0 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: Casual Questions Thread
If you get into actual economic numbers, Joe Biden arguably has a very strong case to make that he's done well with the economy
What do you mean by "actual economic numbers"? Because the economy isn't doing that well if you consider these to be the actual economic numbers:
if someone is picturing 2019 they're going to think about how their rent was $400 cheaper, they were spending $40 less every time they went grocery shopping, $10 less every time they filled up their tank, and their favorite fast food combo that used to cost $8 might now cost $11.
The simple answer to "how does he fix his perception issue on the economy?" is "make people's economic situation better." I'm going to assume most people have a better sense of their personal economic situation than the government does. So if there's a disagreement over how well people are doing, I'm starting from a presumption that folks who think Biden's not doing well are right.
Thus the question becomes "How does *Biden* correct his perception on the economy?"
If my rent has gone up 15% and my food bill is up 10% and gas is up 25% while my wages have only gone up 2%, and someone is trying to tell me my economic situation is actually doing really well, who do you think has the perception problem?
Comment by GiantPineapple at 08/11/2023 at 20:55 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The reason we had the inflation you describe was the massive free money train that crisscrossed the nation in 2020. People already got that money. For them to grouse that prices then went up *is* irrational - that is first week of Econ 1 stuff. You could argue that the rich got most of the money, there's probably something there, and the Dems should prepare to address it. But otherwise, voters just have to be told in a way they can understand without getting mad.
Comment by Waylander0719 at 08/11/2023 at 18:26 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Typically the economy is evaluated on the following for macro scale.
Stock market - up from when he took office, not stellar but pretty average steady growth
GDP - very good right now
Unemployment - very good right now
Wages - rising but lagging behind cost of living increases as tends to happen
Inflation - bad to start his term but after he took action has returned to normal levels
The problem is that inflation returning to normal levels doesn't undo previous inflation. So the times inflation was high are still impacting people.
Added to that specific cost sectors had supply issues (large avian flu outbreak effecting chicken and egg prices, war in Ukraine affecting international grain prices) and you have a good economy in a macro sense but not in a way that helps lower and middle class people. Which is certainly a larger issue discussion about capitalism, but also pretty much explains what is going on very well.
People don't care that "the economy" is good if it doesn't actually affect them.
Comment by sebsasour at 07/11/2023 at 15:15 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Because your taking things that are largely global market based and applying them to a president.
Median incomes are up, credit scores are up, unemployment has been dropping, the stock market has largely been steady, inflation and rent prices are plateuing .
Last year when The Fed started raising interest rates every economist predicted we were headed for recession, yet by every economic indicator the economy has been shockingly resilient, and has been moving in a positive direction despite the average voters "feeling" like its not
Obviously things are tougher now than they were pre pandemic, especially for renters, but those issues were coming regardless of who won the election.
Compared to rest of the world, the US economy is incredibly strong