Lindsay attended President Biden's speech on the economy last week. Check out her reactions below. ⬇
Last week I had the privilege of attending President Biden's speech at the National Economic Club. If you missed it, you can read the transcript below. I don't think this speech is getting the attention it deserves. President Biden's "declaration of progress" on the economy, coming just one day after the Federal Reserve finally began cutting interest rates after months of falling inflation, marked a sea change in economic policymaking in Washington. In particular, Biden's speech is a referendum on (and frankly a rebuke to) the many experts who said that the only way to bring down inflation would be to cause a recession and throw millions of Americans out of work. The President didn't mince words on this: he said they were "dead wrong." I agree (and I named names in a spicy Twitter thread but this is LinkedIn and we are civilized here). He deserves a lot of credit for ignoring these calls and it couldn't have been easy because they were everywhere, they were loud, and they were very sure of themselves. The truth is we never had to choose between stable prices and full employment. We could always have both. That is because the best way to tackle supply shortages is by expanding supply, not torching demand. This is exactly what Biden did with big investments in our productive capacity through bills to support infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, and a green transition. It is wonderful to look back and see that we were able to support families and communities throughout the pandemic recession, and bring inflation down without excessive damage to the labor market. But broadly speaking, a healthy economy starts with a healthy workforce, and when someone sells you a "fix" for the economy that involves devastating that workforce, you should think twice. I'm really glad Biden didn't take the bait, and I'm sure many Americans are too.