When Joe Biden entered office four years ago, FDR comparisons were everywhere. We at the Roosevelt Institute even briefly asked our followers to guess whether a quote belonged to FDR or Biden. As we close out Biden’s one-term presidency, we thought it would be a good moment for a more sober reflection on the comparison.
Thanks for this thoughtful analysis. If I may add, it seems like you're glossing over some pretty major things. Failure to go after root causes of problems that regular folks face - I did not see any attempt to provide a bold new agenda for affordable housing, I saw waffling and backsliding on student debt relief, I saw many missed opportunities to set up a public option / Medicare for All, I saw no effort to protect women's bodily autonomy. I saw all the job creation/ environmental justice / 'green the economy' flanks of the brilliant Green New Deal (that would have done so much to strengthen local economies and social mobility) stripped away, I saw very little progress on progressive taxation to confront corrosive wealth inequality and the concentration of wealth power, I saw no effort to fortify public/local journalism, hence enabling the fomenting of fear thru misinformation. I saw cold war style increases in military spending to an unaccountable military (which seems to ratchet up domestic surveillance and increasingly militarized and violent urban policing). I saw an abysmal level of supporting and cheerleading apartheid in Gaza, and funding an atrocious genocide against poor brown people. It became unclear what the Dems even stand for, and how many parts of society were thrown under the bus or told to wait their turn, without much faith in how exactly a better future might come to them. I have long been inspired by your former colleague Rianna Gunn-Wright and of course the great Joe Stiglitz, and I wish everything you publish was as bold in confronting the root causes of our societal immiseration and inspiring us to policy solutions that actually transform our country. I hope Roosevelt Institute can push harder to help the Dems step up to the level or clarity and courage we need.
Biden delivered a farewell address this week, Wednesday, where he said, ""Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead, . . ." Our government does not represent the people is my complaint. I also think of Biden as "Genocide Joe", and that colors or distorts my view of his accomplishments. Your survey of his accomplisments is useful and prodigious. Biden assumed office as the Covid vaccine was first being administered. That brought down the death rate and severe infection and hospitalization rate. It also swung the enormous savings rate of the U.S. public which for 2020 was at 19% of income according to BEA.gov (Table 2.1) stats, up from around 5%. It soon recovered and the additional pent up savings boosted inflation. But he was unmindful of the coincidental fact that the "nonfinancial corporate pre-tax profits" (BEA Table 6.16D) doubled during Biden's 4 years. The Fed's Flow of Funds report shows profits for Q3 2019 were $1.081 trillion, and for Q3 2024 they were $2.891 trillion. Adjusting for inflation that's a doubling of profits. The public has a right to feel taken advantage of. Isabella Webber and Servaas Storm are economists that explain this issue better than I. I should also mention that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's December 2023 report "Making Ends Meet" shows that 20.3 U.S. adults have less than $100 in liquid assets (cash or its equivalent), and 40% have less than $1,000. The United Way charity reports that 42% of Americans live in economic hardship or poverty. Biden did not make this an issue, and he should have. And p.s., the unemployment rate in 1937 was 9.6% not 16%, see Marshall Auerbach's article "The Real Lesson of the Great Depression, Fiscal Policy Works". My blog is http://benL88.blogspot.com, Economics Without Greed, Part Two.
Thanks for this thoughtful analysis. If I may add, it seems like you're glossing over some pretty major things. Failure to go after root causes of problems that regular folks face - I did not see any attempt to provide a bold new agenda for affordable housing, I saw waffling and backsliding on student debt relief, I saw many missed opportunities to set up a public option / Medicare for All, I saw no effort to protect women's bodily autonomy. I saw all the job creation/ environmental justice / 'green the economy' flanks of the brilliant Green New Deal (that would have done so much to strengthen local economies and social mobility) stripped away, I saw very little progress on progressive taxation to confront corrosive wealth inequality and the concentration of wealth power, I saw no effort to fortify public/local journalism, hence enabling the fomenting of fear thru misinformation. I saw cold war style increases in military spending to an unaccountable military (which seems to ratchet up domestic surveillance and increasingly militarized and violent urban policing). I saw an abysmal level of supporting and cheerleading apartheid in Gaza, and funding an atrocious genocide against poor brown people. It became unclear what the Dems even stand for, and how many parts of society were thrown under the bus or told to wait their turn, without much faith in how exactly a better future might come to them. I have long been inspired by your former colleague Rianna Gunn-Wright and of course the great Joe Stiglitz, and I wish everything you publish was as bold in confronting the root causes of our societal immiseration and inspiring us to policy solutions that actually transform our country. I hope Roosevelt Institute can push harder to help the Dems step up to the level or clarity and courage we need.
Biden delivered a farewell address this week, Wednesday, where he said, ""Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead, . . ." Our government does not represent the people is my complaint. I also think of Biden as "Genocide Joe", and that colors or distorts my view of his accomplishments. Your survey of his accomplisments is useful and prodigious. Biden assumed office as the Covid vaccine was first being administered. That brought down the death rate and severe infection and hospitalization rate. It also swung the enormous savings rate of the U.S. public which for 2020 was at 19% of income according to BEA.gov (Table 2.1) stats, up from around 5%. It soon recovered and the additional pent up savings boosted inflation. But he was unmindful of the coincidental fact that the "nonfinancial corporate pre-tax profits" (BEA Table 6.16D) doubled during Biden's 4 years. The Fed's Flow of Funds report shows profits for Q3 2019 were $1.081 trillion, and for Q3 2024 they were $2.891 trillion. Adjusting for inflation that's a doubling of profits. The public has a right to feel taken advantage of. Isabella Webber and Servaas Storm are economists that explain this issue better than I. I should also mention that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's December 2023 report "Making Ends Meet" shows that 20.3 U.S. adults have less than $100 in liquid assets (cash or its equivalent), and 40% have less than $1,000. The United Way charity reports that 42% of Americans live in economic hardship or poverty. Biden did not make this an issue, and he should have. And p.s., the unemployment rate in 1937 was 9.6% not 16%, see Marshall Auerbach's article "The Real Lesson of the Great Depression, Fiscal Policy Works". My blog is http://benL88.blogspot.com, Economics Without Greed, Part Two.