Joe promises to ‘restore the American Dream’ with ‘Bidenomics’

By William On Jun 28, 2023

President Joe Biden is going all in for “Bidenomics” as voters continue to give him low marks for his stewardship of the economy ahead of the 2024 election.

The president and his team are trying to turn the slogan, which Republicans and conservative opinion writers have used to destroy Biden’s economic tenure, into a phrase positive for a second term.

“Bidenomics is just another way of saying restore the American dream,” Biden said Wednesday in Chicago during what the White House billed as a major economic speech.

The move comes as a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows that only 34% of Americans approve of Biden’s economic leadership — a number that’s lower than his 41% approval rating.

Biden noted that the phrase was not his, but noted that he liked it.

‘Look, you’ve branded it. I didn’t,” Biden told reporters of the phrase as he left the White House for Chicago on Wednesday morning. “I never called it Bidenomics.”

“The first time it was used was in the Wall Street Journal,” he added. ‘I like it. It is well. Yes, it’s fine because it’s my policy.’

The Wall Street Journal wrote about “Bidenomics 101” in a July 2022 op-ed, noting, “The president seems to know nothing about how the private economy works.”

The White House is visibly frustrated with the president’s polls, claiming he’s not getting enough credit for everything he’s done to bring the country back from the COVID pandemic.

“Since the president took office, 13 million jobs have been created,” Lael Brainard, Biden’s top economic advisor, said Tuesday. “The unemployment rate is near historic lows, below 4 percent for the longest stretch in nearly 50 years. And we have record low unemployment for groups that have been left behind too often.”

Inflation has fallen from a high of 9% last month to 4%, although it is still below the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. The economy has added back all the jobs lost during the pandemic.

And Goldman Sachs puts the probability of a recession in the next 12 months at 25%, lower than its previous estimate of 35%.

Before leaving for Chicago, Biden slammed economists who predicted a recession is on the horizon.

“Every month comes a recession next month,” he said.

“Two-thirds of economists agree and major banking leaders think we won’t have a recession,” he added. “I don’t think we’re going to do that either.”

President Joe Biden is trying to make “Bidenomics” a positive term for his campaign

Republicans have attacked President Biden for his stewardship of the economy, including high inflation earlier this year that drove up the cost of food

So Biden and his team are trying to do with “Bidenomics” what they did with “Let’s go Brandon” – which was originally intended as an insult to Biden – by making it their own term. ‘Dark Brandon’ has now become a meme for a stronger, sharper president.

But will they succeed with ‘Bidenomics?’ It’s safe to say most voters don’t know what it means, even though the president’s message isn’t new.

Here’s what Biden and his officials describe as “Bidenomics,” a list of his administration’s accomplishments and goals:

Infrastructure: 35,000 new projects have been awarded funding in communities across the country since the bipartisan infrastructure bill was passed
Requiring Made-in-America products when using federal funding builds a strong domestic manufacturing base
The CHIPS Act that will produce more semiconductors in America
End unwanted costs
Education for workers and decentralization of trade unions
Improving economic competition
Invest in clean energy
Reducing the cost of prescription drugs for seniors
Install broadband cable for internet
Wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations
Wants to crack down on tax evaders

Biden’s Republican rivals have used his economic stewardship against him, including record high inflation that drove up the cost of food, fuel and housing earlier this year.

“I will stop Joe Biden’s inflation nightmare, save the US economy,” former President Donald Trump said in a speech last week.

“You would think with these economic problems with inflation, you might want to tap into more domestic energy,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in Iowa. “But no, Biden is deliberately trying to master our energy production and he’s trying to force Americans into electric vehicles, making us more dependent on China, which supplies most of the materials for the batteries.”

And Republicans also argue that Biden has done too much, saying his post-pandemic programs have soared the federal deficit.

Biden has also used the power of the executive pen to boost government-funded programs and to encourage business leaders to lower the prices of drugs, airlines and the cost of Internet access.