Experts Say Bidenomics Hurting Americans: 'Families Have Seen a $6,000-a-Year Pay Cut'
While President Biden is celebrating his economic policies, some experts say "Bidenomics" is doing more harm than good.
Wednesday marked one year since Biden's so-called "Inflation Reduction Act" became law. And though exceptionally high rates of inflation are slowing down, even the president admits his law had little to do with it.
Harvard University economist Jason Furman says the bill did not help fight inflation. "I can't think of any mechanism by which it would have brought down inflation to date," Furman said.
Alex Arnon, an economic and budget analyst for the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model, agrees that the "Inflation Reduction Act" didn't work. "We can say with pretty strong confidence that it was mostly other factors that have brought inflation down,'' he said. "The IRA has just not been a significant factor.''
Tuesday in Milwaukee, Biden made the case that it's more about investing in new energy sources and new factories. "It has less to do with reducing inflation than it has to do with providing alternatives that generate economic growth," Biden claimed Thursday.
President Joe Biden speaks at Ingeteam Inc. Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Still, Democrats are hoping the law will generate political tailwinds as the campaign season kicks off.
But the public isn't convinced. A new poll from the Associated Press shows only 36 percent of U.S. adults approve of Biden's handling of the economy.
Joel Griffith of the Heritage Foundation tells CBN's Faith Nation that Democrat confidence about "Bidenomics" is misplaced. He says the hundreds of billions of dollars of Green New Deal subsidies actually increased the federal deficit.
"This is the last thing that our already weak economy needed, and if you look back at the last two years, families have seen a $6,000 a year pay cut due to inflation, and this bill that Biden is celebrating will only make things worse," he said.
All that inflation has had a terrible impact on consumer pocketbooks.
One leading economist estimates families are spending about $700 more on their monthly bills than two years ago. Moody Analytics reports the typical American household spent $709 more in July to buy the same goods and services. In other words, inflation hasn't gone down and is still hurting Americans tremendously.
With the cost of living so high, many Americans are turning to credit cards to make ends meet. The New York Federal Reserve reports total household debt stands at just over $17 trillion – a new high.
The total amount owed on those credit cards – more than $1 trillion.
