I’ve been struck by the opinion divide on the state of the economy between people with real jobs in America and the elite opinions in Washington.
Gallup and other primary and reputable pollsters find that the public is very worried. About 2 in 10 respondents rate the U.S. economy as good or great. That compares with nearly 6 in 10 people who thought the economy was good or great throughout Donald Trump’s presidency. In other words, three times the number of people liked the way things were going under Trump policies than feel the same way about Bidenomics.
The Washington Post, The Atlantic and other rags inside the Beltway — the one place on the planet that gets richer when the rest of the country gets poorer — have been wondering why the public is so down in the dumps. The standard view inside the Beltway is that the public just doesn’t appreciate how well the country is doing. They say the job market is robust, and that is true. The public has made a lot of money in the stock market. Also true, until recently. And we are doing better than France and Italy and Germany.
To listen to this chorus, which includes the White House economics team, you’d think we should be partying like it’s 1999! President Joe Biden says he’s abandoned “trickle-down economics.” Instead, he’s setting the course for a sturdier and more robust economy. But rather than “building back better,” we’d probably be much better off if he’d just left things the way he found them.
The public is right to have its “spidey senses tingling.” Unfortunately, it feels to many like we’re on the beach and the winds are calm, but a tsunami is coming.
They are right to be afraid. Over the past two and a half years, since the start of COVID, we have spent and borrowed in Washington $5 trillion we don’t have. Our welfare and give-away programs have chased millions out of the workforce for two years now and into the hammock. Free rent. Free medical care. Free food. No need to rush back to work. As The New York Times put it recently, Biden is implementing “cradle to grave” government.
We’ve practiced a crank idea called Modern Monetary Theory that instructed us that we could go on spending and borrowing without worrying that the bubble will pop. People like Janet Yellen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders actually drank this Kool-Aid.
But guess what? The bubble’s already popping. Over the last year, the inflation rate of 8.3% is outpacing the wage increases of 5.4%, and that’s been the case for virtually every month that Biden has been in office. By contrast, The Wall Street Journal reports that wages outpaced inflation every year that Trump was in office.
So consider family incomes. Under Trump, median household incomes rose by about $6,000. And that wasn’t for the rich. Working-class people saw those giant gains in living standards and purchasing power. Under Biden, we don’t have the census numbers yet, but based on the wage and inflation numbers, it is likely that the typical middle-class family has lost somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000. And this is supposed to be a recovery.
The losses worsen month after month, and inflation stays above the wage gains. In other words, the public isn’t just imagining that the economy and family finances are heading south. They are.
This was so predictable due to the overspending and the war on American energy that only a liberal with ideological blinders on couldn’t see it coming.
But instead of calling off the failed economic strategy, Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are still peddling green energy and the $3 trillion Build Back Better bill. No wonder the stock market and pension funds have lost an estimated $7 trillion in the last three months.
No one in the White House or the media will admit any of this. They’re doing just fine, thank you. It seems the only thing that will turn things around is a regime change.
Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at Freedom Works. He is also author of the new book: “Govzilla: How The Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy.” To find out more about Stephen Moore and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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Biden is the chief gator—a true reptile.
The demented puppet F… Joe Biden is just dancing on the strings of his masters that put him in office and it was NOT WE the PEOPLE!
When we elect Godless, dishonest, immoral, hateful, self-righteous representatives like the corrupt puppet Joe Biden, Tinkerbell PinocchiObama, the hateful Nancy Pelosi, racist Maxine Waters, Liar Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, Camel toe Kamala Harris, Bimbo Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, squaw Elizabeth Warren and Ayanna Pressley who intentionally pit one group against another to divide the country and cultivate hate and distrust, you got to ask yourself; what are the motives of these type people? To lead the country into prosperity OR to gain control, stay in power any way possible and to dominate the citizens? No matter the costs to the people, the government or the nation. Vote ALL liberal Democrats and RINOs OUT of Office everywhere. Return this country to WE the PEOPLE and by the PEOPLE.
This treasonous, destructive, immoral, socialist Democrat Party has become our country’s most destructive and deadliest ENEMY!
” Its hard to remember that your job was to drain the swamp when your up to your neck in aligators . ” Author Unknown .
Slo Joe is way too slow (maybe even regressive) to have much of an impact (positive or negative) on anything. Except his poor approval rating. It’s actually the WH staff doing all this. Staffed by a bunch of ultra-liberal democraps. The DEEP STATE TOXIC SEPTIC SEWER SYSTEM at its “best”.
Which imo are the same ones who organized the Coup to oust trump!
DUH!!
This is what happens in dictatorships. Hitler was a poor outcast who became very wealthy when he gained full power while the common German people suffered. Same with Russia. Stalin was a two bit criminal but lived a life of luxury once he was incharge of the Soviet Union. Look at North Korea. The dictator always lives an insolated life of luxury while the people starve. Same with China and Cuba. Biden and the dummycrats are no different than any other dictator.
if only everyone was aware of these dictators! they were demented monsters.does any not have knowledge of history? we should be and hopefully we learn by knowledge of horrors of above mentioned. that is one of the main reason we should be teaching it! not trying to erase it. good,bad or indifferent there has been many lessons to be learned if we are aware. the atrocities of these monsters are unbelieveable.many persons who thought they were of a certain nationality,have sine through dna testing found out in recent years that they are notgerman. since have found out back in the day of hitler,his idea of the aryan race. he actually went into a country that had predominately blonde,blue eyed persons. Took young children from their families,brought them to germany and insisted they be given new identities,forget their families. instill them into his ideology and history went on. now descendants have through dna realized this.talk about a sick person. this is just a small example of what can happen with this type of person being dictators and changing ideological
That’s because the unions REFUSE TO TEACH true history…
The only way to live when under a Rulersuch as we Have , You Will Obey, Comrade .!