Biden’s economy continues to punish already hurting families

May 16, 2023

President Joe Biden’s economy continues to punish Americans, even those who supported him. That punishment comes in the form of high prices on most everything, employers who can’t find enough workers, and a declining standard of living, among other things.

Biden celebrates the recent rise in wages, which is a good thing in a growing economy, which creates an atmosphere where employers are competing for workers to keep up with increasing demand. Today, there are millions more open jobs than there are people looking for a job. 

But this economy is not growing, and wages are increasing now because employers can’t fill their open jobs and have to raise wages to get workers, so they can keep the doors open. This increases costs and results in higher prices. This is not normal, and is a sign of an unhealthy economy. 

What has caused this? During the pandemic, millions of people lost their jobs, and two years after it ended the labor force is still down by 2.8 million workers. Where are these people, and why aren’t they working?

According to Casey Mulligan, an economist at the University of Chicago, in a study titled “Paying Americans Not to Work,” 24 states have unemployment benefits and Obamacare subsidies for an unemployed family of four that are equal to or above the national median household income.

This family of four in three of those states gets $100,000 a year. In 14 other states, the family gets $80,000 or more. That is pretty decent pay for just staying home, so why work? Another question: Why are these benefits still being paid when the pandemic is over and millions of jobs are unfilled?

Another aspect of this situation is that Biden is able to brag about a low unemployment rate because those nearly 3 million people who lost jobs are not counted in the labor force, since they are not working or looking for a job. But when you count those who are being paid not to work as part of the labor force, the unemployment rate is horrible,

By contrast, before the pandemic hit, median family income in 2019 rose to almost $73,000, a $4,600 increase over 2018. Median family income levels rose for every racial group: White Americans, 5.7 percent; Black Americans, 7.9 percent; Hispanic Americans, 7.1 percent, and Asian Americans, 10.6 percent. This resulted in a lowered poverty rate of 10.5 percent, a 60-year low. 

While wages today are growing, the good aspects of higher pay are offset by the increases in the price of goods and services. The effect on workers is actually not more money in their pockets, but effectively less than they had before.

How can we reverse things and get back to those great numbers from 4 years ago? That requires things that Biden and company will not do. Things now are more to Biden’s liking than during the campaign, when he said, “I truly think that if we do this right, we have an incredible opportunity to not just dig out of this crisis, but to fundamentally transform the country.”

Does that sound familiar? Wasn’t it former President Barack Obama who said during a campaign appearance, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America?” Also, back in those days was the idea among Democrats that you “should never let a good crisis go to waste.”

When we compare today’s dismal economy with that of 2019, Biden has kept his promise, where the economy is concerned. And the Covid crisis provided the opportunity.

But not everybody likes the Obama-Biden prescription, and even fewer are doing okay under it, let alone doing much better. And the future does not look like improvement is likely.

Andrew Puzder, a former economic advisor to former President Donald Trump, addressed a National Leadership Seminar audience at Hillsdale College. He said this about what the future may hold. “In a recent Wall Street Journal survey of 23 large financial institutions that do business directly with the Federal Reserve, 16 predicted a recession in 2023 and two predicted a recession in 2024, while only five predicted we’d have only one-half percent economic growth, well below the 2.1 percent average over the past 20 years and dangerously close to what has traditionally been considered a recession.”

So, if things stay the same, a recession is likely. But sensible action on the part of the administration can fix things. Two things are critical to accomplishing this: energy and labor. 

Many people do not like fossil fuels, but the nation and the world still badly need them. Open the doors to energy production by removing the many obstacles to it, in terms of laws and regulations, some of which are courtesy of Biden.

While keeping government assistance programs for those that actually need them, stop paying people not to work so that the able-bodied will get a job. With a full labor force, production of badly needed goods and services will come back.

When the supply of goods and services is greater than the demand for them, we will not have inflation. And we will have plenty of the things we need and want.