Ep. 3: The Biden Presidency: A Retrospective

Was the Biden Presidency as bad as Trump and his team make it out to be. Join me as we take a look at Biden's time in office, the good and the bad. 

Check out my substack page where I tackle some of the episode topics in depth and write about other issues our country and the world are facing today. https://substack.com/@ktdpodcast

Transcript

Raheel Khan 0:07

Hey there. Welcome to Khannecting the Dots. I'm your host, Raheel Khan, and today we're gonna focus in on the Biden presidency. You just heard Trump there, who's never shy about taking credit for the good and passing blame for the bad. In 2024 when markets were up and he wasn't even in office, he said it was because of him. But now with the economy wobbling during his own presidency, suddenly it's all Biden's fault. But it's never that simple and we all know it. So today, let's talk about what really happened during Biden's time in office, what worked and what didn't. Last week I touched on his response to the Israel Hamas conflict. So today let's zoom in on domestic policy and the real story behind the headlines. Of course now Trump is back in office and as we covered in episode one, he wasted no time getting rid of Biden era initiatives. Day one, a blitz of executive orders undoing Biden's work on immigration, climate, healthcare, you name it.. His team framed Biden's presidency as quote, a period of decline, weakness, and chaos. By that evening, Trump had already reinstated hard line. Border rules yanked the US side, the World Health Organization again, and rolled back protections for transgender Americans. They painted it as a rescue mission. America saved from Biden's bad decisions. But here's the question. Was America really falling apart or was it all just political theater? Lately, Biden hasn't been sitting back and taking it. He's hit the road, talking up his wins: job growth, infrastructure climate. He even claimed I could have beaten Trump a second time. But of course we all know that's probably not true. Remember that debate? It was painful to watch. Biden stumbled, lost his train of thought, looked confused. Even his biggest supporters cringed. This wasn't the same Biden who debated Trump in 2020. Most Americans already had concerns about Biden's age, but democratic leadership kept insisting he was fine as sharp as ever. Behind the scenes though, that wasn't the case. Recent reporting from news agencies like The New Yorker and the newly released book, original Sin revealed the truth. Biden's team had been managing his schedule for months. Wrapping up work days early, minimizing his public exposures. At a major fundraiser with Clooney Obama. He reportedly didn't even recognize old friends. People described him as quote, greatly diminished. Trying to hide all that while running for reelection. that might have been the biggest mistake of all, and it gave Trump the opening he needed. But despite that, here's the thing, Biden actually got stuff done. Let's go back to when Biden first took office. January, 2021. The country was still in crisis. Covid was raging. Thousands of people were dying each week. Unemployment was at 6.4% and people were scared. Biden's first big move, the$1.9 trillion American rescue plan. Now that wasn't just about those$1,400 checks. It included expanded unemployment, rental assistance, and the big one child tax credit, which temporarily slashed child poverty to the lowest rate in US history. The plan also turbocharged our vaccination campaign. Over 200 million shots in the first 100 days, the largest and fastest vaccination effort in US history. That push and the entire vaccination campaign during the Biden presidency likely saved over 3 million lives. Schools also got billions to reopen safely, and more than 225,000 childcare programs received support to stay afloat. Small businesses weren't left out, either they got emergency grants and loans including$28 billion, that helped keep about a hundred thousand restaurants and bars from closing permanently and during his term, over 21 million new businesses were registered more than any other president in history. That's real impact, real people, real jobs. Let's talk about that child tax credit for a second, because it was huge. For the brief time it ran. It lifted nearly 4 million kids out of poverty. Families got up to$300 per child every month. That meant fewer impossible choices, rent or groceries, medicine, or childcare. It also gave local economies a boost, almost$20 billion in new spending. That's money cycling through small businesses, grocery stores, daycare centers, real communities. If it had continued, we could have been talking about long-term improvements in housing, education, and even health outcomes. And yeah, it costs about$97 billion a year, but most studies found the return was even greater around$100 billion in economic benefits annually. Let's move on to jobs. Under Biden, the US added 16.6 million jobs and saw the lowest average unemployment in 50 years. Experts had expected we wouldn't recover pre pandemic jobs until 2025, but we got there by mid 2022. Unemployment dipped as low as 3.9% and was at 4.1% when Biden left office. Black and Latino workers, women, veterans, and people with disabilities saw record low unemployment rates. Women's labor force participation hit an all time high. Black business ownership doubled since 2019. Latino business ownership hit a 30 year high. He also raised the minimum wage for federal contractors to$15 an hour and expanded overtime eligibility. Wage growth for low income workers reached levels not seen since the 1960s. After inflation post tax income still went up by nearly$4,000 a year. These aren't just economic stats. These are everyday people having more opportunities and doing better than they had in a long time. Now let's focus in on some key policies under the Biden administration. Remember how during Trump's first term infrastructure week became a running joke mentioned every other week, but never actually happening? Well, Biden made it real. By late 2021, he passed