Bidenomics Cost American Families $14,000+ more then 2020
How much of that did you have to put on credit cards to make ends meet?
By Chuck Warren
President Joe Biden will arrive in Arizona on Monday to exaggerate about the success of his economic record. His tweet on Friday gave a preview of his stump speech. The President said that unemployment is at a record low, with “14.3 million jobs added since I took office: Bidenomics.” He added that the inflation is at the lowest it has been in two years, and that “It’s not an accident. It’s results.”
Here are the facts: the average American family spent $14,263 more than they would have without inflation in the first two and a half years of Biden’s Presidency. A $14,263 tax increase.
On average, an American family spent $475 more every month to buy the same goods as before. Again, that is average. What other things that are part of your daily life have increased besides the basics?
Median household spending was $834 more expensive in June than it was in January 2021. If inflation vanishes tomorrow, American households will forever spend an EXTRA $10,000 a year on average. Have working family’s incomes increased to match that additional debt for the same goods as 2020? This is Bidenomics.
There is a special place in Hades in attempting to take credit for fixing a mess you created. Taking credit for failing to fix it needs a new word that only Shakespeare could come up with.
And Democrats have created this mess in two ways.
First, there have been millions of jobs created in the last two and a half years because it is easy to create jobs after a government produced recession. As economist Brian Riedl explains, “Presidents who inherit a weak economy typically ride the natural recovery upward as millions of unemployed workers eagerly return to work.” It’s worth remembering why Biden inherited a recession: Covid lockdowns insisted on and prolonged by the Democrats. Red states led the way out of the economic doldrums.
The lowest unemployment rate doesn’t tell the whole story either. Before the pandemic started, labor force participation was at a 7-year high. But unlike in 2013, when the participation rate was dropping, before the pandemic started, the participation rate was increasing. Despite Biden’s self-congratulations, this number has not reached pre-pandemic levels yet, and the low unemployment rate is because the jobs Biden has created are not as good as they were before, so, people have entirely given up.
Second, the inflation rate is at its lowest in two years, but who was President two years ago? In March 2021, the 12-month trimmed mean inflation rate was 1.7 percent.
Joe Biden, the man who dumped trillions of dollars on the economy, promising that they wouldn’t cause inflation, while also adding excessive regulations on businesses, resulting in lower production and higher prices. And then he promised that inflation would be transitionary. And now he wants your vote for having brought down the inflation to only twice as high as it was when he took office.
But even if Biden manages to fix inflation, he will only have stopped the bleeding, not reversed the damage. Like scar tissue on a body, families will forever see it.
Everybody suffers from inflation, and the effects of it are worse on the poor, working class, middle class, and upper middle class. Many families spent that extra $14,263 from their credit cards and are now paying the interest on it. Are those interest rates ever part of legacy media “inflation” calculations? According to NPR, “With inflation outpacing incomes, more people are relying on credit cards to cover everyday expenses. Contrary to popular opinion, it's not usually a vacation or shopping spree," says senior industry analyst Ted Rossman of Bankrate. "It's usually something pretty practical that gets you into credit card debt. But unfortunately, it's easy to get in and hard to get out."
Other families took from their limited emergency savings or borrowed from family and friends. According to GOBankingRates' survey, 57% of Americans had less than $1,000 in their savings in both 2022 and 2023. This is called living on the edge with Bidenomics doing a gentle push over the fiscal cliff.
Those close to retirement, had to cut down on their retirement investments. Simply put, they have suffered more than $14,263 because of the interest they have paid on it or the profit they couldn’t make on it.
Another way Americans have mitigated inflation is by lowering the quality of their lives. Instead of beef and pork, they buy chicken. Or they delay buying a new house. Or they cut their vacation short this summer or skipped it altogether. They have been spending more to do less. These are the results of Bidenomics.
The President’s pitch for re-election is that Bidenomics is working. Has it been working for you?
Are you better off buying groceries today or in 2020?
And last, but not least, how better off should you be in November 2024 to forget the pains of Bidenomics past two and a half years?
Bidenomics has been a failure.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.