Joe Biden and the powerless presidency

[Counselor706]

President Joe Biden will not admit that his policies, and his party's policies, have made inflation worse — and that, if Biden and congressional Democrats had their way, they would make it worse still. He just can't say that. Instead, the president's reaction has been a mixture of denial, finger-pointing, ineffective gestures, and, perhaps most of all, the argument that he, as president, is virtually powerless to address the nation's most pressing concern.

Now, the persistence of inflation has become even more serious in the last few days with the growing realization that the Fed might have to intentionally drive the nation into recession in order to bring inflation down — reminiscent of the successful but painful inflation-fighting strategy of Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in the 1980s. "An increasing number of economists ... say it may take an economic contraction and higher unemployment to bring inflation down to more tolerable levels, much less back to the Fed's two percent price target," Bloomberg reported Monday.

More than half the U.S. population was born after 1980, but the older half will remember the terrible inflation and successive recessions that occurred during what former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently called "America's Great Inflation." How great was it? From Bernanke: "From the beginning of 1966 through 1981, the consumer price index rose, on average, by more than 7% per year, peaking at over 13% in 1980. This period also saw two major and two minor recessions and an approximately two-thirds decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, when adjusted for inflation.”

But one thing about the 1970s-2020s comparison rings true. Biden is indeed playing the role of Carter, although Carter, elected president at age 52, was sharp and energetic, while Biden, who will turn 80 in November, is not. Perhaps that is what prompted Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) to tweet recently, "These Jimmy Carter comparisons are very unfair — to Jimmy Carter." In any event, there was a sense, way back when, that Carter was powerless to deal with the severity of the nation's problems. Today, something similar is happening with Biden in the White House.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/joe-biden-and-the-powerless-presidency

 

[Sean Renaud]

Basically as Bernie has stated he needs to admit that the destruction of the Right is the only option. We knew that ages back and it hurt.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

“Biden is indeed playing the role of Carter, although Carter, elected president at age 52, was sharp and energetic, while Biden, who will turn 80 in November, is not.”

At 97, Carter might still be sharper and more energetic than Biden.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Carter is a God who got fucked this is true

 

[ll74]

His infrastructure bill is still going strong. Ohio is just about to start work on the Brent Spence bridge as well as a new bridge to handle 71/75 traffic. Gonna be stellar when they're finally done.....40 years overdue.

 

[John_von_Neumann]

miles and the testicle-less marriage.