Biden’s Green New Deal Supercharged Manufacturing Construction in USA, Trump Killing It

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There was no doubt about it — the Green New Deal, aka Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, was the biggest reshoring legislation in the history of the United States, and the biggest boost to blue collar manufacturing jobs the United States had seen in many decade. I remember EV battery factories and solar factories being announced immediately, as well as more EV production lines, battery mineral mining and refining projects, and a variety of other cleantech projects.

Indeed, in the following years, US manufacturing construction rose enormously, approximately tripling from 2021 to 2024. This is not an abstract “well, it could be this or it could be that” matter. The Green New Deal, which actually also included the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (which was really not that bipartisan in Congress, even if its elements were among the normal public), was very focused on stimulating a much bigger manufacturing economy for the core energy and tech industries of the 21st century. And these industries responded.

But who expected that if Biden or another Democrat didn’t remain in office, the next administration would try to tear everything down? Clearly, no one would step in and make such dramatic anti-business moves as killing big cleantech projects, raiding battery factories and throwing the workers there in immigration prisons (even if “just” temporarily), and trying to claw back federal funding that was already approved. No politician would be so blatantly anti-business, taking a sledgehammer to the trust and consistency that any good economy is based on. Ah, well, who thought Donald Trump could be elected president again?

The result is that we’re already seeing manufacturing construction spending drop. The big manufacturing construction boom is over, and it’s time for a Republican-led decline again. (Perhaps it’s not coincidental that the Republican Party’s color is red….)

There is really nothing surprising about this. The only surprising thing is that, for my entire life (40+ years), Republican presidents have hurt the US economy, done damage to the US middle class and working class, completely defrauded voters with false claims of being better for the economy, and yet they continue to get people voting for them and thinking the real economy will boom under them.

Update: Oh, yes, and then you’ve also got this regarding investments in US stocks: