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   Econ watch: No One’s Buying Bidenomics   
   To hear President Biden “and his team tell it, he was dealt an unusually   
   bad hand” on the economy when he took office — yet, in truth, corrects   
   David Winston at Roll Call, it had “already begun to turn around” before   
   then. Inflation was just 1.4%, and pandemic-era 14.7% unemployment had   
   fallen to 6.3%. Biden then pushed “trillion-dollar spending bills” that   
   sent inflation soaring: Prices are 16.6% higher than when he took office,   
   though earnings are up just 12.2%, “leaving Bidenomics with a 4.4 [point]   
   negative wage gap.” No wonder his job approval on the economy is only 34%,   
   per CBS News: “People who fill their grocery carts and cars every week   
   simply aren’t buying the Bidenomics’ narrative.”   
      
   Libertarian: Teens Not So Polarized   
   A survey supposedly showing a “stark gender divide” in high-school   
   seniors’ politics “has sparked misplaced panic,” explains Reason’s Emma   
   Camp. “Yes, more boys than girls identify as conservative — about twice”   
   as many — “and girls identify as liberal at a rate 17 percentage points   
   higher than their male classmates.” But “majorities of both genders   
   responded without identifying a partisan political identity.” Some 64% of   
   boys and 58% of girls “didn’t identify as conservative or liberal —   
   instead, they identified as ‘moderate,’ ‘none of the above,’ or ‘I don’t   
   know.’” So “in reality, these surveyed high school seniors don’t seem to   
   care all that much about partisan politics.” The poll warrants no concern   
   over youth polarization and doesn’t justify “government regulation of   
   social media or online speech.”   
      
   Eye on the Empire State: Pointless Wind Power   
   A recent analysis “reveals the critical weakness in the state’s energy   
   policy — the need for long-term reliable backup power — and underscores   
   the tremendous cost of heavy reliance on expensive and unreliable offshore   
   wind,” warns the Empire Center’s James E. Hanley. The study found wind   
   lulls are “dangerously common,” especially during the summer. So   
   electricity users “will have to pay for very expensive offshore wind” plus   
   “backup power due to the unreliability of that wind.” When the choice   
   becomes “unprecedentedly high electricity costs or enduring regular   
   blackouts, New Yorkers may find getting off the climate activism bandwagon   
   their most attractive option.”   
      
   Foreign desk: A Friendless China   
   “China has spent tens of billions of dollars to boost its global   
   popularity over the past decade. It hasn’t worked,” exults The Wall Street   
   Journal’s Sadanand Dhume. “In soft power — the attractiveness of a   
   country’s ideas, institutions and culture — the U.S. far outstrips China.”   
   In a 2005 Journal piece, “Joseph Nye, the Harvard professor who coined the   
   term ‘soft power,’ quoted a 22-country BBC poll that found more people   
   viewed China positively (nearly 50%) than the U.S. (38%).” Pop culture,   
   including the smash film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and Houston   
   Rockets star Yao Ming, helped. But “global public opinion has soured,”   
   with two-thirds responding to a 24-country poll seeing “China unfavorably.   
   Only 28% held a positive opinion.” Yet “America shouldn’t be too   
   sanguine,” as “raw military and economic power can still count for more   
   than charm,” and China has plenty of that. And America “is prone to soft-   
   power blunders of its own, for instance by attempting to export   
   fashionable woke ideas about sex.”   
      
   Liberal: Dems’ Working-Class Woes Grow   
   Overlooked from the latest New York Times poll, frets The Liberal   
   Patriot’s Ruy Teixeira, is President “Biden’s weakness among nonwhite   
   working-class (noncollege) voters” — he leads President Donald Trump “by a   
   mere 16 points among this demographic” vs. a 48-point lead in 2020 and   
   “Obama’s 67-point advantage in 2012.” This poses “a direct threat to the   
   massive margins Democrats need to maintain among nonwhite voters to   
   achieve victory,” since they’re “two-thirds to three-quarters of the   
   nonwhite vote.” The issue: They’re not progressive, “while the Democratic   
   Party has become more so.” On issues from public safety to renewable   
   energy to Bidenomics, they feel the party’s left them behind. Remember   
   Trump’s 2020 success, and don’t “be so sure it couldn’t happen again.”   
      
   — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board   
      
   https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/no-ones-buying-bidenomics-teens-not-so-   
   polarized-and-other-commentary/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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