Joe Biden Enterprise Manager


When we start a new job, much is expected of us. We should show up on time, perform our duties, not harm other employees, and so on. The Human Resources person explains everything thoroughly as we go through orientation. It’s basic stuff.

However, as much as the company has expectations for its workers, those workers have expectations for their managers. Managers must provide a safe working space free from abuse or discrimination. The company’s managers are expected to maintain a viable working operation that carries a good reputation and can compete in whatever marketplace they serve.

All basic stuff.

One of the strengths of America has been our ability to turn out outstanding Managers, due in no small part to recognizing that Management is a skill that can be taught. When Harvard began the MBA (Masters in Business Administration) program over a hundred years ago, it was a recognition that one of the essential skills in any operation is Management.

Indeed, as measured by the number of employees, one of the largest employers is the Federal Government, with over 2 million on its payroll. Only Wal-Martrt comes close, and I suspect the Feds will take the top spot during the next recession because Walmart will likely lay off workers while the Federal Government remains immune to the business cycle.

Now, if you don’t perform up to the standards required by your employer, you can be fired. But there are two sides to this coin. It can be sued if your company’s Management does not live up to its fiduciary standards. You are entitled to compensation for any company that fails to keep you safe, protected, and free from various forms of discrimination.

So let’s review the performance of our “Manager-in-Chief, Joe Biden, as any business school graduate would.

Joe Biden, Financial Manager.

The Federal Government’s Surplus or Deficit is analogous to a private corporation’s earnings. Although the government does not have sales, instead, it has taxes. We can assess how the Government under Manager Biden manages its income (taxes) versus its expenditures.

First, a little background, before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008–09, the nation had never known a $1 Trillion Deficit. It hadn’t known even a half-a-trillion deficit. But the Great Financial Recession caused nearly $ 1.5 trillion in the Federal Government’s Deficit.

The second external event that hammered government finances was the Covid-19 Pandemic. Beginning in 2020, the Federal Deficit reached an incredible $3 trillion, double that of the Great Financial Crisis 12 years before. By 2021, under then-President Trump, the Deficit was still huge at $2 ½ trillion.

Enter Financial Manager Biden. In 2022, the deficit “fell” to $1.4 Trillion. Certainly much better than the two prior years. And Biden was off to a good start but had a long way to go back to those old deficits of less than $1/2 trillion.

But then came a look at our future. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the nation’s financial accountant, Financial Manager Biden, has set us up for $1 Trillion deficits for as far as the eye can see. Because of unfunded programs such as the Build Back Better Law or the Inflation Reduction Law and their corresponding expenditures, the CBO estimates that between now and 2032, the Federal Government Deficits will average $1.6 trillion. And yes, this does include the added demographic expenses due to Social Security and Medica. Still, the CBO has nearly doubled its prior deficit estimates since Biden has been in the White House.

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office again looked into their Crystal Ball and estimated that the Country would have a yearly deficit of not $1.6 Trillion but $2 trillion annually beginning in 2024. Needless to say, this is a major adjustment in their projection and an indication of how troubled our Government’s finances are becoming. Put simply, Joe Biden is digging a financial hole for the country that is four times larger than just 5 years ago.

Joe Biden, Strategic Relationship Manager.

One of the most important organizational management tasks is to guide and control outside relationships. These include relationships with vendors, clients, and other vital parties not part of your enterprise.

At the recently completed conference of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister, Mohammed Al-Jaadan, announced that the Kingdom was severing its exclusive arrangement with the United States to price all oil sales in the Dollar. It is a stunning blow that cannot be overstated.

Its probable result will be the loss of the Dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.

Because as Al-Jadaan stated, the Saudis will now accept payment for oil in any currency, thus negating the Dollar’s position as the exclusive price mechanism for that critical fossil fuel.

For more background on this move by the Saudis, I refer you to our January 20 podcast and article.

The new pricing policy is a significant blow to the UnitStates preeminent position in International Finance. And a major misstep by President Biden.

Finally, Joe Biden, Financial Planner.

One of the critical responsibilities of any financial manager is to plan for the future. A good manager leaves their organization in a better place than they found. Planning for the future is critical. But this is a foreign concept to the Biden Administration. There are several examples of their absence of future planning. The current shortfall in military supplies, particularly ammunition, or the inability to manage the flood of illegal immigrants, but perhaps the most visible lack of future planning is the wanton sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

When established, the SPR’s purpose was to protect the country from a situation like the OPEC Oil embargo. If OPEC cuts off our external supply of oil, then the SPR could be tapped to fill in the shortfall. Unfortunately, in 2015, Congress changed the original law to allow oil to be sold out of reserve to fund Federal Programs.

Past presidents sold just slight amounts of oil at a time. Manager Biden changed all that. Believing that he could influence the international price of oil, incidentally, that’s not me talking. July 26, 2022, the White House Fact Sheet says the purpose of the sale was to lower the price of oil. And just like that, Biden began to sell reserves at a record rate.

Financial Planner Biden has sold off nearly half of the reserve. What’s left is a reserve that will provide less than three weeks of our oil needs.

And why are these oil reserves so low? The aim was for the President to lower the international oil price and curb inflation. But ask any significant speculator from the Hunt Brothers forward; manipulating the price of any commodity is a fool’s errand.

So there you have it, a review of Joe Biden as Enterprise Manager.

This Administration’s policies are likely to increase government spending substantially and, therefore, deficits for the foreseeable future (at least through 2032).

Their inability to maintain the relationship with Saudi Arabia will likely mean the loss of the International Reserve Status for the Dollar. And finally, the inability to manage the country’s supplies, especially our oil reserves, places us in a particularly vulnerable position.

It’s doubtful that any Professor at Harvard or other top Business Schools would give Manager Biden a passing grade.

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