Michael R. Strain, Columnist

The U.S. Economy Doesn’t Need Disaster Relief

Biden’s plan to bolster competition goes too far. The progressive left and populist right will both like that about it.

July 14, 2021 at 12:30 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

Radical
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Politicians in both parties seem to believe that the U.S. faces looming catastrophes that require a radical rethinking of economic policy. They’re wrong. The nation certainly has serious challenges, but the foundations of the economy are healthy. Radicalism is not required.

The populist right and progressive left seem to agree that the dominant consensus in economic policy of recent decades — a central role for markets, friendliness toward globalization and free trade, and wariness of over-regulation — has been bad for Americans. This bipartisan consensus is predicated on the false view that the past several decades have been bad for typical workers and households.