Chronic. In May 1987, a young Democratic senator from Delaware was about to embark on his first presidential campaign. During a speech at Princeton University (New Jersey), he attacked one of the sacred cows of the progressive camp: the role of the welfare state. “Public subsidies are not the ultimate answer to the problems of the poor”, he had hammered.
Predicted in the primaries by Michael Dukakis, he did it again in November 1988 with formulas that Ronald Reagan would not have denied: “We are familiar with the stories of those mothers living on welfare who drive luxury cars. Whether exaggerated or not, these stories emphasize (…) that the welfare system is broken – it just distributes checks and does nothing to ensure that the poor find productive jobs. “
Thirty-four years later, Joe Biden (since that’s him), finally elected President of the United States, has just had Congress adopt a gigantic plan to support the 1900 economy. billion dollars (1,600 billion euros), reviving what it had once burned: a revaluation of unemployment benefits, aid to the poorest and unrequited checks distributed to the vast majority of Americans.
The ex-senator from Delaware did not skimp to distribute public money financed by the debt, the Covid-19 pandemic requires. Two questions now arise. The first is whether these sums were spent wisely. The second concerns the capacity of the United States to create the famous “productive jobs”.
Americans’ savings multiplied by five
Regarding the relevance of this support plan, it was undoubtedly necessary to protect the unemployed who reached the end of their rights this month, to help the poorest families to overcome the consequences of the pandemic and to consolidate a system of health which has shown its weaknesses during this crisis.
Now, it’s all a matter of dosage in a context of economic recovery faster than expected. This is already on track thanks to the two support plans voted under Donald Trump for a total amount of $ 2,900 billion.
The unemployment rate remains high, but is falling significantly. Household wealth, which increased by nearly $ 1.2 trillion in 2020, is at an all-time high. Purchasing power increased by 6%. Even before the last plan of December 2020 produced its effects, the savings of Americans increased fivefold in one year to exceed $ 2.6 trillion (compared to an average of $ 300 billion to $ 700 billion over the last year). decade).
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