While Donald Trump and the Republicans who want to run against him keep competing to see who can be meanest to people Republicans hate, Joe Biden is rolling out campaign themes that emphasize how quickly the US has recovered from the economic morass that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The White House yesterday released a statement touting the economic record of the Biden-Harris administration, with a title that’s a little big for a bumper sticker but gets the point across: “Bidenomics Is Working: The President’s Plan Grows the Economy from the Middle Out and Bottom Up—Not the Top Down.”
Mind you, it’s not a campaign document, because after all that would violate the Hatch Act. It’s just the administration tooting its horn, because there’s a lot to toot about.
“Bidenomics” is all about recognizing that “the best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up,” a phrase that Barack Obama loved too, but which has been a central part of Biden’s messaging.
And yeah, the numbers bear that out; as Oliver Willis notes, a 2021 report from the Congressional Budget Office projected that it would take until 2026 to get the unemployment rate back down to pre-pandemic levels. At the time of the report, unemployment was around six percent. Biden’s policies brought unemployment down to the pre-pandemic rate of 3.9 percent by December 2021, and since then the unemployment rate has stayed under four percent for 18 straight months. In May, it was 3.7 percent, continuing a period of low unemployment that hasn’t been seen since 1969. No, we will not embed “Whitey on the Moon” again, but we’ll darn sure link it.
The White House reminds us of some of Old Handsome Joe’s greatest successes: continued job growth (12 million new jobs since Biden took office), inflation coming under control, and a real industry policy focused on creating good-paying union jobs for the clean energy transition, including 150 battery plants and 50 new solar manufacturing plants since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
New data released just today shows the clean energy workforce added nearly 300,000 jobs in 2022 and clean energy jobs grew in every state in America, in part because of the investments in clean energy and manufacturing by the Biden-Harris Administration.
On Monday, the administration rolled out one of the big achievements in 2001’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, announcing $40 billion in funding to “make sure everyone in the United States has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet by the end of the decade.” Other parts of the broadband program have been coming out in piecemeal allotments, such as the Agriculture Department’s programs to grow rural broadband, but now we’re getting the main course, to be administered by the Department of Commerce through the “Broadband Equity Access and Deployment” (BEAD) program, which will offer $42 billion in grants for broadband development and expansion in every state, territory, and whatever the District of Columbia is.
Every state and territory will get a minimum of $107 million, with 19 states that need the most broadband development getting allocations of over $1 billion. We aren’t only talking rural broadband, although that’s often where there’s little or no fast internet available; the funding will also address areas all over the country where internet service is “limited or unreliable,” too, which often includes lower-income areas of cities where there’s a “digital divide” in too many neighborhoods.
Monday’s announcement was the first event in a three-week “Investing in America” tour, which will involve Biden and Harris and their spouses as well as top administration officials going around the country to point at new investments and make darn sure people know where they came from.
Like, say, right now in Chicago. Everybody say hi to Joe!
Heck, Biden’s even willing to be gracious to the odd Republican — and few come odder than Alabama’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville — who voted against the infrastructure law but now touts it. Mind you, Biden’s social media team is also graciously pointing out who gets top billing. We also rather like that the Twitter community notes people were on top of that detail, too:
Running on the economy seems like a pretty smart idea, especially if people’s mood about the economy continues in this direction, as “Wallet Hub” reports:
Consumers feel 18% more confident about their financial outlook this month than they did one year ago, according to the latest WalletHub Economic Index, released today (with accompanying expert commentary).The WalletHub Economic Index is a monthly survey that evaluates economic prospects based on 10 components of consumer sentiment. These components revolve around how people feel about their finances, purchasing plans and employment opportunities.
• Decreasing stress: Consumers’ stress levels regarding money are lower (-10.6%) in June 2023 compared to the same period last year.
• Increase in optimism: In June 2023, consumers’ optimism about whether their finances will improve in the next six months is noticeably higher (+12.1%) than it was last year.
• Rising interest in auto purchases: The share of consumers who expect to buy a car in the next six months rose by roughly 9% in June 2023 compared to last year.
• More new employment opportunities: The share of consumers who feel new employment opportunities are “abundant” is 10% higher in June 2023 compared to last year.
This is where we feel obliged to say that November 2024 is still a long way off and it would be premature to take anything for granted, but with that in mind, we really do think that “Have you noticed that you’re doing better lately?” is a hell of a more inviting message to voters than “Woke drag queens are going to make your children hate America, please panic more!!!!!!”
Good thing Joe Biden has those shades, because as the song says, the future isn’t looking half bad at all.
[White House / American Independent / Heather Cox Richardson / WalletHub / Image created using DreamStudio AI and photoshoop]
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