Why Biden’s Vision Matters — For America, And for the World

The Challenge of Turning America Around — And What It’ll Really Take to Do It

Image Credit: Jonathan Ernst

By now, the same old stale debate’s broken out. Politics as a sport. Biden’s a doddering old man! Don’t run, old man! He can’t win! He shouldn’t! What a disgrace. Hello, does anyone remember substance? Forget these jokers. I’m going to put my economist hat on and teach you why Biden’s vision for America matters. Teach, because I think that Americans aren’t hearing the full story, at all, really, the coverage is so abysmal. This isn’t a sport. It’s about the future of a nation. It deserves to be treated with a little respect and dignity, no?

To begin teaching you why Biden’s vision for America matters, I’m going to start with a question. Why is it that Biden commands by now the respect and admiration of world leaders from Trudeau to Macron? A respect Trump had completely squandered for America, respect that had to be earned back? I don’t say that like a pundit — to teach you you should suck up. I say it so that you reflect on it. These are senior statespeople. They are some of the most eminent figures the world has, and their countries have. Why is it that they…look up…to…Joe Biden?

When I say “look up,” I’m not kidding. They do. That’s a fact. Europe’s scrambling, racing, to copy Biden’s agenda. Canada is, too, even though it’s behind. The effects of Biden’s vision — and we’ll discuss just what it is — are seismic. Biden’s vision is that consequential. Australia’s going to race to copy it soon — it has to, it can’t be a dirty, fossil-intensive economy forever after all. China’s already bewildered and more than a little panicked. Biden is changing a) the global economy, b) the world order, and he’s doing that by transforming c) what the future is about.

Those are big words, so let’s go back to the fact that leaders from Macron to Trudeau look up to Biden. Again, look up to. They openly champion copying Biden’s agenda. When their opponents accuse America of “protectionism,” — and we’ll come shortly to why — they’re the first to say, no, we need to do this. Exactly this.

Let me translate that for you in plain English. In just two years, under Joe Biden, America’s become a world leader again. That’s historic. Nobody thought that could happen. Not Trump, not pundits, not intellectuals, not even those with a pretty good track record of predicting the future, like yours truly. It seemed that America’s best days were long behind it. But now? Here’s the world, looking up to America. That’s not because of Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s not because of Donald Trump or the Supreme Court or Elon Musk. It’s because of Joe Biden.

Credit should be given where it’s due, and the very first thing that I have to teach you is that Americans need to give Biden credit — a lot more credit — for already making America a world leader again.

Now. What am I saying? Have I drunk the kool-aid of irrationally sunny optimism?

Far from it. I’m not saying that America’s troubles are over. I’m saying precisely the opposite. Let me continue my story.

Why do some of the world’s most forward thinking leaders…look up…to Joe Biden?

America is a profoundly troubled nation. It’s beset by crisis on every front. And there’s a reason for that. No American President in the last five decades or so has had a vision for America. For what America should be, do, create, build, grow, enact, become. None of them. I know some of you are going to think they have, but they haven’t. Let’s discuss that, because it’s important that you understand this lack of vision, and how it’s at the heart of America’s decline.

How did America become a profoundly troubled nation? Well, let’s think back in history. After the last World War, America was clearly the world’s leader. It had a Golden Age — no, certainly not for everyone. It was still a segregated nation. Economically, America made stunning gains, and those economic gains paved the way for civil rights in just a few short decades, because of course you can hardly have democracy without prosperity. And then, around 1970, America’s post-war Golden Age came to a swift, sudden end.

Why was that? It was for a very, very simple reason — one hiding in plain sight. Around 1971, America went from being a net exporter, to being a net importer. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a net consumer — for a while. At some point, the balance has to shift back, because, well, otherwise, you end up in a) debt, b) poverty, c) stagnation, and d) political trouble, which is usually fascism, that follows. But in America, the balance never swung back. America just kept on…consuming and consuming…more and more…to this very day. And so it grew more indebted, while its economy stagnated, jobs disappeared, downward mobility accelerated, and the Dream finally died, as the middle class became a memory, a minority, a thing that didn’t really exist anymore.

Why, in turn, was that? Why did the balance never swing back? In this case, the literal balance — of trade? Because for five decades, since 1970 or so, America hasn’t had a President with a vision. Now. I’m going to explain this as simply as I can, but it’s still a bit complex, so buckle up.