Bidenomics beats Reaganomics and I should know – I saw Clintonomics fail
Economic Policy,Economy And Jobs,Joe Biden,Ronald Reagan,Bill Clinton
Aquarter-century ago, I and other members of Bill Clinton’s cabinet urged him to reject the Republican proposal to end welfare. It was too punitive, we said, subjecting poor Americans to deep and abiding poverty. But Clinton’s political advisers warned that unless he went along, he would jeopardize his re-election.
That was the end of welfare as we knew it. As Clinton boasted in his State of the Union address to Congress that year: “The era of big government is over.”
Until Thursday, that is. Joe Biden signed into law the biggest expansion of government assistance since the 1960s – a guaranteed income for most families with children, raising the maximum benefit by up to 80% per child.
As Biden put it in his address to the nation, as if answering Clinton: “The government isn’t some foreign force in a distant capital. No, it’s us, all of us, we the people.”
Related Coverage
AllSides Picks
Headline Roundup
Fed Increases Interest Rates For First Time Since 2023
September 16th, 2026
Headline Roundup
Report: Median Household Income Reached Record High in 2025
September 15th, 2026
News
Tracking Trump’s Campaign Promises
AllSides Staff
September 16th, 2026
The Insight
The Insight: How Much Are Trade Battles Costing You?
AllSides Staff
September 11th, 2026