Why People Do Not Praise Bidenomics  

By Shlomo Maital

(Washington Post cartoon)

    The US economy is performing better than any of the other large wealthy industrial nations.  Yet, Americans, in polls, do not seem to think so.

     Why?  

     Economists can trot out all the numbers they want.  In the end, people will believe what they believe, and why they believe it.  NYT columnist Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in economics,  has a good explanation.  I agree with it.

     Inflation implies rising prices.  You pay more for everything.  Let’s say, the rise in prices more or less slows, as it has in the US lately.  Good, right?

     No.  Not good.  Gasoline is $4 a gallon.  Beef is way up.  Everything is more expensive – except the wages I earn. 

     We have long memories on prices–  because, for years, prices in the US were stable, and then suddenly, began to rise during COVID.  Even if prices stop rising,  they are still much higher than they were once.  And people remember.  It is the level of prices people use as their yardstick, rather than the rate of change. 

     So, don’t count on Bidenomics getting high grades from the American people.  When gasoline was, say, $3 a gallon for a decade, and then jumped to $4,  well, that’s bad news.   That gives Biden a D minus, no matter what the inflation rate becomes today and tomorrow.  

     Is there a remedy?  I doubt it.  Our views on the economy are highly subjective, ridden with biases and misperceptions that are hard to dispel.  It would be a shame, if a worthy President failed to be re-elected, falling to an unworthy one.  It could happen.  Lots of us are worried.