Biden did the most amazing thing for the economy, and people are just starting to notice.
He FINALLY ended what Reagan started — the reign of BS supply-side economics, where the top is fed and we all wait for the crumbs (which don’t come).
Instead, he built the economy from the middle out and from the bottom UP. It’s called Bidenomics, baby, and boy does it work!! Here’s some high points from Heather Cox Richardson:
Last week, a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed strong economic growth of 3.3% in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2023, setting growth for the year at 3.1% (by comparison, in the first three years of Trump’s term, before the pandemic, growth was 2.5%). A year ago, economists projected that the U.S. would have a recession in 2023, and forecast growth of 0.2%.
Meanwhile, unemployment remains low, wages are high, and inflation is receding. As Gabriel T. Rubin put it in the Wall Street Journal today, “The final three months of the year looked a lot like the soft landing Fed officials are seeking to achieve.”
When they took office, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris rejected “supply side” economics and vowed to restore buying power to the demand side of the economy: ordinary Americans. They invested in manufacturing, infrastructure, small businesses, and workers’ rights. And now, after years in which pundits said their policies would never work, the numbers are in. The U.S. economy is very strong indeed, and at least some voters who have backed Republicans for a generation are noticing, as United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain made clear yesterday when the union made a strong and early endorsement of President Biden.
As Simon Rosenberg (who inspired the title of this diary) says in his January 27 Hopium Chronicles, "More Encouraging Inflation Data, Joe Biden Is a Good President."
The months and months of encouraging economic news continued with q4 GDP coming in at 3.3% — far higher than analysts expected, and another sign of just how remarkable the economy has been under Joe Biden. Let’s recap where we are today:
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Best job market since the 1960s, stock market setting records (401Ks are happy), best recovery in the G7, consumer sentiment rising
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Historically elevated wage growth, new business formation and prime-age worker participation rates. In the last few months we’ve seen some of the most robust real wage growth we’ve seen in decades, and Americans at all income levels have seen sizeable increases in their overall net worth
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The annual deficit is trillions less than when Biden came to office
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For young people the job market is the best since the 1960s; more young people have health insurance today than ever before; the President has forgiven more than $130b in student debt; by some measure home ownership rates are higher for Gen Z than Gen X and Millennials at this point in their lives; and rising minimum wages in states and cities across the US have created higher floors for new and entry-level workers than in many years.
From that historically liberal [sarcasm] rag, the Wall Street Journal —> What Recession? Growth Ended Up Accelerating in 2023:
The recession never showed up in 2023. Consumers made sure of it.
The U.S. economy grew 3.1% over the past year, the Commerce Department said Thursday. A resilient labor market supported strong consumer spending and brushed aside a feared downturn. A year ago economists saw a recession as very likely and projected anemic 0.2% growth for the year. Instead, last year’s gain was a sharp pickup from a comparable 0.7% advance in 2022.
And people are starting to notice, as the New York Times notes:
Americans Feel Better About the Economy
Americans are feeling more confident about the economy than they have in years.
They increasingly expect inflation to continue its descent, preliminary data indicates, and they think interest rates will soon moderate.
Or, in the words of Drew Goins at the Washington Post:
The vibecession is over because the economy now slays
For quite some time now, the economy has been happily humming along — low unemployment, high growth, slowing inflation. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Labor Sentiments, chaired by Catherine Rampell, has reported in vibe check after vibe check that Americans just aren’t feeling it.
Consumer confidence is increasing, and the share of Americans who think we’re in a recession (we’re not!) is down. Catherine names some tangibles she thinks we can credit, including higher prices in the stock market and lower ones at the gas pump.
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden did more than many people guessed could be done. And he deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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This is an entry in my ongoing series Boosting Biden.
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