Bidenomics Is an Utter Failure, Yet the GOP Isn’t Pouncing

Today’s inflation report was the worst in six months, and even last month’s numbers were revised higher. There’s no question that the Biden economic malaise continues. Yet there is a big question: Where’s the Republican presidential campaign growth and prosperity solution plan? Where is it? So far, I haven’t heard any of the leading candidates on this topic. Bidenomics has failed, so how will the GOP turn failure into success? Now briefly let’s review the Biden malaise. Today’s shocking inflation jump is just one example. Actually, all the inflation reports in January were shockingly bad. Energy is up almost 10 percent and food is up more than 11 percent, all year on year. Producer prices are up 6 percent and consumer prices are up 6.4 percent. The Atlanta Fed’s wage tracker is up 6.1 percent. Retail sales looked strong in January — but, adjusted for inflation, they were actually flat from a year ago. Manufacturing essentially was flat over the past year. The latest CBO budget report also was shockingly bad. Deficits are expected to double to nearly $3 trillion over a 10-year window from $1.4 trillion today. Total deficits will come to $20.3 trillion, or 7.3 percent of GDP. Outside of wartime or a national emergency, these are numbers never seen before. In fact, the CBO estimates $3.3 trillion more in debt than it did just last May. And its estimate is 118 percent of GDP. The Biden administration continues to pound away in its war against fossil fuels, which of course is funding the war on Ukraine for Vladimir Putin, who enjoys selling his 10 million barrels a day into a high-price oil market caused by President Biden’s clamps on production. Also, let’s not forget the Biden war against business, with about $150 billion in tax hikes and almost countless new regulations. Almost lost in the economic shuffle this week, real GDP in last year’s fourth quarter was revised lower and for the year grew by 0.9 percent with a 6.5 percent inflation rate. Two years ago, Mr. Biden inherited a Trump economy growing 6.5 percent with a 1.4 percent inflation rate. So the case against Bidenomics is very strong. America’s blue-collar families — the great middle class — are losing ground on a daily basis. They have jobs, in some cases two or three jobs, but their wages are falling behind inflation. Their take-home pay is shrinking. The Biden solution? More generous welfare benefits that essentially pay people not to work. Work requirements are a thing of the past. The dignity of work has suffered and, with that, the happiness quotient associated with a job well done has evaporated. So, you might say the sick Biden economy opens the door for huge Republican opportunities in the 2024 election. You might say that. I might say that. The trouble is, none of the leading Republicans are saying that. And that’s a sad tale that I need to report. What are we hearing about from the GOP field on the way to their first debate in Milwaukee come this August? Age, gender, mental tests, sometimes Ukraine, sometimes the border, affirmative action, ESG, sniping at each other. I don’t hear a thing about economic growth and prosperity. I don’t hear a thing about a simple formula that includes lower spending, tax cuts, deregulation, and a strong dollar. How about this? Tax cuts and sound money will cure the Biden inflation and recession. That’s what JFK did. That’s what Reagan did. In his first term, that’s what President Trump did. I worry about debt like everybody else. But, let me tell you, if the economy grew at 3.5 percent to 4 percent for the next 10 years, debt would dissolve. Social Security would remain solvent. Excessive spending would be unnecessary. That’s right: tax cuts, sound money, and throw in some work requirements as well, and then you’d have more people working at good wages, paying even more in tax revenues at lower tax rates. Then, open up the fossil fuel spigots and you’d have yourself a plan. It would be a supply-side economic growth and prosperity plan. Think back to Mr. Trump’s brilliant New York Economic Club speech in September 2016. It was a pathbreaker. It was pro-growth. It was aimed at the middle class, who received 70 percent of the benefits of his tax cuts. This is the kind of platform the GOP has to build. They occasionally make the criticisms, though frankly I’m not hearing it from the leading candidates. In fact, I’m not hearing any of them talking about the economy, including my former boss. Even when they do criticize Bidenomics, there’s no GOP alternative, no common-sense, constructive way out of the Biden economic mess. Let me repeat: Growth and prosperity is the single biggest issue out there. Can I be clear on this? There are a lot of issues, but the lack of growth and prosperity dwarfs them all. Save America. We need economic prosperity stewardship.From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.

Bidenomics Is an Utter Failure, Yet the GOP Isn’t Pouncing

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