2016 presidential fray.

"It used to be when productivity went up in America, everybody got to share,” said Biden, CNN reported. “The people who caused the productivity increase, they got to share. They got a piece of the action. Something is wrong, folks."

After the speech, Biden was expected to lead an AFL-CIO-organized march of 60,000 workers through downtown Pittsburgh. Biden’s remarks on the state of the economy raised speculation about possible campaign themes if he decides to run for as a Democratic presidential candidate. Still undecided about whether he will run, Biden told reporters on Thursday that his family would be a major factor in his decision. Rumors about Biden’s potential bid have been circulating in recent months after Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton saw her support in the polls drop sharply in the wake of an email scandal. Her use of private email while serving as secretary of state has became the subject of controversy.

President Barack Obama, though, differed with Biden regarding the U.S. economy. In his Weekly Address, Obama highlighted economic progress, citing 173,000 jobs created in August and an unemployment rate that dropped to 5.1 percent, the lowest it’ s been in five years. He urged Congress to pass a budget by its end-of- September deadline that invests in the middle class, and he warned that if lawmakers are unable to pass a budget by the deadline, it would result in a government shutdown.

“At a time when the global economy faces headwinds and America’s economy is a relative bright spot in the world, a shutdown of our government would be wildly irresponsible,” Obama said. “It would be an unforced error that saps the momentum we’ve worked so hard to build. Plain and simple, a shutdown would hurt working Americans.”