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From a legislative perspective, Joe Biden is the most successful president since Ronald Reagan, but he faces skeptical voters in his bid for reelection.
The American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Act, Chips and Science Act and green energy, electric vehicle and other industrial policy initiatives embedded in the Inflation Reduction Act set the economy on a new path.
Biden has strengthened NATO and alliances in the Pacific and reoriented foreign trade and investment policies with the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The latter takes tariff cuts off the table and seeks arrangements that secure supply chains and foster middle class employment.
Progressives herald Biden’s great economy — record U.S. jobs creation and low unemployment. Yet several recent polls indicate former President Donald Trump would have a decent chance of beating him in 2024 if he can stay out of jail.
Polls taken during the recent debt -ceiling face off indicate voters see Biden veering too far to the left — spending too much and not conceding enough ground to the Republicans.
The U.S. federal deficit has jumped to an estimated $1.5 trillion this year from $984 billion in 2019 — the last year before COVID emergency spending — and is simply too inflationary.
Most Americans won’t get those great union jobs making semiconductors in Arizona, but they buy groceries and vote. They have little confidence in the economic leadership offered by Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“ Biden refuses to tackle the tough problems that are the root causes of the high cost of government and inflation. ”
Biden refuses to tackle the tough problems that are the root causes of the high cost of government and inflation. Americans spend about 50% more than the Germans and Dutch for comparable health care, for example. The president’s student loan forgiveness program does nothing about the high cost of college. His industrial policies paper over with subsidies the nation’s cost disadvantages in manufacturing—for example, 44% as compared to Asia in semiconductors.
By refusing to negotiate genuine free-trade agreements with allies that pose no threat to our labor standards including the EU, U.K., Japan and Taiwan, Biden’s policies drive up prices for imported goods. The U.S. federal budget also does not address the pending Social Security funding crisis.
Taxing the wealthy has its limits. In New York City and California, for instance, the top combined federal-, state- and local income tax rates now exceed 50% and the well-off are leaving in droves.
Moreover, higher taxes on stock buybacks, as Biden proposes, is folly. Businesses without good uses for all their profits should return more to shareholders for reinvestment in emerging industries. Taxing the recirculation of capital only serves to reduce innovation, productivity and growth and feed inflation.
“ Americans are weary of the culture wars. ”
The country faces shortages in critical skills areas like nursing that could be alleviated by immigration reform. Instead of stepping up, Biden imposes on Americans horrendous wait times at hospital emergency rooms.
Trump, who is trying to retake the office he lost in 2020, offers few answers to these issues. According to his own attorney general, William Barr, Trump “does not have the discipline. He does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking, or setting priorities or how to get things done in the system,”
Trump did accomplish stronger U.S. economic growth in the few years before COVID by cutting taxes and deregulating. But his administration couldn’t pass infrastructure or immigration bills, and problems with health care and education were left to fester just as they are with Biden.
Florida Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has an impressive legislative record — tax cuts, near universal school choice, paycheck protection for unionized public employees and sizable funding for Everglades restoration.
But going to war with Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
when the gravity of public opinion in conservative Florida would have permitted his ban on discussions in schools about gender identity to prevail, indicates a pugnacious disposition and misjudgment unworthy of national leadership.
Americans are weary of culture wars — ask the folks that make Bud Light. Trump and DeSantis know how to tap into that, but Republicans are vulnerable on abortion. Only Nikki Haley, among credible GOP contenders offers even a vague proposal to counter the DeSantis extreme — Florida bans most abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy — an unpopular position among the educated women he will need to win the White House.
Other Republicans in the 2024 field don’t stand out because they are not articulating how they would solve the nation’s fiscal problems and inflation, save Social Security, fix immigration or address high health-care and college costs.
The GOP presidential candidates ares united against Biden, but what are they for? About what matters most, not much.
Peter Morici is an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland, and a national columnist.
Also read: Americans may have to start working younger and retire older. That might be a good thing.
More: ‘Thanks, Joe Biden’: Republican lawmaker blames president after spending $800 at Costco
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