Quote:President Joe Biden's presidency was billed as the one that would pull the nation's economy out of the COVID-19 punch to the gut it had taken in 2020. Biden was full of those kinds of campaign promises. He promised to jumpstart stagnant job growth and help small businesses climb their way out of the pandemic malaise. But most of those lofty campaign promises have either not materialized or have gone by the wayside altogether. Now, as the 20204 election cycle looms, Republicans have a chance to make history repeat itself by portraying Joe Biden as Herbert Hoover 2.0, as many high-end purchases like cars and homes are becoming out of reach for average Americans and inflation decimates real wages. Being able to afford those things used to embody the American Dream for most middle-class Americans. But "Bidenomics" may just be the downfall of that dream.

In 1928, Herbert Hoover made his now-infamous promise of "a chicken for every pot, and two cars in every garage" that got him elected President. Well, we know how that turned out. By the 1932 election, America was in the firm grip of the Depression. Democrats rightly saw a golden opportunity, and they pounced on it. Joe Biden is rapidly headed for Hooverville, and inflation and the economy are big reasons. According to the National Association of Realtors, the home affordability index has gone from 169.9 in 2020 to 87.8 as of July 2023. Desmond Lachmann is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He attributes this to inflation and the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to keep up, noting:

Both housing and automobiles have become increasingly less affordable to American households as a direct result of the Fed having to raise interest rates to curb inflation. Most people finance their home and auto purchases by taking out loans and those loans have become much more expensive.

Numbers from the National Association of Realtors bear out what Lachmann says. In 2020, the median home price was $300,200, with a mortgage rate of 3.17 percent. Fast forward to the era of "Bidenomics," the median home price is $412,300 with a mortgage rate of 6.92 percent. The price of a new car is also getting further out of reach for the average American. As of March of this year, the median price of a new set of wheels will set the average Joe back $48,008, up 30 percent from 2020, and have an average monthly payment of around $730. Currently, on the U.S. auto market, there are only two models that sell for under $20,000. The price of insuring that vehicle has also risen 19.1 percent year-over-year.

Inflation has also done a number on real wages. Weekly earnings for both wage and salary workers hit an all-time high in the second quarter of 2020 at $393 per week. After a 7.1 percent decline in the second quarter of 2023, that number was $365 per week. Whether inflation has been the result of intention or incompetence is debatable. But the Biden administration has brought on inflation with massive spending bills like the Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, which did nothing to reduce inflation and was quickly dubbed the "climate, tax, and health bill."

Will Bidenomics become the 2024 version of "a chicken in every pot?" While the Biden administration is doing its best to reassure Americans that they aren't seeing and experiencing what they are, Joe Biden's approval numbers reveal that voters are not buying it. A Real Clear Politics poll shows Biden's approval number on the economy at just 36.6 percent. His approval number on inflation is worse at 32.5 percent.

Peter Earle is an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research. He acknowledged several truths:

It’s not easy to say what the ‘American Dream’ is at any given moment — we are a nation of hundreds of millions of individuals chasing unique goals. But mendacious and destructive government policies are a hindrance to just about every American’s dream. Unless they’re a politician.

Republicans, if they are smart, will have a chance in 2024 to turn the tables of history on the Democrats over Joe Biden's destructive economic policies.