Bidenomics: Two Years of Falling Incomes
By The Editorial Board April 17, 2023 6:43 pm ET President Joe Biden on April 5. Photo: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS The media are wondering why the public continues to be sour about the U.S. economy despite the Biden Administration’s attempt to explain how great it is. The answer lies in a startling comment by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday in his speech at the New York Stock Exchange. “Americans have received a pay cut for 24 consecutive months—the longest streak in American history—as inflation has persisted,” Mr. McCarthy said. “In fact, since President Biden took office, families have lost the equivalent of $7,400 worth of income.” If true, this means that Americans haven’t had a raise since Mr. Biden took office. We’ve been wondering about that ourselves, as we moni
President Joe Biden on April 5.
Photo: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS
The media are wondering why the public continues to be sour about the U.S. economy despite the Biden Administration’s attempt to explain how great it is. The answer lies in a startling comment by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday in his speech at the New York Stock Exchange.
“Americans have received a pay cut for 24 consecutive months—the longest streak in American history—as inflation has persisted,” Mr. McCarthy said. “In fact, since President Biden took office, families have lost the equivalent of $7,400 worth of income.”
If true, this means that Americans haven’t had a raise since Mr. Biden took office. We’ve been wondering about that ourselves, as we monitor the monthly inflation statistics and their impact on real earnings. The nearby chart tells the story, and, sure enough, the Biden Presidency has been dreadful for incomes after inflation, which is one proxy for the overall American standard of living.
The chart shows the trend in average weekly earnings for private workers who aren’t supervisors in 1982-1984 dollars from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Weekly earnings hit a peak of $338.57 in January 2021, the last month of the Trump Presidency.
They proceeded to fall in 2021, especially as inflation began to pick up. Average weekly earnings after inflation really hit the skids starting in October 2021, and they reached a low of $322.96 last June as inflation peaked at 9.1%. They have slowly climbed most months since and were up to $326.40 in March. Yet that’s still a decline over two years of 3.6%.
This is ugly by any measure, and it documents the price that Americans are paying for inflation unleashed by the spending and monetary excesses of President Biden, the last Democratic Congress and the Federal Reserve. Americans understand this—which goes a long way to explaining why only 37.4% of the public approves of Mr. Biden’s performance on the economy in the Real Clear Politics polling average.
More Americans are working, but their standard of living isn’t rising. Bidenomics has been a bust for the middle class that Mr. Biden claims to champion.
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