Column: The continuing riddle of why Biden doesn’t get credit for an improved economy

Let’s take a snapshot of the U.S. economy. “Bidenomics didn’t just promise economic growth,” wrote economists at the progressive Roosevelt Institute in a recent newsletter; “it promised a transition from the era of trickle-down, neoliberal economics to a new paradigm that focused on improving the wages and livelihoods of working- and middle-class people.” They titled their post: “It’s working.” Indeed, as I reported in July, lower-income workers have been the chief beneficiaries of Bidenomics. “People want to hear about falling prices, because they remember what prices were,” Jared Bernstein, Biden’s senior economic advisor, told NBC. “They want their old prices back.” Others suggest that economists, pollsters and political commentators may actually be misreading the public’s mood — that people actually are feeling better about their own economic situation “but think the country is in terrible shape,” says Patrick Watson of Mauldin Economics, an analytics firm. “Maybe it’s because of the media always highlighting bad news.” It’s also true that economic conditions always take time to penetrate public opinion — it’s not unusual for voters to continue to wring their hands about the economy for months after it starts delivering gains.