July 23, 2023

President Biden’s rebranding of Build Back Better, BBB, as Bidenomics. The rebranding is a play on Reaganomics. As the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, in this case imitation only extends to marketing or messaging of the economic program. The policy initiatives of these two approaches are diametrically opposed. As the 1970s decade came to an end, candidate Reagan asked voters a simple question. Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago? Reagan knew the answer to the question he was asking. At the time, the commonly accepted measure of wellbeing among the pundits and the press was the so-called misery index, a macroeconomic indicator that measures the employment rate as well as the purchasing power of money. Given President Biden’s statements regarding Bidenomics, the presumed answer to the question asked by Candidate Reagan, if asked today, is a simple, yes. But if that is the case, why doesn’t the President ask and answer the question? The misery index provides us with a clue.

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