Is Bidenomics working? In North Carolina, the answer is clear | Opinion

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has rolled out a new ad featuring a laughing Vice President Kamala Harris saying, “We are very proud of Bidenomics. Bidenomics is working.”

The ad counters the Democratic presidential nominee’s claim with references to record-high gas prices, soaring interest rates, unaffordable housing and rising unemployment, and the narrator’s saying: “Kamala Harris is clueless.”

But for many in North Carolina, the takeaway may be that the Trump campaign is clueless. In this battleground state, there’s strong evidence that Bidenomics is in fact working.

Yes, North Carolina, like most of the nation, has been facing a shortage of housing, higher grocery prices and a spike in insurance costs. But overall, the North Carolina economy is strong. The unemployment rate is 3.8 percent – lower than even the low national rate of 4.2 percent – interest rates are going down, wages are up, inflation has eased and the state budget is running surpluses.

Given those numbers, it’s Trump who appears out of touch. When he delivered a speech on the economy in Asheville in August, he said, as he often does, that “our country has become a Third world nation.”

A month later, the economic picture continues to improve. The average cost of a gallon of gas in North Carolina has dipped below $3, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, and inflation dropped to 2.2% last month, down from a high of 9.1% in June 2022., and consumer confidence and the gross domestic product are up.

State Sen. Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat and Senate minority leader, thinks Democrats can make a strong case about Biden’s handling of the economy. “If you asked anybody three years ago if there could be a soft landing, most economists predicted we were going to have a crash landing,” he said. “This has been as smooth a landing as a perfectly operating 747 jet.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said after announcing the recent interest rate cut, “The U.S. economy is in good shape. It’s growing at a solid pace, inflation is coming down, the labor market is in a strong place, we wanna keep it there.”

While the North Carolina economy is in good shape, it is also uneven. The state’s biggest metro areas are flourishing, but some smaller cities and rural areas are not. “We have a state with some of the fastest-growing economies in the nation and some of the slowest-growing economies,” said Gerald Cohen, chief economist at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC Chapel Hill.

Cohen noted that while the Research Triangle, Mecklenburg County, Asheville and some coastal counties are prospering, areas such as those around Rocky Mount and Hickory are not. “We have been very successful, but the success has been more concentrated than I would like to see,” he said.

That is a gap in which Trump’s criticism of Biden’s economic stewardship resonates, but it shouldn’t, for two reasons.

First, the economies of small metros and rural areas have been hurt by the Republican state lawmakers who represent them. The Republican-controlled legislature held out for a decade before expanding Medicaid. The delay led to the closing of rural hospitals and the loss of jobs. Meanwhile, the legislature’s refusal to adequately fund public schools and increase teacher pay has undercut a major employer in rural areas. The move to offer universal vouchers for private school tuition will further deprive rural school districts.

Second, legislation signed by Biden will help increase and spread the wealth in North Carolina. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS Act will bring infrastructure improvements – including improved water systems and expanded broadband internet access – and jobs to rural areas and smaller cities.

Of course, these realities don’t matter to many Trump supporters. Their dim view of the economy will only improve if Trump regains the presidency.

But others are beginning to see how government investments instead of tax cuts mostly benefiting the wealthy are helping to create broader prosperity. U.S. consumer sentiment improved in September. The rise mirrors Democrats’ excitement over the switch from Biden to Harris as their party’s nominee and confidence in Harris’ proposals to lower grocery prices and reduce child costs and increase the housing supply.

Bidenomics is working.