Not everyone agrees that “Bidenomics” has been a success. A recent poll found that only 34 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s economic leadership, compared to his 41-percent overall approval rating. Just 20 percent of voters think the economy is good or excellent, compared to 78 percent who say it is only fair or poor, according to another survey.
A third recent poll found that nearly 70 percent of Americans think the economy is worse now than in 2020, when the pandemic started in the U.S.
Many pundits attribute the public’s discontent to ignorance or partisanship. As Jacobin recently noted, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough cited the increase in the country’s economic productivity to suggest that “America is doing just fine,” while New York Times columnist Paul Krugman blamed partisan bias for the “huge gaps between what people say about the economy and both what the data says and what they say about their own experience.”
If there’s good news, it’s that financial hardship fell below 38 percent for the first time since last April — though the latest figure is still higher than any point in 2020 or 2021.
In August 2021, there were 19 million fewer people in financial distress than when Biden entered office. The food-insecure population had dropped by more than six million.
The result? The number of people in financial distress increased by 29 million and the food-insecure population grew by 6 million from September 2021 to September 2022. Just when people needed extra help, existing assistance was taken away.
But Biden and Pelosi then reneged on their pledge and insisted the bills be passed independently, effectively dooming the welfare bill. Progressive lawmakers resisted for a while, but eventually gave up their leverage. The House-passed version still contained a formidable $2.2 trillion November 2021, but by the time the Senate had approved and renamed it the Inflation Reduction Act, it was worth just $437 billion.
After 4 years of Trump gutting regulations and bending over backward for corporations, yes, the economy is still “fair or poor” instead of “good.” Why even base this news article on an opinion survey?
Also with financial hardship and food insecurity, these things don’t just pop up because of the president and his economic plan. It’s a trend that’s been increasing for a long time. Food insecurity is on the rise across the globe. To point at Biden and say he caused it is terrible reporting.
This is a disaster of Democrats’ own making. Aid measures had previously softened the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Democrats vowed to make much of that aid permanent by enacting a robust social agenda. That agenda never materialized, and the government instead cut off the temporary aid programs — leaving many millions of Americans struggling to stay afloat.
Oh really? Not the Republicans in the Senate currently blocking such agenda? It’s Democrats’ fault because they can’t enact whatever they want by force?
This just seems to be terrible reporting by The Lever.
Just blaming the other party will not work forever.
The most progressive president in our decade is not doing enough, we need to keep pushing them instead of defending them like we get paid to, similar to defending billionaires.
Not even close to defending billionaires over here. It’s understanding the obstacles and placing blame on the right people. You are asking the democrats to essentially overthrow the government in order to enact the progress they want. To pretend their plans aren’t working when they aren’t implemented is silly. The headline is sensationalized and to claim it’s not working is to claim that it’s in place which the article fully admits it’s not.
In contrast, billionaires have very few obstacles to spending their own money. We literally just saw someone spend 44 billion dollars on a toy they are messing around. Do you know how many people needed to approve to send the offer to Twitter? One. Do you know how many people need to approve the US budget and where it gets spent? 535.
What this article equates to is “Ah both sides are the same.” We both know they aren’t.
