The Massive Hidden Cost of “Bidenomics”

As President Joe Biden continues to tout the supposed successes of his “Bidenomics” agenda, his administration’s mounting pile of bureaucratic red tape is drowning everyday Americans in regulatory costs.

During a speech in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Biden declared that his economic agenda is “leading to a boom.” After citing the lower inflation rate and low unemployment numbers, the president asserted that “Bidenomics” is “about growing an economy by strengthening the middle class” and has led to the United States having “the strongest economy in the world.”

But the most telling line of his speech came directly after that when Biden said, apparently off script, “And you’re looking at me a little skeptical, but I promise you. Check it out. The strongest economy in the world.”

It seems that even the Biden team’s hand-picked audience of devoted Democrats couldn’t hide just how much they don’t believe the “Bidenomics” talking points.

While it’s true unemployment is low, the inflation rate has come down (but is still above the historical norm) and several other economic metrics are pointing in the right direction, Americans aren’t feeling much relief – and for good reason. When it comes down to it, “Bidenomics” has meant drastically higher costs across the board that disproportionately impact middle and working-class families.

One of the biggest hidden costs of “Bidenomics” is the added burden of a mountain of regulations imposed by the White House’s legions of bureaucrats. According to a report released earlier this summer by Casey Mulligan, the former chief economist of the White House Council of Economic Advisors during the Trump administration, Biden’s new regulations have already cost the average American household about $10,000.  

In effect, this figure represents a significant hidden tax on every American family regardless of income.

As Mulligan explains, the Biden administration has been adding regulatory costs at a rate of $617 billion per year of rulemaking – a cost that is passed on directly to consumers. If Biden wins re-election and rulemaking and regulatory costs accelerate at the same rate under Biden as they did under Obama, the total cost to the American people over eight years would be a jaw-dropping $7 trillion – about $60,000 per household.

Although Biden has introduced fewer regulations per year than Obama, his regulations have been, on average, far more costly. For instance, COVID-19 vaccine mandates alone cost nearly $500 million. Automobile fuel economy and emissions standards account for about one third of the total regulatory costs Mulligan cites, while health, labor, telecommunications, and consumer finance regulations also comprise a significant chunk.

One of the primary culprits of sky-high regulatory costs is the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” – legislation which the administrated has trumpeted as one of Biden’s signature wins. According to Mulligan, the bill implemented several price control schemes disguised as deregulations which will actually cost consumers billions.

The pace at which Biden has heaped regulatory costs on the American people presents a stark contrast to what the country saw under President Trump. Using the same methodology, Mulligan found that Trump’s policy of targeted deregulation reduced costs for the average American household by almost $11,000. Over eight years, Trump’s policies could’ve been expected to save families $21,000.

This in effect represents an $80,000 swing from the situation under Biden. Put another way, Biden’s policies have already almost entirely wiped out the gains seen under Trump and are taking hundreds more dollars each month from families’ bottom line.

Unsurprisingly given these findings, an analysis from the Heritage Foundation in January found that the average American family is $7,400 poorer under Biden – a figure that has likely grown since the study was released in January. Meanwhile, a separate analysis from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that the average family became $6,400 richer under President Trump. These figures are directly tied to the regulatory costs that each administration imposed on the public.

As much as the Biden administration would like to bill their economic record as a success story, the reality is that Americans are acutely aware of how much worse off they are now than they were just a few years ago. According to a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, 35 percent of Americans say they are “falling behind” financially, while 52 percent say they are “staying in place” and just 13 percent say they are “getting ahead.” Those numbers are hardly indicative of a strong economy.

70 percent also say their pay is not keeping up with inflation, and 65 percent rate the economy as “bad.” A whopping 80 percent of respondents said Biden’s policies – now branded as “Bidenomics” – are either “a great deal” or “somewhat” responsible for the state of the economy.

For a president hoping to win over voters on the strength of his economic record, those are very alarming numbers indeed.

Neil Banerji is a proud Las Vegas resident and former student at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading Winston Churchill and Edmund Burke.