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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   This past week, President Biden decided to embark on a nationwide tour   
   touting the extraordinary success of “Bidenomics.”   
      
   Seriously.   
      
   With the 2024 campaign gearing up, the president is presenting more of a   
   public relations blitz attacking his predecessors than a serious   
   examination of his own economic record.   
      
   In one speech, Biden derisively repeated the “trickle-down” straw man 15   
   times, which exceeded his combined mentions of his own record on   
   inflation, wages and the stock market.   
      
   Perhaps distraction was the president’s best option, given the public’s   
   36% approval rating of an economic record dominated by soaring federal   
   debt, surging inflation and stagnant real incomes.   
      
   Runaway spending   
   Start with the runaway spending and bailouts enacted by a unified   
   Democratic government that will cost $5 trillion over the decade. Annual   
   budget deficits — less than $1 trillion before the pandemic — are now   
   projected to approach $3 trillion within a decade.   
      
   President Biden brags that he “reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion — more   
   than any president has just in two years.”   
      
   In reality, he let $2 trillion in pandemic spending expire on schedule,   
   and then added $300 billion in new spending of his own, leaving the yearly   
   deficit nearly 40% above pre-pandemic levels. Equally disingenuous is the   
   claim that the president’s new budget proposes $2.5 trillion in 10-year   
   deficit reduction — which was measured by simply not counting trillions in   
   proposed tax cut extensions.   
      
   Much of the enacted spending — particularly the $1.9 trillion American   
   Rescue Plan — drove modest post-pandemic inflation into an economic   
   crisis.   
      
   Disregarding warnings from liberal economists like Lawrence Summers, this   
   spending spree played a key role in driving prices upward by more than 16%   
   in the 30 months since the president took office, at a cost of more than   
   $10,000 for the typical household.   
      
   Even as the inflation rate normalizes, it will not undo the recent price   
   increases that have rendered many goods and services unaffordable for many   
   families.   
      
   This inflation exceeded wage growth and caused families to fall further   
   behind. Since Biden took office, hourly compensation (adjusted for   
   inflation) has fallen by 5%. When incomes cannot keep pace with inflation   
   and families are falling behind, few other economic variables matter.   
      
   The president frames his economic agenda as obsessively focused on   
   building the middle class. Yet it’s the middle class that has been slammed   
   by rising inflation and declining incomes.   
      
   Middle class slammed   
   Additionally, home buyers have been hit with both rising mortgage rates   
   (from 2.8% to 6.7%) and rising home prices (by 22%) — nearly doubling the   
   monthly mortgage on a new median-priced home from $1,174 to $2,271.   
      
   The stock market performed well in 2021, yet has fallen nearly 10% since   
   the beginning of 2022. Even mortgage, auto and credit card debt — which   
   temporarily declined due to large pandemic stimulus payments — are once   
   again rising.   
      
   The president highlights the 13 million new jobs added since he took   
   office. However, most were the natural job returns after the pandemic   
   lockdowns were lifted.   
      
   And the additional progress toward the current 3.7% unemployment rate —   
   while impressive — is driven by the inflationary overheating of the   
   economy. One cannot take credit for the faster job growth without also   
   owning the inflation that the same policies brought.   
      
   And despite President Biden’s relentless rhetoric on inequality, the   
   Census Bureau reports that economic inequality is now rising for the first   
   time since 2011.   
      
   Steep inflation, declining real incomes, a falling stock market and   
   deepening inequality. Not usually cause for a presidential victory lap.   
      
   Still, the president frames Bidenomics as chiefly pursuing policies that   
   are “pro-worker” and “pro-investment.” Instead, his policies resuscitate   
   long-rejected big government failures.   
      
   The “pro-worker” push has meant aggressively catering to big labor with   
   tariffs, protectionism, Buy America rules, union bailouts and expensive   
   red tape.   
      
   Industry handouts   
   Many of these policies are designed to aggressively raise labor costs and   
   to shield favored industries from competition. This has hampered American   
   competitiveness, worsened inflation, angered our trading partners and   
   risked retaliation against America’s export industries.   
      
   The supposedly “pro-investment” policies have taken the form of aggressive   
   industrial policies to pick winners and losers, further limit competition   
   and spend massively on corporate welfare.   
      
   For example, the CHIPS Act appropriated $52 billion purportedly to lower   
   production costs and thus encourage domestic superconductor production.   
      
   Instead, the Biden administration saddled the manufacturers with expensive   
   child care mandates and refused to reform expensive construction and labor   
   regulations. Consequently, planned manufacturing plants have been canceled   
   and delayed.   
      
   The $370 billion infrastructure law has also run into massive regulatory   
   delays and union-sought cost increases. And the Inflation Reduction Act’s   
   handouts for clean energy projects are now projected to run as much as   
   2,686% over budget.   
      
   All in all, Bidenomics relies on vast subsidies and regulations to shield   
   favored industries from competition, at the expense of consumers and   
   taxpayers. It’s a spoils system for big labor and politically connected   
   industries.   
      
   Given the soaring federal debt, steep inflation and falling incomes, its   
   no wonder that the president would rather criticize “trickle-down” straw   
   men than defend his economic record.   
      
   Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on   
   Twitter @Brian_Riedl.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2023/06/29/bidenomics-is-a-record-of-failure/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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