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President Biden used to be suspicious of the term “bidenomics,” once joking, “I don’t know what the hell that is.”
But last week he embraced that shortcut to his economic agenda — albeit on his own terms and on those most favorable to his re-election campaign. In his speech Wednesday in Chicago, he defined bidenomics as the reversal of four decades of “trickle-down economics” that prioritized the interests of the wealthy over the interests of the middle class.
As the President puts it, his philosophy rests on three pillars: massive public investment, from bridges to broadband; Helping workers secure good-paying jobs by encouraging unionization and requiring products to be made in the United States; and promoting competition by limiting non-compete fees, junk fees and prescription drug costs – while vigorously enforcing antitrust laws.
With the approval rating falling, Mr. Biden is understandably eager to take advantage of low unemployment, real wage growth and better-than-expected economic resilience. He has a good story to tell about how to get government working again. He can boast of significant legislative successes in his first two years.
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However, most Americans perceive the economy as worse than it is due to persistent inflation. This was fueled in part by Mr Biden overspending on his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package in the first few months of his presidency, when the economy was already starting to overheat.
Polls often prompt politicians to look for culprits to blame ahead of the upcoming election. Last week, Mr. Biden criticized banks, oil majors, drugmakers, cryptocurrency traders, hedge fund managers, airlines and hotels. During a recent speech to the AFL-CIO, the President said that no one would care if investment bankers went on strike, but that the country would grind to a halt if union members went on strike.
But as he tightens his economic policies, Mr. Biden should resist the temptation to score political points with a populism that probably sounds fake coming from someone who was first elected to the Senate 50 years ago and is the most business-friendly state in the world Country represented The Union.
Mr. Biden says he wants everyone to pay their fair share, but is quick to add that he doesn’t want to tax the wealthy out of existence. “I’m not talking about the old, old days of the 70 percent tax,” he said in Chicago, adding that he wants to build an economy where “the poor have a ladder up and the rich still have it good goes.”
This President, like most, yearns to go down in history as a transformative President. He likens his efforts to finally connect every American to high-speed Internet to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s rural electrification and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Interstate Highways. Most Republicans, who disproportionately represent rural areas that will benefit most, voted against legislation that will enable universal broadband. Yet they are now touting the money pouring into their states.
Mr. Biden won 2020 by pledging to be one president for all Americans, and this is how he governs. It returns results for the states of red, blue, and purple. He should do his bit for the health of the country’s civic culture.
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Editorials represent the views of the Post as an institution, as determined by debates between members of the editorial board, housed in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.
Editorial Board Members and Areas of Focus: Opinion Editor David Shipley; Assistant Opinion Editor Karen Tumulty; Associate Opinion Editor Stephen Stromberg (national policy and policy); Lee Hockstader (European Affairs, based in Paris); David E. Hoffman (Global Public Health); James Hohmann (domestic and electoral politics, including the White House, Congress and the governors); Charles Lane (foreign affairs, national security, international economics); Heather Long (Economics); Associate editor Ruth Marcus; Mili Mitra (public policy solutions and audience development); Keith B. Richburg (Foreign Affairs); and Molly Roberts (Technology and Society).
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