While the White House claims “Bidenomics” has benefited working Americans, its large spending deficits will only weaken the middle class in the end, one expert told Sputnik.
In the lead-up to the November 2024 US presidential election, President Joe Biden has looked to take credit for economic changes under his tenure, labeling his investment and trade policies and fiscal policy as “Bidenomics.”
Last month, the White House marked the one-year anniversary of “Bidenomics,” when key bills like the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act were passed, although Biden has presided over numerous other bills and executive actions affecting wide parts of the economy from fossil fuel extraction to infrastructure repair and trade with countries like China and Russia, who Washington considers rivals.
Speaking at a sheet metal workers’ union in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Monday, which is Labor Day in the United States, Biden defended “Bidenomics” as a boon for the working class.
Sputnik spoke with one expert, financial and geopolitical analyst Tom Luongo, about the realities of so-called “Bidenomics” under the 46th US president.
“Now, if you view the ‘Biden’ administration as a group of vandals attempting to destroy the country with open immigration, native worker replacement and ruinous inflation, then yes, ‘Bidenomics’ is working as intended. If you view it from the perspective of the voters it is a disaster,” the analyst said.
Luongo said the budget deficit was “ballooning because of reckless spending in [Washington,] DC, on projects that have negative return on investment – green technology – and the inexorable increase in US debt servicing payments because of the Fed’s aggressive interest rate policy.”
“The insane defense spending and hundreds of billions going to support Ukraine do not help matters. The Fed and US banks/investors are clearly telling the government in DC that there is no more room for ‘guns and butter.’ We can’t afford this and it’s time to pull back and retrench, spend the money better and differently than we have to date.”
He noted the US economy was “still limping along,” with continued but low economic growth but also low unemployment. However, Luongo said the Republicans needed to “get serious” about challenging Biden in the coming elections, saying that doing so would require a move toward the rapidly expanding “radical center of the US electorate.”
“No amount of ballot harvesting will cover what’s coming for these folks. The political consequences for them will be existential, which is why they continue to act as if they are ‘winning’ and on track, rather than what they really are: scared to death of all of their corruption coming back to destroy them all,” he said.
Returning to the deficit, Luongo said the unbalanced budget would soon begin to hurt Americans’ property values and costs of living.
“The loss for most Americans will be the degradation of their balance sheets in the form of equity in their homes, cars, etc. Energy costs are going to rise again. Interest rates will go higher into the election cycle. [Federal Reserve Chair] Jerome Powell has made it clear he won’t bail out Congress. Congress has to reform, or Congress will be overthrown in a year,” he said.
“The mood amongst the middle class in the US is dangerously angry. They know who the real villains are, and they are ready for what comes next. The trick for people like [former US President] Donald Trump and others will be to thread the needle between marshaling that anger constructively while keeping it stoked to a fever pitch to effect real change.”
“We in the middle class here in the states have to realize that we are being driven to despair on purpose. So, whatever their next outrage they inflict on us next has to be rebuked completely. This isn’t about numbers anymore; it’s about choosing a particular future.”
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