Biden's Brand Suffers From 'Back in the Day' Economics, Inflation's Reality
Why has "Bidenomics" vanished from the President's Speeches?
PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Lee Habeeb, creator and host of Our American Stories, a podcast and weekly syndicated radio show.
Everyone has a parent or grandparent who loves reminding us of the good old days when the price of everything was so much lower. They begin the walk down inflation lane with the words "Back in the day," and then let you know, as my parents loved to do, that they purchased their three-story home in Bergen County, New Jersey, for $30,000 back in 1961. Or that a gallon of gas that year was 36 cents. Or that a trip across the nearby George Washington Bridge was $1. Always, they got a kick out of our reaction.
The problem President Joe Biden currently faces is this: "Back in the day" economics is no longer a distant conversation between generations but among them. It's one Americans are having together: young and old; Black, brown and white; rural, suburban and urban too. When we start a sentence with those four words "Back in the day," we're not comparing 2024's cost of living to 1964, 1984, 2004 or even 2014. We're comparing it to that not-so-distant year 2019, when the last guy, President Donald Trump, was in charge at the White House.
Recent news stories reporting that inflation has risen a staggering 20 percent since Biden took office was not news to anyone who's been paying rent and electric bills, buying gas and groceries, or trying to finance a car or home. To be precise, grocery prices are up 21 percent, shelter costs are up 18.37 percent, and energy prices are up 38 percent. Worse still, wage growth has not kept up with these cost-of-living increases.
Biden's team, asleep on the inflation front for what seemed an eternity, assured a worried nation that inflation was, to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's favorite word, "transitory." They then pivoted from ignoring the problem to selling the idea that "Bidenomics" was working. But by November 2023, that term suddenly disappeared from the president's speeches.
"Biden has used the word 101 times since June," NBC reported, "but has made no mention of it for almost a full month." Today, the administration's emphasis is on inflation's rate of decline, along with blaming greedy corporations for the rising costs of everything.
READ MORE HERE:
PLUG PODCAST: Our American Stories
BIO: Lee Habeeb, creator and host of Our American Stories, co-founded Laura Ingraham’s national radio show in 2001, moved to Salem Media Group in 2008 as Vice President of Content overseeing their nationally syndicated lineup, and launched Our American Stories in 2016. He is a University of Virginia School of Law graduate, and writes a weekly column for Newsweek.
FIND HIS WEBSITE HERE:
FIND HIS LINKEDIN HERE:
FIND HIS TWITTER HERE:
FIND HIS FACEBOOK HERE:
FIND HIS PODCAST HERE:
Lee Habeeb, creator and host of Our American Stories, a podcast and weekly syndicated radio show.