The Joseph Biden administration boasts its economic policies — dubbed “Bidenomics” — will lead to the president keeping the White House in 2024. But the real-life experience of tens of millions of workers is increasing their uncertainty about the future, and is in sharp conflict with Democrats’ rose-tinted view.
The fact is people see the state of the economy from sharply divergent class realities — with the capitalist rulers and their upper-middle-class hangers-on getting richer and working people living paycheck to paycheck.
“Income inequality” — an inevitable consequence of bosses’ drive to maximize profits off the exploitation of workers — is now bigger than ever. According to the Federal Reserve, the top 10% of households now own 69% of all wealth in the U.S., while the bottom 50% can access a paltry 2.5%. The top 1% lays claim to 31.4%.
“The percentage of Americans who told the Federal Reserve they were worse off in 2022 than the previous year increased by 75 percent,” the New York Times reported Nov. 16. This is “the highest level since the Fed started asking the question in 2014.” Only 19% say they’re better off now.
The article, “Why Voters Aren’t Buying Biden’s Boasts About Bidenomics,” by guest columnist Karen Petrou, expressed the concerns of the owners and editors of the Times, and other fanatical backers of the Democratic Party who are increasingly worried about Biden and 2024. If the president doesn’t stop touting “prosperity” based on government statistics at the expense of what working people actually face, Petrou says, he’ll lose the election.
Among those particularly hard hit by the capitalist crisis are older workers who are no longer employed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 14.1% of adults aged 65 and older live in poverty. That’s about a 50% jump in just three years, meaning roughly 8 million older adults now live in poverty.
While the Consumer Price Index slightly declined to an annual rate of 3.2% in October, prices for necessities, including food, energy, housing and health care, have been steadily rising over the past three years, making it increasingly difficult for working people to cover basic expenses.
Grocery prices rose 5% over the past year, but they’re up by 20% since January 2021. Gas prices have risen by 43% over this period.
The Biden administration has been hailing the Oct. 26 Department of Commerce announcement that the gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 4.9% in the third quarter. But this doesn’t put food on the table for over two-thirds of U.S. households.
Being able to cover house payments, as well as rising rents, have put starting and raising a family out of the reach of millions of working people and increasing numbers in the middle class. Many youth in their 20s and 30s find themselves forced to live with their parents, relatives or others.
Rents have risen 22% and home prices 29% over the past three years. Mortgage rates have nearly tripled to close to 8%, so the buyer of a typical home faces a monthly principal and interest payment of nearly $2,200, more than double the level of early 2021.
Millions without full-time work
And now jobs are starting to disappear. The official unemployment rate for October went up to 3.9%, an almost two-year high. Unemployment rolls increased by 1.86 million the first week of November, the highest in two years. There are 4.3 million workers who want full-time jobs but can only get part-time work. Another 5.4 million are counted by the government as wanting a job but aren’t in the labor force. They’ve given up looking.
With higher prices and tighter budgets, U.S. retail sales fell last month for the first time since March. End-of-the-year holiday season hiring is far below previous years at major retail outlets, including Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Factory production declined 1.7% on a year-on-year basis in October.
Biden claims his polices benefit all Americans. But like any capitalist nation, the U.S. is divided into two main, sharply hostile, classes. What is called “the economy” is based on the more and more brutal exploitation of the vast majority by the propertied few. Both of the bosses’ two main parties serve the interests of the ruling class — against workers and our unions.
A recent New York Times-Siena College poll reported 59% of voters in six key swing states — Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — have more confidence in Donald Trump’s ability to manage the economy over Biden’s, regardless of who they’ll vote for. In fact, Trump comes out on top in every category of the people surveyed — by age, education and income levels.
The only 2024 candidates offering a political course independent of the bosses are those of the Socialist Workers Party. They start from the capacities of working people to fight for protection from the current crisis, to advance our own class interests on all political questions and to lead millions to replace capitalist rule with workers power.