“They care about prices, jobs and mortgage rates.”
Well known economist Art Laffer is astonished by the cognitive dissonance (or just plain partisanship) on display as mainstream media outlets echo The White House’s incredulity at the voting public’s lack of enthusiasm (or appreciation) for what President Biden has done for them.
Having recently blamed the media for not glorifying ‘Bidenomics’ more, the president and his Democratic dunces remain so disconnected from reality for the average joe, they simply cannot comprehend that all their borrowing and spending has not calmed the angry masses.
But, Laffer has the answer for why President Biden’s ‘favorability’ is in the shitter while stocks are at record highs…
It comes down to three things, he explains on Fox Business.
Jobs
“People care about jobs, not about unemployment rates and so when you look at total jobs, it’s way down,” Laffer added.
“We have a very low employment rate even though the unemployment rate is low, people have just left the labor force. So jobs are way down which is what people feel.”
While the number of people not in the labor force is down from the peak of the COVID lockdowns, it is still massively higher than during Trump’s presidency and showing no signs of improving at all…
Prices
“People worry about prices, not about inflation,” Laffer said.
“Now inflation is related to prices over long periods of time but right now prices are up, I think it is 17.7% since Biden took office. Even though the inflation rate is down quite substantially, the prices are not down at all and it is prices that are killing people, so they obviously are upset.”
Inflation has risen 17.2% since Biden took office in January 2021.
And no, wages have not kept up with prices…especially for the lower-income Americans…
Mortgage Rates
High mortgage rates “put the American dream out of reach,” questioned the Fox Business anchor.
“It does, and that’s what people feel and know and what is reported, especially on other channels, by the way, but here too, what is reported is not really what people care about,” Laffer said.
Current mortgage rates – even after declining in recent weeks – remain over three percentage points higher than the average effective rate that American homeowners currently carry (or almost double)…
Laffer also notes that GDP growth is not quite what Biden is making it out to be:
“The last thing is GDP growth, this last quarter was almost 5%, which is a very nice number, except GDP is what’s really low. It’s not kept track with what happened after Trump left office,” Laffer added.
“It’s not caught back up yet at all and they are looking not at growth rates, people look at output, not at output growth.”
The post-COVID trend continues to lag…
“So,” concludes Laffer, taking into account “all of these things, there is a disconnect how people report the news as being low inflation, low unemployment and very high GDP growth. No one cares about those, they care about the levels of this. So, that is why people are feeling bad. They will continue to feel bad for quite some time to come and they are correct.”
Translation: Bidenomics is bullshit and Americans know it – it has become a liability
Watch the full interview below:
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/28/2023 – 11:40
