Each year nearly 1,000 words are added to the English lexicon, according to Atkins Bookshelf and others. Some are portmanteaus, which blend the sounds and meanings of two separate words.
The portmanteau of the moment and for leftists is Bidenomics.
Bidenomics has the sounding symmetry of Reaganomics but that is where all similarities ends. Reaganomics spearheaded the Reagan administration’s economic policy guided by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman whose 1980 bestseller, “Free to Choose” is a must read not just for economists and politicians.
Reaganomics slowed government spending, reducing the federal income and capital gains tax, regulation, and tightened the money supply to reduce inflation.
Reaganomics set the brakes on inflation, whereas Bidenomics has succeeded in kicking inflation into overdrive.
The highest inflation in a half century is not something to brag about or derive another useless word added to an ever-expanding English language waistline.
What exactly is Bidenomics? Such a query reminds me of what Bill Clinton told the grand jury in the Starr report’s infamous question about what the meaning of “is” is.
Bidenomics is stimulus spending that has resulted in inflated prices, slow economic growth, increased credit card debt, rising interest rates, burdensome regulation, dwindling wages, runaway government spending, borrowing, and money printing. Biden printed trillions of dollars during COVID of which plenty was lost to fraud.
Others say Bidenomics is where cash payments are funneled through corrupt foreign governments to enrich the Biden family and their cronies, while convincing folks they are better off than they are.
Then there are others who say Bidenomics is partisan projects designed to generate votes for Democrats consisting of Green New Deals. Bidenomics has a particular interest in college loan debt forgiveness that benefits those delaying paying back their loans and most especially throughout the halls of academia, where suppressing free speech via neo-Marxist ideology is vogue.
Regardless of what Biden’s minions throw against the wall, the facts of Bidenomics can’t be denied: 16.6% inflation and 3% wage growth since taking office parallels Biden’s low 40s approval rating, according to Real Clear Politics.
Moreover, the 2023 federal budget of $5.8 trillion was one-third greater than just two years ago and the culprit of spiraling inflation, and slow economic growth. In 2024, the federal budget will grow even more to $6.9 trillion with no debt ceiling cap.
When Biden declared, “spending money reduces inflation and how Build Back Better is going to cost zero dollars … and not add a single penny to our deficit,” how can anyone believe what this administration is saying about anything?
Bidenomics is an attempt to fix what Biden broke, period.
In its simplest form Bidenomics results when income fails to keep pace with inflation and is another political buzzword used to dismiss facts that change the narrative. Bidenomics is akin to peeing on people’s heads and declaring it’s raining.
Despite the hype, inflation remains higher than before Biden took office. Biden’s inflation tax is costly. What is keeping Biden’s economy buoyant is Trump’s tax cuts.
High prices have turned economic issues that would be an election tailwind for Biden into a strong headwind. Americans are not buying this latest play on words as there remains a lingering lack of confidence despite low unemployment and a housing market that is stabilizing.
Whether or not we dodged a recession remains to be seen. November 2024 is still well over a year away. The red flag that remains is a deeply inverted U.S. Treasury yield curve that historically means a recession could be in the offing. Moreover, Yellow Freight, one of the oldest and biggest U.S. trucking firms, closed their doors in the midst of supply chain anxieties.
Growth for growth’s sake does not resonate unless we are growing along with it, boosting our standard of living. Even if prices fall, shrinkflation is thriving as anyone who shops for food knows all too well. When inflation outpaces income, your standard of living erodes.
Bidenomics is really Bidencomics – when folly and fabrications collide with reality.
Bidenomics may not be found in the Journal of Applied Econometrics, or on any academic syllabus and may not even make the final cut for inclusion in the 2023 dictionary, but you can bet it will be front and center on the 2024 ballot.
