Folks who make above a certain threshold don't mind paying 20-25 per person lunches at a packed restaurant while there are many others who charge up their cards to keep up with those friends. Average rent and mortgage costs do not jive well with the average median salaries in their respective regions. Imagine putting 40% of your wages into rent. https://smartasset.com/data-studies/hours-of-work-needed-to-pay-rent-2022 It's not entirely a gaslight. More a continuation of a K shaped economy that narrows and widens since the Great Recession, and a story the media usually focuses on and caters to higher income readers.
As a bit of propaganda, I like the Bidenomics campaign. But, for propaganda to work you have hammer on it for an extended period of time. I think we'll see his approval ratings for the economy go up after a while if they keep it up. I like the term because it echoes the vocabulary from Reaganomics (the intervening presidents mostly had names that didn't conjoin with -'nomics' in a way that rolled off the tongue), but stakes out a sharply contrasting view of how to create economic prosperity. 'From the middle out' is obviously meant to rebut 'trickle down.' We will (to our chagrin) be saying 'Bidenomics' long after Biden is dead. Even when inflation is back to the target 2%, the prices are still going to be higher than they were in 2019. Apart from inflation, I think there is some price psyhcology at play here. I forget who, but a poster here said he can't feel like its over when you can't get a sit-down lunch for less than $20. But if you can't get a lunch now for less than $20, you're not going to get one later. But I think people get a price anchor in their minds above which a thing is overpriced -- but price anchors don't change with inflation unless you make a conscious recognition that the world no longer conforms to that crystallizing moment when you were 25. So, apart from the fact that prices continue to go up, people are going to need a little time to adjust to the new normal on prices. But people will adjust with time and the inflationary period will become less salient. Maybe or maybe not in time for the election.
Geez you are truly stupid. What about oil companies making record profits while we were paying 4 bucks a gallon for gas? https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=M
Why are food prices so high? Because companies got us used to paying more during the pandemic. They said we weren't paying enough pre-pandemic so now they have gotten us used to the high prices they aren't coming back down and they are making record profits. They even admit it. Simp. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/economy/food-prices-inflation/index.html
We'll see if sentiment turns around. I'm not good at predicting these things. But I do think this approach of "we have been great, the only problem is people don't appreciate us enough"* is something I feel like we see too much from the Dem Establishment. I think it's strategically a poor approach and also insulting. *A variant of this is "we were great but the problem is the people are too dumb / racist / sexist / fooled by Russian bots / etc."
And for that, there is mostly upside with little downside. Part of the "messaging" problem for Biden and the Democrats is that they have not been focusing on the economy in their messaging (the last Dem president to do so was Clinton), and they have left that void to be filled by Republicans. And yes, there is a reality gap. Examples include 60% of Americans thinking the economy is in a recession (factually wrong), and 25% of Americans thinking the economy is losing jobs (factually wrong). Just closing that reality gap should help a bit.
Do you watch the news Just this week consumer confidence is at a 2 year high. Sentiment *IS* changing. As inflation cools things will be better. Progressives magically care more about polling then policy since when? Biden is burying trickle down economics and replacing it with Progressive supply side economics.
People confidently buy now to avoid more inflation? Just kidding. Seriously consumer confidence may just be a better measure of the way people feel. When people are asked about the economy inflation is still a hot topic but if they are planning to spend money on something specifically, they are considering more factors
Gas prices are still 50 cents higher than average. If you look at refinery margins ( https://en.macromicro.me/charts/4376/crude-oil-cracking-spread-vs-wti ) the only reason gas is expensive is cuz margins are high cuz were exporting alot to Europe. With a stroke of a pen biden could issue a export ban which would curb margins and drop gas prices by 60 cents or so overnight. If the war doesn't end by next year I 100% see them doing this. Cheap gas nd low inflation will win people over. Next year well be in a much better situation
Agreed. Dems will need to keep their fingers crossed inflation keeps ticking lower, but the global order and global supply chains is a lot more fragile now.
in addition to job creation, the IRA has also capped the price of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. with the passage of IRA---see the writing on the wall--Many Insulin makers (Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi) have slashed their insulin prices by as much as 70%, towards a $35 cap out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare beneficiaries. Biden allies in Congress are working on to pressure the insulin makers to cap the prices of Insulin for all. Drugmaker Eli Lilly caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month, bringing relief for millions .
