Bidenomics — a new word for a bad old idea

[Kamaji]

Bidenomics — a new word for the bad old idea that government can see the future better than markets

By Rich Lowry
May 15, 2023

Bidenomics is not just about spending money anymore.

No, it’s about a whole new economic paradigm, according to a recent speech at the Brookings Institution by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

He describes the Biden approach as a “modern American industrial strategy.”

In so doing, he partakes of the left’s fondness for putting the adjective “modern” in front of an old idea to make it sound shiny and new.

“Modern monetary theory” is the phrase for the persistent notion — or temptation — that you can spend gobs of money you don’t have without consequence.

“Modern” industrial policy is presumably superior to “antiquated” industrial policy, but both suffer from the same conceit that government — with all its inefficiencies and the inevitable inconsistencies and compromises that come with legislative sausage-making — can see the future better than market players.

Now, it’s true that government partnerships with the private sector — and in extreme circumstances, government direction of the economy — can be useful.

During an existential struggle like World War II, economic freedom and efficiency understandably took a back seat to the imperatives of production for a great military struggle.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/05/15/bidenomics-a-new-word-for-the-bad-old-idea-that-government-can-see-the-future-better-than-markets/