“President Biden might not seem like a revolutionary,” said E.J. Dionne Jr in The Washington Post, but he’s presiding over “a fundamental change” in America’s approach to economics.
He’s departing not just from the “trickle-down” policies of Ronald Reagan, but from many of the orthodoxies that shaped the Clinton and Obama presidencies. His approach is rooted in the idea of growing the economy from “the middle out and the bottom up”, and embracing the role of the state. Free-trade deals are no longer a priority; now it’s about boosting US industries, bringing jobs back from abroad, investing in infrastructure and making the economy work for ordinary people.
‘Cherry-picked statistics’
Biden’s ideas are being taken up by others, including Britain’s Labour Party. And no wonder, given America’s recent record, said Jennifer Rubin in the same paper. The economy has created 13 million jobs; inflation has halved; huge investments have been made in green energy. Expect to hear a lot more about “Bidenomics” in the months ahead.
Don’t believe the “cherry-picked statistics”, said The Washington Times. Biden has presided over no economic miracle. The job figures turned around under Donald Trump, who, in the wake of Covid, “oversaw the recovery of 16.6 million jobs”. The US has only created around two million new jobs since the pandemic.
‘Will it save him again?’
As for inflation, said the New York Post, it may have halved from its peak, but at about 4% it’s still twice what it was when Biden took over. Meanwhile, average mortgage rates have gone from 2.8% to 6.7%, and income inequality is rising for the first time since 2011. Bidenomics amounts to “tossing trillions at Democratic special interests”. Biden’s team must be desperate if they’re making this his central re-election theme.
A lot needs to “go right for the public to judge Bidenomics a success”, said Matthew Continetti in The Washington Free Beacon. Inflation will have to fall to 2% so that real wages start rising faster than prices. Biden must also hope that looming interest rate hikes don’t tip the US into a recession. But his re-election hopes rest on more than just the economy. Whether he wins next year will ultimately depend less on his agenda than on the anti-Trump coalition of voters that cost the Republicans elections in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022. Biden has been saved by this coalition before. “Will it save him again?”