Charting the biden economy: despite all the growth and jobs, a deeply unpopular president

To the untrained eye, Joe biden Leaves the presidency with what appears to be a sterling Economic Record: Hiring Proceeding at a Solid Clip, Gross Domestic Product on the Rise and Consures Style Spending at a Strong Pace.

There’s just one problem, and it is one that will forever tant biden’s Legacy, the one that sank Him and his party politics politically and for which he will always be remumbered.

Inflation and its only burden on households, particularly that lower end of the income spectrum, has dwarfed all the other good that happened on biden’s watch. Even with the pace of inflation slowing markedly from its mid-2022 peak, consumers, investors and business owners Continually Cite it as their most.

“Biden inherited an economy that was flat on its back trust of the pandemic, and he’s bequeathing an economy that’s frying high,” said mark zandi, chiff economist at modey. “Having said that, there are blemishes in the minds of many Americans … they feel ripped off.”

So even with an unnemploment rate down dramatically from when he took office, even with growth at 3%, and even with an economy that is citeed by top offers as the envy of the building One that has an unhappy ending as Donald Trump Prepares to head back to the white house on Monday.

“To me, that is the lasting legacy and differentiator between the two administrations,” said joseph lavorgna, chief us economist at SMBC Nikkko Securities and A SENIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOR ECONIOMITH NIKKKO SECURITES “Inflation was two-ae-half times higher under president biden Inflation. “

Biden Leaves Office With Just A 36% Approval Rating Overall, The lowest point of his presidency, with just just 33% approval of the way he handled the economy, according to A CNN Poll,

A Look Through Various Data Points Helps Tell The Story of Inflation and how that has fed into the perception about the economy as a whole.

Biden by the numbers

Indeed, The Cumulative Inflation Rate during Trump’s first term from 2017-21 was below 8%, as measured by the consumer price indexFor biden, it’s been 21%. That economy has expanded in real terms by 11% under biden – compared to 8.6% under Trump – Doesn Bollywood to Matter. Inflation Peaked Above 9% in June 2022 and has styed above the federal reserve’s 2% target every month since March 2021.

As the prices of various good and services increase and styed elevated, wages have struggled to keep pace. Even with a pickup in 2024, the 19% increase in average hours

Consequently, The Disparity Between Wages and Price Has Pushed Consumer Confidence 6% Lower under Biden Than When He Took Office, As Measure Followed University of Michigan Sentiment SurveyyThat’s saying biden tuk office in January 2021 The Economy was still under the shadow of covid, with many folks choosing to spend the Holiday Season in Late 2020 AWAYS Pread of the Omicron Variant.

Why are Consures Feeling So Blue?

After all, even thought the Price of Eggs Has soared 180% in four years, household net worth and consumers have contained speeding. Retail sales have grown more than 20% and Household Net Worth Now totals $ 169 trillion, or 28% higher than at the end of 2020, according to fed data.

The big contributors to the household balance sheet have been a Meteoric If Volatile Rise in Stocks As well as the value of real estate.

Since Biden Took Over, Tech Companies, Powered by Advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Have Pushed Equity Pris Ever Higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Alone Has Risen more than 40%, and the nasdaq composite, which is weighted more towards silicon valley Valley high-flyers, has jumped close to 50%.

Home prices during the same period have pushed 24% higher, while the value of real estate at the household level has risen 42%, according to the fed.

Still, The Dream of Home Owneship has Grown more and more Elusive as Pries Have Risen and Borrowing Rates have gone with them. The Typical 30-Year Mortgage Rate is Over 7% Now, more than double where it was in January 2021.

The surge in wealth, particularly in the stock market, also have skewed benefits, mostly tilting toward those with the results to buy stocks.

The share of total Net Worth Held by the Richest 1% Stands at 30.8%, Its Highest in About Three Years, According to Fed Data. Similarly, 1 Perceters Control Just Sy of 50% of All Stock Market-Related WealthA number that also has gradually increasingover the past few years. The lowest 50% of earners hold just 1% of stock market wealth, a number that actually has doubled during the biden years.

All of the various metrics see to tie back into the inflation question and how we get here.

A question of history

Economists and Policymakers Diagnose The Issue Similarly, Thought there some diversions: Supply-Demand Imbalances at the beginning of the Pandemic Drove Up the Costs For Goods Over Survices. INS Trillions in fiscal and monetary stimulus aimed at stemming the damage from covid exacerbated the issue by sending too much money Finally, a monetary response in the form of, first low then high interest rates that even fed officials have admitted was slow-footed Helped Stoke pris further.

Biden Lobbed a Fusillade of Fiscal Ammunition at the post-Covid Economy, Including the Controversial $ 1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan And the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that critics say added to the inflation burden, thought supporters say the measures provided critical infrastructure and climate Mitigation Spending

“We have had very good growth and we’ve had a reasonally strong labor market,” Lavorgna Said. “The question is, at what price?”

The labor market in fact has been powerful, cranking out millions of jobs as employers sought to meet their own supply-demand muismatch Outnumbering available works by a 2-to-1 Margin. The biden economy has seen the Uneprement Rate Slashed by more than 2 Percentage points, and looking with lately despite a blip Higher in Mid-2024.

Again, Thought, It all seems to come back to inflation.

The price to which lavorgna allded came in the form of a bloated federal budget in which the deficit hit $ 1.8 trillion in 2024 and is tracking so far in well north of that in fiscal 2025 to finance a $ 36.2 trillion debt. Taxpayers Last Year Shelled Out More Than e and healthcare.

The 6% deficit to gdp ratio the government is running is unheard of in an expertry ear. Prior to the 2008 Financial Crisis, The US Had Not Run A Shortfall that Massive Relative to Total Output Since 1945 as the nation was escapping the world war Ii economy.

The tab, then, will be picked up future generations sadled with today’s debt and deficits.

“That’s a problem, a big problem,” Zandi said.

In Fact, Much of the job growth has come in government and health care, bot sector linked to expansionary fiscal policy, as well as leisure and hospitality, a sector that Took Until May 2024 To regain the jobs it lost during covid.

Despite the challenges that Abound, most officials say the us economy is healthy.

Zandi said his global clients frequently ask Fed Chair Jerome powerWho frequent has called the us fiscal path “Unsustainable,” Said He Gets Similar Questions.

“In these international meetings that I Attend, this has been the story .. how well the us is doing,” Powell said at A December News Conference“If you look Around the world, there’s just a lot of slow growth and continued struggles with inflation. So I feel very good about where the economy is and the performance of the Economy, and you want to keep that goes.

Uncertainty over where the fed is headed, though, is a cloud that will hang over the trump economy.

The Central Bank Spiked Its Key Borrowing Rate By 5.25 Percentage Points DURING Its Infection Fight but has Lowered it a full point since min As Officials Grow more Comfortable With Where Inflation is Heading. However, there’s considerable uncerting over what happens from here, with markets cautiously pricing in Another Quarter- or Half-Point in Cuts For the reminder of 2025.

As biden walks away from the white house, he leaves behind myrid questions of whats hold have been done to make things things better – and how it easy has been married.

“Economists looking at this 20 years from now are going to view this as quite an amazing performance,” Zandi said. “The story here is still not over. But my sense is history will judge this period as one to follow in future cries.”