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“President Joe Biden [last] Thursday toured a revitalized shipyard in Philadelphia, where he made the argument that is increasingly dominating his speeches and his 2024 reelection campaign: The U.S. economy is strong because his agenda is working… The president’s visit to the shipyard Thursday came at the tail end of a monthlong ‘Investing in America Blitz’ that was intended to promote Bidenomics…
“The CNBC All-America Economic Survey, released [last] Thursday, found that just 37% of respondents approved of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 58% disapproved. Only 20% of Americans agreed that the economy was excellent or good, while a whopping 79% said it was just fair or poor…
“Americans’ pessimistic view of the economy and Biden’s handling of it are all the more striking given new data this month which increasingly points to a healthy U.S. economy emerging from a once in a lifetime pandemic. Inflation is coming down, the employment rate appears to be holding steady, and wages have risen.” CNBC
The right is critical of Bidenomics, arguing that voters disapprove of the president’s record with good reason.
“President Joe Biden is desperately trying to sell Americans on Bidenomics, but they’re not buying it. Recent polls show only 39% of US adults approve of Biden’s economic leadership, and a majority of the country has disapproved of his overall job performance for almost two years. At this stage of a presidential administration, only Jimmy Carter had a lower overall approval rating than Joe Biden…
“The Wall Street Journal recently spotlighted Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that the ‘worst inflation in 40 years’ contributed to a 3.16% decline in real earnings for the average worker during the Biden presidency…
“Recent reports, meanwhile, indicate more workers being downshifted to part-time pay, declining employment among African Americans, the worst housing affordability ever and sharp declines in manufacturing.”
Matt Weidinger, New York Post
“Americans are still feeling the effects of the explosion in prices from early 2021 to this past spring. Remember, for most goods, prices haven’t gone down to the pre-inflation ‘normal,’ they’ve just stopped increasing so dramatically… If you’re regularly saying, ‘Wow, that’s expensive,’ at the cash register, you’re just not going to feel good. Even if you recently got a raise, you’re seeing that influx of extra cash get eaten up in every purchase…
“Mortgage rates are really high by the standards of the past four decades. Car prices are extremely high by historical standards. Gasoline prices aren’t as high as the exorbitant prices of last summer, but they’re still high by historical standards. Air travel is much more expensive than before the pandemic.”
Jim Geraghty, National Review
“Guess what sector of the economy is on the biggest hiring binge? Government. During the just-ended first half of 2023, federal, state and local governments added 379,000 workers to their payrolls. This was more hires than any industry in America. It was more than mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and transportation — COMBINED…
“With the federal government running a $2 trillion annual deficit, and with the COVID crisis long behind us, shouldn’t we be systematically downsizing?… A productive economy increases private-sector jobs and cuts extraneous government jobs. Bidenomics is doing the opposite.”
Vivek Ramaswamy and Stephen Moore, New York Post
The left generally praises Bidenomics, arguing that it is delivering results.
The left generally praises Bidenomics, arguing that it is delivering results.
“June numbers show inflation has been cut by more than two-thirds from its peak — down to 3 percent year-over-year from 9.1 percent… ‘A single hour of work 12 months ago could only pay for 5.5 gallons of gas, a figure that has since risen to a bit more than 8 gallons. The increase appears to reflect a 27% drop in prices at the pump compared with a year ago, and also average wage gains of about 5%’… The outdated talking point that prices are rising faster than wages needs to be retired…
“Instead of political polls (in which respondents reflect their tribal identity), take a look at economic numbers that correlate to how people plan and spend their money. CNN reported: ‘Consumer sentiment tracked by the University of Michigan rose 13% in July, the second straight month of improvement and the biggest [month]-over-month gain since 2006, according to a preliminary reading. … The index reached its highest level since September 2021.’… Don’t bet against Bidenomics.”
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
“Voters think Congress as a whole is awful but love their particular congresscritter. Polls about the economy often showcase a similar dynamic… [Last month] 24 percent of Americans said the economy was either ‘excellent’ or ‘good.’ Fifty-two percent (including 51 percent of independent voters) said it was getting worse. But 58 percent said their own financial situation was excellent or good…
“A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found 36 percent expect their personal economic situation to improve over the next year, against 20 percent who expect it to get worse. ‘Optimists outnumbered pessimists among Democrats, Republicans and independents.’”
Olivier Knox, Washington Post
Some argue, “The Biden stimulus worked… The problem is that this alone was not enough to fix the deeply rooted, structural pain that’s plagued the country long before the pandemic… [A] March poll found that 60 percent have no retirement savings account, while 45 percent can’t cover a $1,000 emergency…
“[In June] nearly twenty-seven million Americans [reported] not having enough to eat either sometimes or often, 12 percent higher than the same time last year and 4 percent more than even the month before… If pundits want to spend their time assuring liberal readers that it’s the voters who are wrong about this economy, that’s their prerogative. But let’s not pretend this is much more than political messaging driven by election fears.”
Branko Marcetic, Jacobin Magazine
