Peach Tree Times

As midterm elections near and with the country's still-soaring inflation numbers at the forefront of voters’ minds, Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, took to Twitter to criticize President Joe Biden's fiscal policies.

“Bidenomics," he wrote in a Tweet on Oct. 28, "has been a disaster."

Many Biden critics have used the term "Bidenomics" as a pejorative to describe inflation and Biden's policies. Hanke blamed inflation, which continues at record-high numbers in Georgia, keeping costs unusually high for everyone.

"Biden’s wild spending has fueled INFLATION and has set the US up for a whopper of a RECESSION," Hanke wrote. "Bidenomics is for the birds."  

Despite the inflationary effects of Biden’s stimulus packages, some progressive politicians feel he is not spending enough. According to The Hill, when Biden put his student loan forgiveness program into effect, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) urged the president to forgive up to $50,000 per borrower – significantly more than originally planned.

In Georgia, Prices have increased 14.1% overall since January of 2021, according to a report by the Joint Economic Committee Republicans. The report also found that Georgia’s families must now pay $697 more to achieve the same standard of living as they had in January 2021. Of all the areas of increase spending, transportation costs have increased the most, costing families $237 more than in January 2021, the JEC Republicans reported.

Economists such as Paige Terryberry, Senior Analyst for Fiscal Policy at the John Locke Foundation, agree that increased government spending is a driver of inflation. In a post on the Locke Foundation's website, Terryberry wrote that, among other problems, inflation was being driven by "too many dollars chasing a stagnant supply of goods" as well as supply not being able to keep up with "simulated demand." Terryberry argued that the current levels of inflation were caused by the government injection of cash at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite decreased demand at the time.

The Economist referred to “Bidenomics” as a policy choice exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which likely will be at the forefront of many voters’ minds when they go to the polls on Nov. 8.