What Is Bidenomics? It Depends If You’re a Democrat or Republican

A preoccupation within President Joe Biden’s administration is why the president can’t get any love for a relatively strong economy. In hopes of changing things, Biden opted to embrace “Bidenomics” as a shorthand for his economic efforts. The phrase had been popping up for months, usually with negative connotations. Now Biden is staking his claim for a second term on it.

1. How does Biden define Bidenomics?

He applies it to elements of his domestic agenda that he says are designed to help regular people directly instead of “trickling down” from the well-off. The chief elements are three laws he signed in his first two years: the bipartisan infrastructure law that’s spurring road and bridge building; the CHIPS and Science Act, which boosts manufacturing of semicondicutors inside the US, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains hundreds of billions of dollars to fund clean-energy projects and address climate change. Embracing “Bidenomics” publicly on June 28, the president said the phrase also should encompass his efforts to boost labor unions and technical education programs and to promote competition through antitrust laws. He also mentioned his pledges, unfulfilled as of yet, to offer universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds and make two years of community college tuition free.