My Hometown Is Getting a $100 Billion Dose of Bidenomics A massive new semiconductor factory is coming to Syracuse. Can investments like this put the Rust Belt back on the map? In October, the semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology announced that it will spend as much as $100 billion over the next 20 years to build a plant outside Syracuse. It’s an unheard-of amount of money for Central New York. The deal was sealed by last summer’s CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan $50 billion investment in American-made semiconductor chips. It is, to date, the biggest example of—and the biggest bet on—the Biden administration’s rediscovery of an old idea about the economy: that geography matters. This approach recognizes that when it comes to growth and opportunity, the question is not just how much, but where and for whom. If it succeeds in places like Syracuse, it could transform the American economic and political landscape. “There is no doubt that without the CHIPS Act, we would not be here today,” Micron’s chief executive said upon announcing its Syracuse investment. Micron stands to reap billions from the act’s pot of money for new semiconductor plants and could collect even more from a separate investment tax credit. In exchange, the 20-year project is forecast to directly create 9,000 good-paying jobs, generate another 40,000 jobs at local companies, and raise $17 billion in state tax revenue. Micron has also pledged to fund local child care, achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and spend millions on other community investments. (New York mandated some of these commitments to unlock state subsidies, in part to avoid the kind of blowback that killed the Amazon HQ2 deal in Queens.) Having been burned before by big promises of new industry that never materialized, many in Syracuse are taking a believe-it-when-we-see-it caution with Micron. But the economics of hope are already gaining visible momentum. Even before Micron breaks ground, the county is preparing for a house-building spree. Underused spaces are being targeted for residential and commercial development. Public transit is being expanded to get workers to and from Micron. Colleges are adding degrees and training programs to seed a semiconductor workforce. Local breweries are crafting semiconductor-inspired lagers. A generation from now, Syracuse may be churning out semiconductors like it once did televisions and air conditioners. Maybe more children will be able to envision a good middle-class life where their roots are—not just in Syracuse, but in places like Detroit, Columbus, northwestern Indiana, and more. The old order had too little use for too many places. We may be witnessing the birth of a new one that spreads possibility and meaning across more of America.
‘Bidenomics’ is a business opportunity When a president sets an agenda it reveals where money will be spent. And smart / savvy businesses/investors are watching closely. Because regardless of where they stand politically, what’s best for their business / porfolio is always, always, always to follow the money. So where is the Bidenomics money going? For starters, there’s almost $300bn going towards building chip manufacturing plants under the 2022 Chips Act. There’s also another $391bn that’s being spent on companies that are improving their energy efficiency and making greener products under the Inflation Reduction Act. A trillion dollars is being expended on roads, buildings and other infrastructure projects thanks to the 2021 Infrastructure Act. That’s about $1.7tn, which is a lot of money. The president is also telling us that more will be spent on affordable healthcare, social services and education. That’s where the money’s going over the next few years and even more will be spent if he wins re-election in 2024. Finding this money, let alone applying, isn’t easy. Many businesses have already hired summer interns whose jobs are to peruse the maze of government bureaucracy, identify opportunities and start filling out forms. Doing this takes time, effort, tenacity. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Even if you’re not in the chip/construction/clean energy industries you can still leverage Bidenomics. That’s because all of the companies that are getting funding will need your products or services. Chip manufacturing plants will have employees that eat pizza. Highways have buildings that need to be cleaned. “Green” products need to be transported. People in these industries getting all that money will need accountants, lawyers, architects, marketing professionals and workplace consultants. whether you’re a fan of Biden’s – or any president’s economic policies – there’s always plenty of money and opportunities to pursue if you just follow the money.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/05/opinion/debt-crisis.html America Is Living on Borrowed Money July 5, 2023 By The Editorial Board The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom. The federal debt is as old as the nation, and adding to it is sometimes prudent. For governments confronting “existential crises” like wars or pandemics, borrowing makes sense as a way to mobilize national resources, as the economist Barry Eichengreen wrote in the 2021 book, “In Defense of Public Debt.” Government borrowing and spending are necessary to stimulate the economy during recessions. And Treasuries, safe and liquid, play a critical role in the global financial system — so much so that in the late 1990s, when a period of economic growth and reduced military spending allowed the government to sharply reduce borrowing, economists and bankers raised alarms about the consequences of too little federal debt. The United States, however, now borrows heavily during periods of economic growth to meet basic and ongoing obligations. It’s increasingly unsustainable. Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projects that annual federal budget deficits will average around $2 trillion per year, adding to the $25.4 trillion in debt the government already owes to investors. Borrowing is expensive. A mounting share of federal revenue, money that could be used for the benefit of the American people, goes right back out the door in the form of interest payments to investors who purchase government bonds. Rather than collecting taxes from the wealthy, the government is paying the wealthy to borrow their money. By 2029, the government is on pace to spend more each year on interest than on national defense, according to the Congressional Budget Office. By 2033, interest payments will consume an amount equal to 3.6 percent of the nation’s economic output. Before the pandemic, a decade of very low interest rates meant that even as the federal debt swelled, interest payments remained relatively modest. Measured as a share of the national economy, the federal debt was roughly twice as large at the beginning of 2020 as it was at the beginning of 1990, but the burden of interest payments was barely half as large. The era of low interest rates has ended, however. The cost of living on borrowed money is rising. It is imperative for the nation’s leaders to chart a new course. Although one wouldn’t know it from the celebrations in Washington last month, the deal reached to raise the debt ceiling does not amount to a meaningful start. Democrats agreed to modest spending cuts; Republicans refused to consider any measures to increase revenue. The result? Before the deal, the C.B.O. projected the debt would reach roughly $46.7 trillion in 2033. After the deal, it projected the total would be only marginally smaller, at $45.2 trillion. That would equal 115 percent of the nation’s annual economic output, the highest level on record. Both parties say they understand the need for larger changes. “We’re going to do even more to reduce the deficit,” President Biden declared in a speech from the Oval Office after Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, acknowledging that the legislation didn’t amount to much, said after the vote that he intended to form a bipartisan commission “so we can find the waste and we can make the real decisions to really take care of this debt.” The talk, however, is hard to take seriously. Republicans evidently are not concerned about the debt. Every time they have had the opportunity in recent decades, they have passed tax cuts that force the government to borrow more money. They’ve already got a new tax cut package in their sights. Democrats, for their part, have grown wary of calls to curtail spending because predictions of dire consequences have not come to pass, and because they have learned the bitter lesson that agreeing to spending cuts simply creates room for Republicans to justify another round of tax cuts. The debt ceiling is part of the problem. It was never intended to limit the federal debt. It was actually created to facilitate borrowing. During World War I, Congress got tired of authorizing each new round of bonds, so it gave the Treasury permission to borrow up to a specific limit. Its current use, as a means for Republicans to extort spending cuts from Democrats by threatening to push the nation into default, is even less productive. Larger changes are going to happen only if both political parties are willing participants. A first step in resetting the conversation is to eliminate the debt ceiling before its next scheduled appearance in 2025. President Biden has brushed aside calls for his administration to pursue a legal ruling that the ceiling is unconstitutional. In doing so, he is repeating the mistake he made last fall, when he failed to press for legislation to repeal the ceiling. A case pending in federal court in Boston, brought by federal workers concerned that a default would come at the expense of their pensions, offers a potential vehicle. Other legal avenues also should be explored. It makes sense to pursue a ruling while there is no imminent danger of hitting the ceiling. If courts reject the legal challenges, that would also be clarifying. Any substantive deal will eventually require a combination of increased revenue and reduced spending, not least because any politically viable deal will require a combination of those options. Both parties will have to compromise: Republicans must accept the necessity of collecting what the government is owed, and of imposing taxes on the wealthy. Democrats must recognize that changes to Social Security and Medicare, the major drivers of federal spending growth going forward, should be on the table. Anything less will prove fiscally unsustainable. That will require painful choices. But the failure to make those choices also has a price — and the price tag is increasing rapidly.
