Joe Biden has a bunch of political problems, ranging from the crisis on the border to the divisions in his party over Israel, but the two biggest ones are his age and the economy. The sticker shock of post-Covid inflation followed by a higher price level for key products across the board is why Biden is deeply distrusted on the economy. The RealClearPolitics poll average currently shows his approval on the economy at 38.2 percent, with 59.2 percent disapproving. You don’t need an advanced degree in mathematics to grasp how bad that is. Biden’s short-lived effort to embrace “Bidenomics” as a label for this economy was such a disaster that even most Democrats have stopped trying to spin this.
The most glaring economic misstep of Biden’s presidency was pouring additional trillions of dollars into the economy — and planning even more than that — at a time when post-Covid supply shortages and pent-up demand were already generating inflationary pressures around the world. So, what are progressives urging Biden to do? More unsustainable government spending:
Progressives have pitched Biden officials and Democratic leaders in recent months on endorsing a plan to expand Americans’ Social Security benefits. . . . Biden embraced Social Security expansion during the 2020 Democratic primary, proposing to boost benefits for the lowest-income retirees and shore up Social Security’s main trust fund by raising taxes on those making $400,000 or more a year.
This is presented entirely in 2024 campaign terms, that being the longest view that the 81-year-old Biden can take of anything. But more spending is the worst prescription possible under the circumstances. Moreover, who seriously believes that this would not be deficit spending? Progressives, of course, have about ten other ideas for new spending, all of which they propose to fund with the same revenue stream of increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Failure to learn the lessons of history is one thing, but you’d think at least somebody in this White House has a memory that stretches back as far as 2021–22.