WASHINGTON TIMES: DAVID BOSSIE: Biden’s expensive malaise is here to stay

Make no mistake about it, the 2022 midterm elections are about the abysmal state of our economy and will serve as a referendum on Joe Biden’s costly left-wing policies that were forced into place as America was pulling out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, with less than 50 days until Election Day, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are trying to diminish their failures by any means necessary – with the help of their allies in the biased mainstream media of course. But one core question remains on everyone’s mind: Why has everything gotten so expensive? Look no further than the radical Democrats in the White House and on Capitol Hill who’ve been behaving like drunken sailors with your hard-earned tax dollars for the past two years.

As our economy was on the verge of overheating and hurtling toward a once unimaginable $31 trillion national debt, Mr. Biden chose to abuse power. Along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, this president chose to enact nearly $5 trillion in new federal spending when our economy could least afford it. As a result, inflation is at nearly a 40-year high – an 8.3% increase from this time last year. Mr. Biden’s insistence that inflation has only gone up “an inch” is tone deaf and an insult to hardworking families struggling to get by.

It’s not hard to see that things are far from alright in Joe Biden’s America. In an attempt to rein in the inflation crisis before the rapidly approaching election, the Federal Reserve Board is expected to raise interest rates once again. The effect of these rate hikes will increase unemployment, stifle economic growth and pave the way for an economic recession that many believe we’re already grappling with. The American people must never forget the lie that is Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The truth is that this falsely labeled legislation hasn’t lowered inflation and never will. It amounts to little more than the latest socialist giveaway brought to you by the irresponsible leftists who are currently calling the shots in Washington. Every Democrat politician responsible for this new law must be voted out of office in November.

Mr. Biden’s misleading line that ten million “new jobs” have been created on his watch is one of the biggest whoppers coming out of a White House that finds itself in full desperation mode. In March and April of 2020, America lost nearly 22 million jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, roughly 22 million jobs have come back – more than half of which were recovered during President Donald Trump’s term.

So, the jobs that Mr. Biden is now taking credit for aren’t new or of his making – they simply reflect our country digging out from under the pandemic. In reality, job creation would be much more robust had Biden just left President Donald Trump’s pro-growth economic policies in place and sat on his hands. Mr. Biden’s big government green agenda has caused massive uncertainty across the board. It doesn’t take an economist to understand what trillions in wasteful spending, tax hikes, and the specter of 87,000 new IRS agents will do to an already hurting economy.

Recent headlines like “The Fed is now expected to keep raising rates then hold them there,” are a direct contradiction to Mr. Biden’s disingenuous statement on 60 Minutes that he’s hoping for a “soft landing” for our country economically. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell – who has predicted economic pain for American families and businesses – is at odds with Mr. Biden on this question as well: “Without explicitly predicting a recession, officials have made clear their willingness to tolerate one. Mr. Powell has stopped talking about a so-called soft landing, in which the Fed slows growth enough to bring down inflation without causing a recession, except when asked.”

The Biden team is now caught between a rock and a hard place because they enacted the far left’s big spending wish list when they should have proceeded with caution. Democrats ignored the inflation warnings instead of taking appropriate action and now we’re all paying the price. The inept Joe Biden has managed to create a scenario in which the American people must now look forward to either more explosive inflation or a prolonged economic recession. It looks like Biden’s malaise is here to stay.

There’s only one way to solve our nation’s economic ills and that is to remove the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer triumvirate from power. These hopelessly out-of-touch politicians will never admit they were wrong and change direction, so we need new leadership and innovative ideas to get America back on track. Creating hope, growth and opportunity for all isn’t rocket science. It requires fiscal discipline, low taxes and fewer regulations, and getting big government off the backs of job creators and entrepreneurs.

This abhorrent “new normal” that Mr. Biden and the radical Democrats in Congress want us to get used to must not be allowed to take root. The American people deserve an economic playing field where they’re able to prosper, safe neighborhoods where police are respected, a secure border that combats fentanyl, and a first-class education for their children. On these all-important issues, the left has no answers. Vote Republican in November.

• David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United and he served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.