What’s the state of the economy? Biden, He notices a boom. Many people in the United States do
The president has failed to persuade a populace that is more concerned about rising costs than solid growth and job gains — and is still concerned about Covid.
As a record-setting recovery collides with prolonged inflation and an ongoing pandemic that has left consumers deeply pessimistic, President Biden and his top aides are struggling to bridge the gap between the economy they want to celebrate and the one that has left many Americans anxious and frustrated.
The problem begins with some scepticism among Mr. Biden’s economic experts. They claim that the job market has never been better, with a 4.2 percent unemployment rate, resulting in wage increases for lower-income workers, which Mr. Biden believes will help more people enter the middle class. They claim that the benefits will persist for years, even if inflation, which increased at its strongest rate in 40 years last month, slows down.
Mr. Biden’s campaign against Covid is likewise intertwined in this conflict. Officials from the White House said the fear people are expressing to pollsters is more about pent-up irritation with a pandemic that has lasted over two years than it is about the economy and the president’s management of it.
Officials at the White House say they have no plans to change Mr. Biden’s economic agenda, despite polls showing his favor ratings plummeting and voter concern over inflation eclipsing all other economic concerns. Their plan continues to emphasize the administration’s efforts to promote vaccinations and end the pandemic without more lockdowns, as well as praising the country’s economic improvement and predicting that Mr. Biden’s policies will lower energy, food, and consumer goods costs.
