Discussion on Joe Biden’s Economic Plans

Budget and Investment

The economic plan put forward by the US President, Joe Biden came during a time when the country went through a social and economic upheaval. This is because the downturn caused by the pandemic led to a recession that has been considered the worst compared to Great Depression since it resulted in millions losing jobs overnight.

The ‘Build Back Better’ reform by Biden primarily focused on expanding in the areas like the health care, child care, education and the paid leaves (Furman). The proposal also expanded programs for the seniors through addition of vision, hearing and dental benefits for the Medicare.

This is because, the plan had a budget close to $3.5 million which was planned to be spent over a period of 10 years. This amounted to close to about $350 million over a year or which was close to 1.5 percent of the present gross domestic product that amounted to $22.7 trillion (Greg). Although the 1.5 per cent rise was considered a huge jump compared to several past decade but it seemed smaller when compared to the Johnson and the Roosevelt eras. Moreover, the economic plan was more of an investment on the children through lower cost of childcare expanded tax credit for children, universal preschool for two years, close to twelve weeks of medical and a paid family leave. According to economist, such investments would yield massive economic benefits for the long term as it would lead to more educated as well as healthy kids who would not only live longer but earn more as the adults and pay higher amount of taxes. Such an economic plan also shifts the social model of US close to the Scandinavian countries like the Sweden and Norway thereby reflecting those issues of childcare also impact the families belonging to the middle class. Further, the expanded tax credit on the children not only benefits the poor families but also benefits the households with higher income in the form of additional funds.

Although there was confusion regarding whether the plan would experience growth or permanent fixtures since its outlay lay over the prevailing system of social welfare, but the economic plan put forward by Joe Biden had been anticipated to be successful as a long-term plan.  

References:

Furman, Jason. "The Crisis Opportunity: What It Will Take to Build Back a Better Economy." Foreign Aff. 100 (2021): 25.

Greg, Iacurci. How Biden’S $3.5 Trillion Economic Plan Compares To LBJ’S Great Society And FDR’S New Deal. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/02/how-bidens-economic-plan-compares-to-the-great-society-and-new-deal.html.