Beyond the US budget debate, Powell remains the big decider

JUDGING by the amount of noise made by both the White House and the Republicans as they prepare to work on the proposed new budget, you would assume that US President Joe Biden is about to launch historic fiscal programmes – the likes of those advanced by presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan, which restructured the American economy.

In reality, both sides in the debate, operating in a new legislative environment in which the Republicans now control the House of Representatives, have less of an interest in economics per se and more in politics – specifically, the 2024 presidential and congressional election.

For Biden, the budget proposal can be seen as an attempt to highlight his policy priorities. These include investing in American manufacturing; protecting the nation’s safety-net programmes; increasing the number of high-tech factory jobs; fighting climate change; ensuring that corporations don’t exploit consumers; and continuing to provide Ukraine with military assistance.