Bidenomics -- We All Have An Opinion -- Here's One From Greg Ip -- June 30, 2023

Locator: 44840ECON.   

I posted my opinion earlier.

From The WSJ today:

I share his pain. Seriously.

By the way, I share his views on affirmative action, also. Very, very counterintuitive. I may or may not elaborate later. But I digress.

Back to the linked article:

President Biden kicks off a national campaign Wednesday pitching his economic record to a deeply skeptical public.

The challenge: Biden really has two economic records. One of them begins in late 2021 and consists of a series of legislative wins on infrastructure, semiconductor production and renewable energy, which he then preserved in a debt-ceiling deal with Republicans. These policies could shape the economy for years to come.

That record, though, is overshadowed by the record of his first months in office, when his American Rescue Plan pumped $1.9 trillion of demand into a supply-constrained economy. The result was the tightest job market in memory and a surge in inflation that still hangs over Biden’s approval ratings and his prospects for re-election.

I really don't have much interest in this article right now, but it's important for the archives.

However, having said that, this is excellent:

 If Biden’s early agenda was all about macroeconomics—unemployment and inflation—his subsequent agenda has been about microeconomics, i.e., the composition of economic growth. Trump’s frequent “infrastructure weeks” never actually led to new infrastructure. Biden, by contrast, got a massive infrastructure bill through Congress in 2021 and it went beyond roads to water treatment and high-speed internet. The Chips and Science Act last year was the largest federal commitment to industrial policy in recent history. The Inflation Reduction Act offered game-changing incentives for renewable energy and electric vehicles.

In a report Tuesday, the Treasury Department said those initiatives are making an imprint on the economic data. Factory construction, for example, has shot up, particularly for electronics. Not all of this is due to legislation: Semiconductor companies were increasing their U.S. footprint already in response to growing demand and pressure to diversify away from Asia. Nonetheless, comments of business leaders make it clear that federal incentives are having a palpable effect on their plans.

This newly assertive role for the federal government in shaping private investment isn’t without controversy. It is bulking up deficits, its “buy American” provisions have upset allies, and it has lowered the bar to interventions of questionable merit.

MAGA. 

Biden's problem. He can't force himself to say, "we're going to make America great again."