President Joe Biden touted “Bidenomics” in Auburn, Maine, on Friday, although the buying power of the dollar has dramatically decreased since he took office, and polls show Americans have little faith in the economy.
“This morning, we saw data showing the last month the annual rate of inflation continued to decline, so inflation is now at its lowest point in two years,” Biden said, who later forgot to sign an executive order.
WATCH BELOW:
C-SPANOf jobs, Biden said his administration has “created 13 million new jobs – more than before the pandemic.” and that “Unemployment in America has been below 4% for the longest stretch in over 50 years.”
Despite Biden’s brags, the buying power of the American dollar has dropped dramatically when compared with January 2021, when former President Donald Trump left office. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $1.17 today has the same buying power as $1.00 did when Biden became commander-in-chief. Compared to a similar time frame during Trump’s presidency, $1.00 in January 2017 had the same buying power as $1.05 in June 2019. This marked only five percent inflation over two and a half years.
Americans are reeling from the effects of Bidenflation and have little faith that things will get better.
An AP-NORC poll released in early June showed that nearly seven in ten Americans rated Biden’s economy as poor. Conversely, 30 percent said it is good.
Similarly, just 22 percent of Americans gave Biden’s economy positive marks in a recent YouGov/Economist poll, while 74 percent rated it as “Fair” or “Poor,” including 46 percent who said it was “Poor.” Moreover, 47 percent of the respondents believe we are in a recession, while another 21 percent think one is likely in the next year.
That poll sampled 1,500 adults between July 8-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
However, inflation is cooling and labor markets have not been terribly affected as many economists had predicted. In the face of the scrutiny and a reeling economy, Biden embraced “Bidenomics” on the off chance that inflation stabilized and employment levels were not dramatically affected, as Breitbart News’s John Carney wrote in the Breitbart News Business Digest on Tuesday.
“Biden was always going to ‘own’ this economy, so he might as well have bet that it would improve,” Carney wrote. However, he forecasts that the rise in home prices and consumer confidence is likely to beget more inflation:
Rising home prices will mean that the shelter portion of the price indexes will not continue to be a drag on core inflation for much longer. Consumer confidence and strong incomes due to high levels of employment will fuel demand for goods and services. Indeed, the Conference Board reported an increased expectation on spending on autos and necessary services.
A resurgence of inflation would likely require the Fed to return to increasing rate hikes next year. Indeed, it would likely quash hopes for a “soft-landing” by making it clear that it really will require a sharp economic downturn to permanently tame inflation. Right now, this is the opposite of what the market expects.
However, Carney notes that this is not certain to happen, as Republican presidential candidates have been keying in on Biden’s economy on the campaign trail, with many releasing policy proposals as to how to combat inflation and out-of-control spending. Carney suggests the GOP should tuck “Bidenomics being a flop” away as a backup plan.
