The irony of all this is that Bide is responsible neither for the inflation that people hate nor the recovery that they probably approve of. Both are the result of Fed actions that have been very good by historic standards, but not perfect.
Biden should be judged by the structure of ARA, the infrastructure, IRA and CHIPS acts and resulting deficits. None of these are very good (especially failure to raise revenue to reduce the deficits), but better than Trump would have been or would be were he to be elected in 2024.
Biden's really strong points relative to Trump, have been fending off anti-abortion attacks, Ukraine and Israel.
I found this post very interesting. I think theres a lot of truth to interest rates blunting the aspirations, and thus the sentiments, of consumers. Sure, few have a 7% mortgage - but some do, and the 7% rate reduces the ability of lots of homeowners to upgrade to larger homes as their family has grown, move to better neighborhoods, seek out better school districts, etc. as they'd like to do (as would have been able to do prior to 2020?). I also appreciate that you and Summers don't underestimate how important *working cars* are to most Americans.
My sense is also that grocery prices are a big, big deal. I understand why it matters very little to most consumers that the *rate of inflation* is falling when grocery bills eat up so much more of their take home pay than a few years ago.
The irony of all this is that Bide is responsible neither for the inflation that people hate nor the recovery that they probably approve of. Both are the result of Fed actions that have been very good by historic standards, but not perfect.
Biden should be judged by the structure of ARA, the infrastructure, IRA and CHIPS acts and resulting deficits. None of these are very good (especially failure to raise revenue to reduce the deficits), but better than Trump would have been or would be were he to be elected in 2024.
Biden's really strong points relative to Trump, have been fending off anti-abortion attacks, Ukraine and Israel.
I found this post very interesting. I think theres a lot of truth to interest rates blunting the aspirations, and thus the sentiments, of consumers. Sure, few have a 7% mortgage - but some do, and the 7% rate reduces the ability of lots of homeowners to upgrade to larger homes as their family has grown, move to better neighborhoods, seek out better school districts, etc. as they'd like to do (as would have been able to do prior to 2020?). I also appreciate that you and Summers don't underestimate how important *working cars* are to most Americans.
My sense is also that grocery prices are a big, big deal. I understand why it matters very little to most consumers that the *rate of inflation* is falling when grocery bills eat up so much more of their take home pay than a few years ago.
Politics apart, I am concerned that the Fed is being too cautious about starting to reduce the EFFR.