Well this is unusual.
This is Jared Bernstein, the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, the main agency advising Biden on economic policy, from the documentary: Finding the Money.
He seems unable to communicate how the US monetary system works, despite being an advisor on it to the president.
Well this is unusual.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) May 3, 2024
This is Jared Bernstein, the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, the main agency advising Biden on economic policy, from the documentary: Finding the Money.
He seems unable to communicate how the US monetary system works, despite being an advisor on… pic.twitter.com/gRI3y3hfDx
The US economy's resilience poses a challenge for Joe Biden's reelection prospects.
Despite a weak headline number in Thursday's GDP report, most economists see strong underlying momentum in the US economy. However, this robust growth, coupled with the enduring strength of jobs numbers over the past year, has not translated into significant political gains for Biden.
"This is a lose-lose situation for the president," said Stuart Paul, an economist at Bloomberg Economics. "While he doesn't get to fully benefit from the strong growth due to the high inflation and interest rates, the economy's resilience itself becomes a problem for Biden."
The timing of this report is crucial for Biden's campaign, as Americans' perceptions of economic conditions tend to solidify about six months before an election – which is now. A recent Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll in seven battleground states revealed that more than half of voters expect the economy to worsen by the year's end. Additionally, at least half anticipate further increases in inflation and borrowing costs.
Consequently, the Biden campaign has shifted its focus away from "Bidenomics," which previously underlined his economic reelection narrative, and is now highlighting issues such as abortion rights and safeguarding democracy.
Despite polling data showing Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in key states and indicating a potential general election loss in November, there is a glimmer of hope from at least one respected economic model.
Economist Ray Fair from Yale University suggests that his model, which has been quite accurate in predicting presidential election outcomes since 1980, indicates that Biden is still poised to win the popular vote. Even with a slowdown in growth and persistent high inflation, the model projects a 51.7% vote share for Biden in a head-to-head contest against Trump.
"Both the growth rate and the inflation rate are slightly higher, one positive for the Democrats and one negative," Fair noted.
