My Democratic friends are confused and annoyed with the President’s low approval rate on the economy. Of course, there are always plenty of other reasons to dislike politicians — in this case, remember our embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan or the ongoing fiasco on the Rio Grande? But, he still deserves a pass on the economy.

The economic data is mostly very good. Inflation is dropping nicely. Unemployment is very low. Productivity is up. Consumer Confidence is way-up. The stock market is at record highs.

The question is why don’t the American people give him any credit for the economy, and there are lots of reasons. One is “force-of-habit”. Pick your favorite president and remember what the opposition party was saying about the economy then. Americans always belly-ache about the economy. Another reason is that they conflate the economy with the ever-rising national debt. Yes, it will eventually explode and be very painful, but it will probably not be in my lifetime and will not explode-in-surprise. Remember MMT? If not, ask me!

Prices are always “sticky on the downside”, which means they will decline more slowly than they rise. While we are waiting for that, wages are definitely rising albeit slowly. Frankly, I worry if prices fall too much or too fast. Remember: deflation is a much bigger problem than inflation.

Republicans argue that Biden created the inflation binge. As the pandemic-recession wore on, it was obvious that the economy needed massive stimulation, which Biden did. The problem was that he did too much stimulation, which was better than too little. He did the right thing – just too much of it.