https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-1-19-the-obama-era-war-against-the-economy-is-about-to-resume
President Joe Biden ran on gauzy campaign themes of return to calm and normalcy, or something like that. Certainly, he was never challenged by the media in any meaningful way to commit to specifics. But as Inauguration Day approaches, the details are now coming fully into view. In simple terms, Biden plans to resume the Obama-era War Against The Economy.
“War Against The Economy” is the phrase I often used to characterize the Obama administration’s economic policy. Make that the Obama/Biden administration’s economic policy. The year 2013 was the first full year of this blog, and was also the first year of Obama/Biden’s second term. The economy was entering the fifth year of the “recovery” that had begun around the time Obama entered office in 2009, but the “recovery” was notably lethargic and sluggish. In a post in December 2013 titled “Update On The War Against The Economy,” I had a thorough review of the Obama/Biden policies that attacked productive economic activity, and that I thought deserved the lion’s share of the blame for the economic doldrums.
Here’s the short version of subsequent events: Starting in 2017, Trump undid most of the counterproductive Obama/Biden policies. Economic performance returned to normal healthy growth, at least until the pandemic hit. Biden now proposes to re-instate essentially all of the most economically destructive policies.
For today, I’ll focus on my favorite subject, the area of policy known to rational people as “energy” policy, and to hysterics as “climate” policy. In recent days, Biden’s people have let it be known that among his first actions in office will be (1) rejoining the Paris climate accord, and (2) canceling the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Meanwhile, Biden has also announce prospective appointments to the EPA who can be counted on to resume the war against fossil fuels, beginning with coal, without regard to negative economic consequences.