• Bidenomics is based on assertions that the economy is doing well thanks to the President, but most Americans believe it isn’t because the economy according to Biden is not the economy most Americans experience every day.
• The aggregate unemployment level in which the President takes such pride doesn’t reflect real unemployment or – far more important – real wages.  The bottom 50% of U.S. households would have to earn $5,000 more today just to buy what they bought at the end of 2019 despite the wage gains in which the President and Fed take such pride.
• Progress curbing inflation isn’t as the President portrays it because almost two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and skimping on or even skipping goods and services.  Only a quarter of middle-class households can now afford a home, down from fifty percent in 2019.
• Effective political rhetoric recognizes reality.  The President must thus speak to policy changes, not past accomplishments, and make it clear he understands how hard most households have it.

For Mr. Biden to gain voter traction on economic policy, he’ll need to persuade the two out of three voters who disapprove of his economic record despite proclamations of progress each time job numbers go up and inflation seems to go down a bit.[1]  Bouncing GDP numbers haven’t and won’t suffice because GDP is a poor measure of prosperity across the distributional income and wealth curves.  Low unemployment numbers also aren’t persuasive because they come in part from the large number of people no longer in the market because wages are still so low.  Employment numbers are also buttressed by the millions of Americans holding down multiple jobs to make ends sort-of meet. 

Continue reading “When Politicians Tell Voters They’re Dining on Fine Fare But Voters are Eating Hot Dogs: How Bidenomics Exacerbates the President’s Political Problem” →