The Biden administration’s economic policy agenda drives either hope or despair, depending on where commentators fall on the political spectrum. In one aspect the reactions are curiously bipartisan, however — namely the claim that Bidenomics is “transformative,” a wholesale rewiring of the U.S. economy.

While searching for historic inflection points is popular at times of upheaval, the current sentiment of change is particularly strong, with commentators readily reaching for comparisons with Franklin D. Roosevelt and the 1930s transformation of the U.S. economy, government, and society.

The reality is considerably more mundane, and narratives of historic inflection are overstated. There is no doubt that President Biden’s policy agenda is ambitious and large, but the bar for transformation is high — and if we invoke historic dimensions then we should do so against the benchmark of, well, history. The narrative of transformation struggles along three dimensions: spending size and type; the use of stimulus to push the cycle; and the political capital required to sustain change.