WTH Do Americans Think the Economy is Terrible? Gary Cohn on Bidenomics

What the Hell Is Going On

AEI Podcasts

News, Government, Politics, History

4.4 • 633 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

According to President Biden, his stewardship of the economy – which he has dubbed “Bidenomics” – should be praised as the best America has ever seen. Unemployment is down and jobs are up. So why exactly are Americans giving such poor ratings to Bidenomics? Perhaps it’s because Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package unleashed the worst inflation in 40 years. And while inflation may be lower today than it was three years ago, its compounding effects mean that prices are still sky-high. On top of that, Americans recently hit a record high of over a trillion dollars in credit card debt. In short, it doesn’t take a PhD to understand that Americans are hurting.

Gary D. Cohn is the Vice Chairman of IBM and served as chief economic advisor and the 11th Director of the National Economic Council to President Donald Trump. Before serving in the White House, Mr. Cohn was President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs, a member of the firm’s Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Firmwide Client and Business Standards Committee. Mr. Cohn began his career at U.S. Steel before moving to New York to trade on the New York Commodities Exchange.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is brought to you by the American Enterprise Institute.
0:03.1	If you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate, review, and share. Thanks for listening. Here's our show. What the hell's going on? What the hell is going on? What the hell is going on? I don't know what the hell he's talking about. You don't have to know what the hell is on it. What hell's the matter with these guys? We don't know what's going on. Hotels gone on.
0:01.0	Who in God's name knows what it's all about.
0:23.6	Hi, I'm Danielle Pletka.
0:30.6	And I'm Mark Teeson.
0:32.6	Welcome to our podcast.
0:33.6	What the hell is going on?
0:35.6	Mark, what the hell is going on? Well, what the hell is going on?
0:38.3	Well, what the hell is going on is the Biden administration is telling the American people that
0:44.3	Bidenomics is awesome and that they've got all the problem solved. Wages are rising.
0:49.3	Inflation is coming down. The economy is better than you think it is, people. And Americans are saying,
0:55.1	no, it's not. No, it's not. The polls show 57% of Americans think the economy is headed
1:01.3	in the wrong direction. 43% say, a plurality, say that Biden's economic policies have
1:08.0	personally hurt their bottom line. Only 18% say that his policies have helped.
1:13.3	There seems to be a disconnect between the people in the White House and their economic message
1:17.9	and the lived reality of the American people. And when your message directly contradicts
1:23.8	the lived reality of the people you're talking to, they tend to not listen to you
1:27.7	and they tend to vote for the other guy. That seems to be where we're headed.
1:30.8	I have had this feeling more and more about this administration. In our interview, I ask,
1:38.9	I ask our guest why it is that the Biden administration seems so weirdly out of touch, like, you know, no, inflation's coming down, you stupid people.
1:48.2	And it's like, dude, I know you don't go to the supermarket, but don't the people who work for you go to the supermarket?
1:55.5	Because no one who goes to the supermarket feels that way.
	...

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