The Good News in the Bad News

Today on TAP: How Joe Biden and the Democrats can still seize this moment

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You have to wonder if God has it in for Joe Biden and the Democrats.

After a terrific first six months when normally fractious Democrats grasped the stakes (losing Congress in 2022; Trump president again; end of U.S. democracy), the self-indulgent corporate splinter of the Democratic Congress is still holding Biden hostage; Republicans who block everything are getting a free ride in the media; and Biden’s approval ratings are tanking.

It’s a bad sign that Rep. John Yarmuth, a rare progressive chair of the House Budget Committee, has announced early retirement. Sounds like a man worried that Dems will lose control of Congress.

Now, in case we needed more bad news, inflation keeps accelerating. That will cause the stock market to fall, producing more stories of a stalled recovery and a failed presidency.

There are new bottlenecks of supplies raising prices to producers and consumers. One of the sharpest price hikes is in energy, which is the result mainly of logistical problems. This in turn will produce a backlash against conversion to a post-carbon economy, just in time for the Glasgow climate meetings.

Uh, so where’s the good news?

First, with all the focus on messed-up supply chains, anticipated in the superb White House report of last June, Biden will have a lot more credibility when he moves proactively to reshore U.S. industry and regulate ports.

The supply chain crisis also makes the case for a better-regulated economy. There were no such bottlenecks when trucking was regulated and teamsters were well paid. Shortages of truck drivers were unheard-of.

Inflationary worries also make it less likely that Jay Powell will be reappointed to chair the Fed. Biden needs a true monetary and full-employment dove, who happens to be Lael Brainard.

One more bit of hope: A hanging concentrates the mind. Maybe now the handful of corporate Dems who are holding up Biden’s program will get serious about a final bargain.

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