Joe Biden formally presented his first budget, an unprecedented $ 6,000 billion maneuver since World War II, of which 2,300 for infrastructure, 1,800 for families and another 1,500 to finance various federal agencies. The ambition is to “reinvent” the American economy by making it more competitive, at the cost of raising public debt to record levels. After the pandemic “We can’t just go back to how things were before, we have to seize the moment to reimagine and rebuild the American economy,” Biden said.
The annual budget that the president proposes is limited to indicating the priorities, but it is the Congress that has to decide the expenditure items; the current one has a narrow democratic majority. Republicans are not in favor of giving so much power to the central government, while even some Democrats warn that the economy, already on its way to recovery, risks an inflationary spiral.
Contrary to his predecessor Donald Trump, the US president intends to significantly increase investments in infrastructure, welfare (especially for children) and the fight against climate change, financing them with an increase in taxes for large companies and the richest Americans. At the center of the maneuver is the relaunch of the middle class. The defense budget will also increase, but only slightly. According to the White House forecasts, unemployment will drop to 4.7% by the end of the year, to 4.1% in 2022 and 3.8% in 2023. Then, it should remain at 3.8% for next seven years.