White House peddling snake oil as medicine

In his first major speech since leaving the White House in January, former US president Joe Biden offered a succinct report card on his successor's performance so far.

"Look what's happened now. In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. It's kind of breathtaking," he said in Chicago on Tuesday.

His remarks, though taking aim primarily at the Donald Trump administration's social security policies that threaten to put the retirement benefits of US citizens at risk, can be taken as a totting up of all the damage and havoc that Washington has wreaked with its on-again-off-again tariff policies and conflicting edicts that often run counter to the basic laws of economics or even the US Constitution.