Published December 16, 2023
The economy is growing. Unemployment is falling. Wages are finally beginning to rise faster than inflation. Yet most voters say they are unhappy with how President Joe Biden is handling the economy. More voters now believe they would be better off financially under former President Donald Trump.
This is driving Democrats crazy. Why isn’t Biden getting credit for an improved economy? Why isn’t Bidenomics the winning campaign theme Democrats thought it would be?
CALIFORNIA IS A BAD ECONOMIC MODEL
The biggest of several reasons is inflation. Even though wages grew faster than inflation in the past year, comparing real wages now with what they were before Biden took office shows that Bidenomics has made most people poorer.
Relatedly, Federal Reserve efforts to contain Bidenflation by jacking up interest rates have put the American dream of home ownership out of touch for many people, especially young voters who would otherwise be more likely to support Biden and the Democrats.
Despite efforts to convince people otherwise, most still want to own their home. Inflation and rising mortgage rates mean the housing market, which was already difficult, became impossible for many, especially for first-time buyers.
According to Redfin, a typical home buyers’ monthly mortgage payment has almost doubled from what it was in 2020 to about $2,900. Before Bidenflation, a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment could finance a $400,000 home. Today, the same buyer could only finance $295,000.
This would be fine if house prices were falling, but they’re not. The number of home sales has been falling, but not prices. And rents are rising, too.
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SOURCE: www.washingtonexaminer.com
RELATED: A Moral Theory for Why People Don’t Like Bidenomics
Published December 16, 2023
For months now, there has been an interminable discussion about why Americans are extremely pessimistic about the Biden economy. The numbers do seem extreme—in late 2022, for instance, the University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment registered a lower number than it had during the pit of the Great Recession in 2008.
It’s an ongoing debate in part because the Biden economy has different characteristics pointing in different directions, some of them not seen in decades. Unemployment is extremely low, but 2022 saw the worst inflation in four decades. Wages at the bottom of the income ladder have been rising strongly, and roughly 40 percent of the post-1980 increase in inequality has been reversed, but segments of the upper middle class have seen appreciable declines in income. Due to rising interest rates, payments on new home mortgages are very high, but the vast majority of homeowners have 30-year loans locked in from pre-pandemic days with a low rate.
On balance, this is a great set of outcomes for the working class. But when it comes to polling, I increasingly suspect that the analysts may be overthinking things to some degree. I believe that most Americans view inflation as morally wrong, particularly after decades of relative price stability.
After all, people do not just view prices as an accounting convenience; they are also thought to carry moral implications, which can be seen in the language of buying and selling itself. A price viewed as acceptable to a buyer is a fair price. If you paid too much for something, you got ripped off. A seller who exploits market conditions to raise prices is gouging the customer.
One might call this a sentiment of market egalitarianism. Prices are morally sound insofar as they are transparent and fair—meaning neither party to a transaction is leveraging some advantage to make a disproportionate, unearned profit. That’s why a really serious violation of price norms, like gas stations that jack up prices after a natural disaster, can spark protests or even violence.
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SOURCE: www.prospect.org
RELATED: Joe Biden May Have Doomed His Party With His ‘Bidenomics’ Messaging
Published December 4, 2023
It should come as no surprise to anyone — save for Joe Biden and his team at the White House — that House Democrats have flatly rejected the “Bidenomics” pitch as they attempt to seek reelection next year.
Without a doubt, Joe Biden’s insistence on branding the economy “Bidenomics” and attempting to convince the public that the economy is strong or that inflation is going down will likely turn out to be a major blunder of the 2024 election cycle.
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SOURCE: www.pjmedia.com
