President Joe Biden has a plagiarism problem. Be it speeches or policy ideas, the career politician has been like the kid who copies Wikipedia and rewrites some of the passages using a thesaurus. But while his copycat tendencies have been as problematic as his vocal meanderings, many Americans who are still out of work or have seen their finances decimated may be wishing that he would plagiarize his predecessor to bring the U.S. economy back to pre-crisis times. It looked like the nation was poised to experience the Roaring Twenties 2.0, but now it could be a 1970s redux. So far, everything emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue appears to be progressive prattle rather than preponderate prosperity. If Bidenomics fails, will the American people get a refund?
Biden’s America: Return to Sender?
Everyone was billing the April jobs report as Andre the Giant, but the numbers failed to grow to such lofty heights.
The April jobs report fell so short of median estimates that a CNBC host had to double-check the figure live on air. Many had anticipated about one million new jobs last month, but the figure clocked in at 266,000. There is still a possibility that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) could revise the number upward during next month’s update. Whatever the case, the stimulus and relief packages promoted by the new administration are yet to produce anything substantive, pushing the president to call for additional relief bills to ensure the economy returns to the pre-COVID days.
It seems Biden is working from the standard playbook of the elite who double down on their mishaps: Do whatever it takes until something fruitful is born.
In a recent speech, he urged businesses to raise wages and told unemployed workers they would lose their benefits if they did not accept suitable employment offers. He ostensibly rejected the supposition that his generous COVID-19 welfare benefits temporarily discouraged many Americans from taking jobs that paid less than the handsome jobless checks, adding that the White House does not “see much evidence” to support this claim.
“Americans want to work,” he said. This is true, but they also are smart. If Americans can get paid to do nothing, why bother updating the CV, scanning the want ads, and participating in interviews? Although companies are still reeling from the coronavirus-induced downturn and government-mandated quasi-house arrest, could the small-business community solve the labor shortage by raising wages? If life were only that simple.
Biden Is the Man with a Plan?
Many of the proposals announced by President Biden are unlikely to trigger massive economic growth. By the time the mid-term elections arrive, Biden and the Democrats could have installed a higher income tax, an increased capital gains penalty, a 28% corporate levy, and trillions of dollars in new spending that will take money out of the private economy and put it in the hands of the Leviathan.
Beneficiaries of these measures are government workers, corporate cronies, and progressives. From Middle America union pipelayers to urban small business owners, everyone else is unlikely to consume the fruits of Bidenomics. In addition, because the economic recovery may be too sluggish, the Federal Reserve would continue printing new money and maintaining near-zero interest rates, big government policy mechanisms that erode the value of Americans’ savings and increase their living costs through inflation.
[bookpromo align=”left”] What voters would take pleasure in seeing their nest eggs depreciate and the cost of living spike? Well, perhaps folks with Trump Derangement Syndrome would accept any punishment as long as Orange Man Bad is gone.
The leftists will wring their hands about the incumbent inheriting the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” But by the time Biden moved into the Oval Office, the economy had largely recovered. Now, it is trying to reignite the growth America had witnessed before COVID-19 crossed U.S. borders. Unfortunately, it is unclear if Biden’s policies can accomplish this objective. It might be too early to judge his supposed FDR-esque vision, but it is beginning to look a lot more like the 1970s than any other decade.
16 Months Later
It is November 2019: Full-time employment is booming. Hiring by U.S. businesses hits a record high. Hourly wages are at all-time highs. The rate of new entrepreneurs has expanded at a healthy 0.31% clip. Life was grand for the United States one month before the first case of COVID-19 was reported in China. Everything would change in the next 16 months, from political leadership to economic performances. But now that the coronavirus pandemic is subsiding, with successful vaccine rollouts and states reopening their economies, will the United States return to pre-crisis growth? The early numbers spotlight the inconvenient truth that there is still a long way to go. A large chunk of the population, including Democrats, could become the Forgotten Man by 2024. Or worse – addicted to the state.
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Read more from Andrew Moran.