a$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, a rare bipartisan win. It aimed to repair over 200,000 miles of roads, 12,000 bridges, and nearly half a million lead pipes, while also making upgrades to drinking water and wastewater facilities. That meant safer bridges, better roads, and clean drinking water. The law also brought affordable high speed internet to 23 million low income households. But when Congress failed to renew the federal funding in 2024, much of that progress vanished overnight. Other projects includes clean school buses, 450 rail upgrade projects, 1000 port improvements and plans to modernized 400 airports. Unfortunately, a lot of that progress was halted when Trump came back. He's frozen billions in infrastructure funds. Some of those projects are still on hold today despite a judge ordering the money to be released on Climate, Biden delivered the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in American history, through the Inflation reduction Act and that bipartisan infrastructure package. The goal cut us carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. Over$470 billion in private sector clean energy investments were announced during biden's term. US solar generation was projected to increase eightfold and wind powered triple by 2030. The first new nuclear plant in decades came online, during his term, and hundreds of new battery and solar manufacturing facilities were announced nationwide. This wasn't just happening in blue states, cities and towns across the Midwest and south in places like Ohio and Texas that used to depend on coal or other declining industries, were now home to solar panel factories and wind turbine manufacturing. The administration also invested$60 billion specifically in environmental justice initiatives, cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells, and replacing lead pipes in communities that have been ignored for decades. But now, Trump's team is trying to reverse those gains, pulling funding, killing climate initiatives, and fast tracking fossil fuel projects. Since January, they've signed orders to cancel or freeze over$23 billion in clean energy funding and instructed agencies to fast track fossil fuel projects. Those environmental justice initiatives gone. The Inflation reduction Act had more than just climate initiatives. It also included$64 billion to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Capped insulin at$35 for Medicare recipients. Allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time ever and set a$2,000 out-of-pocket prescription limit for seniors that went into effect this year. The law provided billions in grants tax credits and loans to bring manufacturing back to America. It aimed to modernize the power grid and support everything from electric vehicles to sustainable aviation fuel. Projections showed it would've created millions of jobs and drive nearly$2 trillion in economic growth over the next decade. Trumps response, you guessed it. He wants none of it. He ordered a freeze and all IRA funding putting thousands of projects into uncertainty. While a judge recently ordered the administration to reinstate already awarded funds, they're still looking for ways to delay or redirect the money. The CHIPS in Science Act is yet another major Biden economic policy. Passed in 2022, it's already sparked over$450 billion in private investment and is reshaping America's semiconductor industry. The law provides up to 25% in tax credits and more than$50 billion in grants and loans for companies building chip manufacturing facilities in the us. This isn't just about tech, it's about everyday life. Semiconductors power, everything from smartphones to cars and the pandemic chip shortage. It showed how vulnerable we were to foreign supply disruptions. By bringing production back home. The CHIPS Act is expected to create over half a million jobs in five years, add at least$60 billion to GDP and help stabilize prices for consumer goods. It also invests in workforce training and prevents recipients from expanding production in China. Of course, Trump is not a fan. He's called the CHIPS act a"horrible, horrible thing" and urged Congress to repeal it. He's directed the Commerce Department to renegotiate grants and floated the idea of redirecting funds. This has created uncertainty among semiconductor companies and state leaders, potentially jeopardizing major factory projects in multiple states. During his administration, Biden prioritized veterans signing multiple bills that increased healthcare access for veterans and their families. The PACT Act was particularly significant. It expanded benefits for vets exposed to toxic burn pits. In 2024, the VA delivered$187 billion in benefits to 6.7 million veterans. And processed a record, 2.5 million disability claims. The VA became one of the country's largest, job. Creators hiring tens of thousands to meet growing demand. Jobs that are now threatened by Doge cuts. Let's look at what happened with some key agencies during Biden's term. At the EPA, enforcement and Environmental Justice were priorities. In 2024 alone, the agency reduced 2.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and removed 227 million pounds of pollution from overburdened communities the highest total ever recorded. They concluded over 1800 civil cases charged 121 criminal defendants, and doubled financial penalties for polluters. At the FTC Lina Khan led a New era of antitrust enforcement. The agency blocked major mergers, rewrote merger guidelines, tackled junk fees, deceptive advertising, and data privacy issues. They sued Amazon for anti-competitive practices. Went after pharmacy benefit managers were rigging the insulin market and pressured inhaler makers to drop prices from$500 to$35. On labor. Biden became the first sitting president to walk a union picket line. When he joined auto workers in Michigan, he backed union organizing. Meanwhile, our current president is enacting the most aggressive anti-union action in decades by eliminating collective bargaining rights for an estimated 75% of unionized federal workers. Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Inflation hit hard during Biden's presidency up a whopping 20% at its peak, during his term. Prices were up and people definitely felt it. But was it all Biden's fault? Not exactly. Covid broke supply chains. On top of that, people spent more on goods creating bottlenecks. Then came Russia's invasion of Ukraine, spiking food and energy prices. Yes, Biden's stimulus spending added to the demand. Some estimates saved between one to 4%, but countries that spend far less than the US still saw similar inflation spikes. This was a global issue. Despite its contribution to inflation, the American Rescue Plan likely saved America from a double dip perception and kept millions out of poverty. How did the US compare globally? By 2024, US inflation fell down to 2.9% near equal to or lower than many peer countries. More than half the world's countries ended 2024 with higher inflation than the United States. And our recovery, the US far outpaced, most of its G 10 peer countries. While prices rose, so did corporate profits reaching 70 year highs. Some argued that this pointed of the price gouging. Not just supply chain issues, particularly when prices on some goods stayed high, even though inflation was leveling off and production costs were coming down. Two other major areas where Biden and his team faltered were immigration and Afghanistan. On immigration, border crossings hit record highs. Biden tried balancing enforcement and compassion, but it backfired. When a tough, bipartisan immigration bill finally emerged In early 2024, Trump pressured Republicans to oppose it, seeing political advantage in keeping the border crisis unresolved for the election. He publicly called it a bad bill, and privately pressured GOP leaders to block it. It worked. Speaker Mike Johnson declared it dead on arrival in the house. Senator Chris Murphy who helped negotiate the bill didn't mince words."Donald Trump killed that bill. His allies weren't just in the room. They helped us write the bill and then he told them to tank it for political reasons." Even with that though, critics called it too little too late, and the Democrats were also playing an election year stunt. They said Biden should have moved on immigration much earlier in his presidency. Afghanistan was another painful chapter. The chaotic US exit in 2021 had roots in the Trump administration's 2020 Doha deal with the Taliban, which set firm withdrawal deadline, and released 5,000 Taliban prisoners while sidelining the Afghani government. Biden inherited just 2,500 troops on the ground and limited options. While he delayed the pullout to August, critics say he should have renegotiated the deal, but the Taliban had little incentive to return to the negotiating table and the Afghan government, they were already hobbled. When the end came, it was devastating. The Afghani government collapsed rapidly and the world watched those harrowing scenes at Kabul Airport. Most independent reviews agree that Trump deals severely undermined Afghani morale and left Biden with few good options. But the execution under Biden was severely mismanaged, widely criticized for chaos and lack of preparation. So how did all this play out at the ballot box? The 2024 election was tight, much closer than we're led to believe. Yes, Harris lost all seven swing states, but in the popular vote, she trailed Trump by just 1.5 percentage points. Trump with 49.8%, and Harris with 48.3%. That's a difference of roughly 2.3 million votes out of more than 155 million cast. For context, Trump lost to Biden in 2020 by over 7 million votes, a 4.5% gap. Even though Obama's narrowest win in 2012 was by nearly 4 million votes. This was the second closest popular vote margin since 1968 and only five presidential winners in US history have won by a smaller percentage. In the electoral college Trump won 312. Harris is 226. Wider than Biden's win in 2020 for sure. 3 0 6 to 2 32, but far from a landslide and less than both. Obama's electoral college wins in 2008 and in 2012. Despite her loss, Democrats actually won six of seven Senate races in those swing states, and the house remains the most closely divided in nearly a century. So while Trump and his team claim a mandate, the numbers tell a different story. America remains deeply divided. So was Biden's presidency a disaster? Far from it? Was it perfect? Definitely not. Here's what people forget. Biden didn't inherit a strong economy. He inherited an economy in crisis. Unemployment at 6.4%. Businesses barely surviving. Trump had started emergency measures, but things were still dire. Biden's mission was recovery, and the results speak volumes. Through stimulus, public health initiatives and job creation policies, his administration delivered. Unemployment fell at 4%. The economy added over 16 million jobs, and after a painful spike in inflation, it came back under control. Here's the complicated truth. The American Rescue plan accelerated our recovery, but also contributed to the inflation. Without that intervention, though, we likely faced a second recession and widespread hardship. Should they have moved faster on inflation? Absolutely. But what's truly remarkable is how they manage to bring down inflation without triggering the recession, experts kept predicting. Threading that needle, reducing inflation while preserving jobs. That's genuinely extraordinary. So as you process today's political narratives, remember this, Biden didn't inherit economic strength. He rebuilt it. He actually left a relatively strong economy for Trump to inherit. What happens from here on out that's on the current administration. If the economy improves further credit, today's leadership. But if things deteriorate, don't let anyone rewrite the history of what happened. Thanks for joining me on Khannecting the Dots. Join me next week as I continue to look deeper into the news dominating the US and the world. If you liked what you heard, please like, subscribe, and share with a friend. And until next time, stay curious, stay critical, and stay connected.