How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙅𝙤𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙑𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙣 (𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤 𝙫𝙞𝙖 @𝙋𝙊𝙏𝙐𝙎/𝙓)

From rolling back the pandemic-era social safety net, to overseeing the largest inflationary crisis in decades, Biden’s legacy was one of economic despair

46th US President Joe Biden officially leaves office Monday, January 20, to be succeeded by former President Donald Trump. Trump’s promises in the name of “saving American workers” have raised alarm for people across sectors of society, including migrant workers who are gearing up for mass deportations, and unionized workers who are preparing for Trump’s attacks on labor rights. Trump’s loyalty to multi-billionaires has also given the working class of the US great cause for concern. Meanwhile, in contrast, the Democrats have attempted to position themselves as the real defenders of working people. As four years of a Democratic presidency come to an end, it is necessary to ask, what was the true impact of the Biden administration on the working class?

𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜-𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭

Biden’s presidency oversaw the massive rollback of pandemic-era social safety net programs and policies, including expanded Medicaid benefits, the Child Tax Credit, and additional unemployment insurance. Research reveals the effectiveness of these programs at reducing poverty levels, with poverty actually lowering in 2021 as compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Instead of working to keep these expanded social programs in place, the Biden administration oversaw their slow, excruciating removal. The so-called “unwinding” of Medicaid is one example. At the start of the pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) included a requirement that states keep people continuously enrolled in Medicaid, the US’s public health insurance program for low income adults and children, until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). States received additional federal funding in order to keep people enrolled in these benefits.

Without any intervention by Biden, continuous enrollment ended on March 31, 2023, and states began the process of “unwinding,” or disenrolling millions of people from Medicaid benefits. As a result, over 25 million people, including almost five million children, lost their health insurance coverage, the majority over purely procedural flukes due to states redetermining eligibility for all Medicaid recipients.

A survey of low income adults across Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas, conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, revealed that the vast majority had been disenrolled from Medicaid by late 2023. The study found that “that those who had been disenrolled had significantly worse access to health care compared to those who did not lose their Medicaid coverage,” reporting cost-related delays in care, skipped medication doses, and skipped annual checkups.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬

As Biden oversaw this massive rollback of the pandemic-era social safety net, people in the US were experiencing the worst inflationary crisis in decades during his administration. This crisis was experienced by many other Western nations, and was exacerbated by corporate price gouging and existing economic difficulties such as a lack of affordable housing and stagnant wages.

In the final days of Biden’s term, working people in the US are still suffering under a cost of living crisis, contrary to the positive spin of the mainstream media. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of over 120,000 registered voters conducted from October 30 to November 5, 96% of these voters said “high prices for gas, groceries and other goods” factored into who they voted for in the November 2024 elections—in which the Democrats incurred a stunning loss.

This is no surprise, considering that people in the US are still paying 22% more for groceries than they did when Biden took office according to October Consumer Price Index inflation data. According to US Census data from August 20 to September 16, over 93% of those polled had some level of stress over the last two months’ price increases, with over 45% reporting they found these price increases to be “very stressful”. Additionally, approximately 69% of people polled (around 250 million) have had some difficulty affording basic household expenses each week.

Corporate greed has exacerbated the crisis. Reports indicate that grocery stores have “price gouged”, or raised the prices of goods beyond inflation. A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report from March of 2024 found that “food and beverage retailer revenues increased to more than 6 percent over total costs in 2021, substantially higher than their recent peak of 5.6 percent in 2015. In the first three-quarters of 2023, grocery retailer profits rose even more, with revenue reaching 7 percent over total costs.”

Working people have also struggled under rising housing costs throughout Biden’s administration, with housing costs hitting an all-time high in April of 2024. Rent prices keep increasing, with asking rent prices rising 3.3% in September, only exacerbating housing unaffordability which plagues working people. Nearly half of renters across the US spend over 30% of their income on housing.

A recent report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development revealed the true cost of the housing affordability crisis: over 770,000 people were homeless on a single night in January of 2024, an 18% increase from January of 2023. For context, last year’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report revealed that homelessness had increased by 12%, and the year prior showed an increase of 0.3% from 2020 to 2022.

“𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞?”

Throughout Israel’s fifteen-month long genocide in Gaza, the US proven that Israel would simply be unable to carry out this genocide without the material and political support of the bigger country. Biden’s administration supplied Israel with billions in aid, while US officials threatened international institutions that sought to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against humanity.

In response, the people of the US mounted a powerful Palestine solidarity movement which put Biden’s administration in a domestic political bind. Arab and Muslim voters in key swing states such as Michigan turned away from the Biden, and then Harris campaign in droves, refusing to vote for an administration that facilitated genocide.

Biden’s administration has also been the chief obstacle to a peaceful negotiation between Russia and Ukraine, while continuing to send billions of dollars in military supplies to further escalate the war in the region. In November, Biden issued a significant provocation against Russia by authorizing Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles, called Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).

Biden continued the ongoing Cold War against China, with the US escalating military exercises in East Asia with an eye on both China and Chinese ally North Korea. In his final days, Biden reversed Trump’s harsh policy against Cuba by finally removing Cuba off of the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, although Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Marco Rubio has signaled that he will re-add Cuba to this list.

In the final days of his presidency, Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered remarks on the long-awaited ceasefire agreement that was recently reached in Gaza. Two journalists interrupted Blinken’s remarks: Palestinian journalist Sam Husseini was dragged away by security while yelling “Why aren’t you at The Hague?” and Max Blumenthal interrupted Blinken to ask “How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?”