Grand Canyon Times

As midterm the election are just days away and inflation still soaring, Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, criticized President Joe Biden's fiscal policies.

“Bidenomics," he wrote in a tweet Oct. 28, "has been a disaster."

Many Biden critics have used the term "Bidenomics" as a pejorative to describe inflation and Biden's policies. Hanke blamed inflation, which has driven prices up 16% in Arizona since 2021, on Biden's rampant spending.

"Biden’s wild spending has fueled inflation and has set the U.S. up for a whopper of a recession," Hanke wrote. "Bidenomics is for the birds." 

Arizona Republican and Senate candidate, Blake Masters, also took to Twitter recently to mention his opponent, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, has helped make the situation worse.

“In D.C., Mark Kelly is a rubber stamp for Joe Biden’s failed agenda,” Masters wrote in a tweet Oct. 12. Masters also claimed Kelly has backed Biden’s energy policies that have increased inflation.

According to a report by the Joint Economic Committee Republicans, Arizona one of 10 states with the highest inflationary costs. The report found families must pay $869 extra to achieve the same standard of living now as they did in January 2021, an increase of 16%.

Of all the areas of increased spending, transportation costs have increased the most, costing families $310 more than in January 2021, according to the report.

Economists such as Paige Terryberry, senior analyst for fiscal policy at the John Locke Foundation, agree that increased government spending is a driver of inflation, according to a recent report. 

Among other problems, inflation was being driven by "too many dollars chasing a stagnant supply of goods," as well as supply not being able to keep up with demand, Terryberry wrote on the foundation’s website.

Terryberry argued that current levels of inflation were caused by the government injection of cash at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite decreased demand at the time.

The Economist referred to “Bidenomics” as a policy choice exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which likely will be at the forefront of many voters’ minds when they go to the polls Nov. 8.