Assume the worst. That’s the lesson of Bidenomics in 2022.
America’s economy is contracting. The U.S. inflation rate remains above eight percent, with gas prices hitting record highs across the country. And the stock market continues to bleed, undoing the gains of the Trump era. Remember when Americans could expect 13.7 percent annualized S&P 500 returns?
How times change—and in under two years, no less. If we’re not in an economic recession already, then it’s not far away either. As a longtime entrepreneur, investor, and job creator, I’ve seen businesses large and small struggle to stay afloat in today’s economy. I’m in the business of helping businesses start, grow, and expand, and it’s more difficult now than even at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employers are desperate to hire, yet human capital is exceedingly difficult to find. Then there’s the issue of consumer confidence—dwindling by the day. Americans are increasingly anxious, pulling back in the stock market and pulling out of family vacations.
The list of economic problems is long, but they are solvable. The right leadership can solve them, yet America’s lack of leadership is the worst problem of them all. What makes the bleeding worse is President Biden’s stubborn insistence on taxing and spending, flooding the economic system with “free” money and then blaming Republicans for daring to complain about inflation.
Even as excess money diminishes the dollar’s value, President Biden insists on cancelling $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower, after already extinguishing $17 billion in student loans. He naively defends his administration’s nearly $2 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” the inflationary boondoggle that left Americans without a rescue raft and surrounded by sharks. Even Vox—the left-wing brainchild of Biden supporter Ezra Klein—now admits that the runaway spending of the Biden era “worsened inflation.” When Biden Democrats lose Vox, all hope is lost.
Rather than taking accountability and tackling pocketbook issues head-on, the Biden administration’s modus operandi is to punt and excuse. Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki routinely ducked questions on inflation, while her boss blames Russia for [insert issue here].
Feeling pain at the pump, President Biden still decided to cancel a one-million-plus-acre oil lease in Alaska, along with two lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. The goal is to apparently sell out to Arab oil producers—or look the other way.
Add it all up, and only 28 percent of U.S. voters now believe the country is headed in the right direction. That’s right: 28 percent. Americans have little faith in the economy, and even less in the Biden administration to right a sinking ship.
A red wave is coming in 2022. It is likelier now than even a month ago. Political change is inevitable, and President Biden’s days are numbered.
Therein lies the only hope for America—a change in political leadership. Americans desperately need a Washington, D.C., that prioritizes economic growth, inflation reduction, and the pocketbook above all else. Time and time again, Biden Democrats have failed to look out for employers and employees, embracing “woke” politics instead of pro-market policies that protect pocketbooks. And they will be punished for it.
Come November, our only hope is for Republicans to punish those who have failed America. Only a red wave can yield a stock market surge. Only pro-market forces can wage war on economic decline.
Until then, brace for more bleeding. Bidenomics will make it worse.
Harrison Rogers is the founder and CEO of Arizona-based HJR Global, and a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.