Analysis: The fate of millions of Americans rests on Biden's economic team

But reviving growth and unemployment after the pandemic may not even be the toughest challenge facing the group, headlined by ex-Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whom the President-elect will formally nominate Tuesday as treasury secretary.

Biden has made clear in his comments on the campaign trail, since he was elected, and in the make-up of his team, that he intends to take a swing at fundamentally reordering the economy in favor of working men and women -- a goal that shows huge ambition but comes with dubious chances of success.

"This team is comprised of respected and tested groundbreaking public servants who will help the communities hardest hit by Covid-19 and address the structural inequities in our economy," Biden said, summing up his dual mission in a press release on Monday.

Biden's agenda for his first 100 days in office will, according to both those close to him and outside groups in contact with his top aides, center on two key avenues of action: the passage of a broad economic aid package and, where legislation is not necessary, a series of executive actions aimed at advancing his priorities.

But his presidency will rise or fall on his ability to narrow inequalities in a nation that spent the last Thanksgiving of the Trump era celebrating the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting the historic 30,000 mark even as long lines of people stretched out at food banks in cities from New York to Dallas as they didn't have enough to eat.

In the long term, Biden's team, after two presidencies in which inequality has expanded despite massive economic expansion that has benefited the stocks-owning classes, must prove that vows to lift up the middle class are actually realistic in a globalized world and are more than just slogans flung out by nostalgic politicians on the campaign trail.

Forging social change

The credentials of many of Biden's new team leave little doubt that the former vice president plans to keep his promises to America's workers and to repay the faith of labor unions that have long backed his political campaigns.

Yellen started her professional life as a labor economist and has a reputation for seeking to shield the most vulnerable from the worst economic shocks.

"It is high time to rethink the relationship -- the basic bargain -- between the individual, companies, and our government."

The most immediate test facing Biden's team is an already dire economic situation that will likely be far worse when he takes office on January 20 as the pandemic rages in a fall and winter spike.

And by the time that Biden takes the oath of office, many American kids will have been out of school for 10 months -- with education officials still lacking federal help to make their eventual return to class safe.

Still, Biden will have the advantage of being able to argue to Congress that a new economic package -- while desperately needed -- will be a bridge to better times that are in the near future, thanks to the highly encouraging news about the effectiveness of vaccines developed under the Trump administration.

A more hopeful future

While there are long months of suffering, death and economic deprivation to come, the Democrat will at least take office in the expectation that normal life can resume in some form toward the middle of the year.