President Biden has enthusiastically stated that his economic policies, summarized as “Bidenomics,” have been successful. The facts do not appear to support the claim.
Certainly, the average American family is not benefiting. Will Marshall, writing for The Hill, notes that “While economists debate whether the glass is half empty or full, the public’s verdict is clear. Americans are strikingly pessimistic about the nation’s economy, with only 30 percent describing it as good.”
A Marketplace reports that “…the average paycheck lagged behind inflation in 2022, and the higher prices are hitting low-wage workers the hardest…[Bidenomics] also strikes a jarringly self-congratulatory note at a time when middle and low-income Americans are struggling with high living costs. The political class may find dueling economic doctrines scintillating, but what working families want is relief from hefty price increases for everyday goods and services that are gouging holes in their disposable income.”
Inflation is a central issue affecting U.S. families. Statista’s research Department explained in July that “The rate of inflation exceeded the growth of wages for the first time in recent years in April 2021. In this month, inflation amounted to 4.2 percent, while wages grew by 3.2 percent. The growth of wages surpassed that of inflation for the first time since March 2021 in February of 2023.”
Gas prices averaged $2.19 in 2020, but, as of this writing, are at an average at $3.52.
According a June 2023 report from the food information site Bon Appetit, , the US Department of Agriculture reports that prices for food at home rose 11.4% last year—and that’s after spikes of 3.5% in both 2020 and 2021. In 2022…US consumers saw the largest annual increase in food prices since the 1980s…For context, pre-2020, the last time grocery prices rose more than a full percent in a year was in 2014, when they rose by 3.7%.
There is an extraordinary danger lurking in the nation’s economic future: a debt bomb that could wreak havoc. Bidenomics’ emphasis on federal spending makes that threat worse.
That debt applies to families and individuals as well as Washington.
According to the New York Fed, Total household debt rose by $148 billion, or 0.9 percent, to $17.05 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Mortgage balances climbed by $121 billion and stood at $12.04 trillion at the end of March. Auto loan and student loan balances also increased to $1.56 trillion and $1.60 trillion, respectively, but credit card balances were flat at $986 billion.
In their book, “The Debt Bomb,” authors Senator Tom Cotton and John Hart stress that “In a nation whose debt has outgrown the size of its entire economy, the greatest threat comes … from Washington politicians who refuse to relinquish the intoxicating power to borrow and spend.”
CNBC provides a worrisome context to the debt crisis, noting that “Total credit card debt stood at $986 billion in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York…Credit card balances are up almost 20% from a year ago, according to a quarterly credit industry insights report from TransUnion. Collectively, Americans owe nearly $1 trillion on credit cards. Total credit card debt stood at $986 billion at the start of 2023, unchanged from the record hit at the end of 2022, according to a new report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”
The Heritage Foundation summarizes Bidenomics failure: “Adjusted for inflation, the average American family has seen their annual incomes fall about $5,600 under Biden. For many families, that is an entire month’s pay.”
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