Vice President Harris Outlines Her "Opportunity Economy"

 

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke yesterday at the Economic Club in Pittsburgh, PA, on the Harris-Walz economic plan for an "opportunity economy."   The Guardian provides a summary of her address, which we're further condensing:

Millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Kamala Harris has said, as the Democratic presidential candidate fleshed out the economic agenda she hopes to adopt in the White House.

Conceding that the cost of living in America “is still just too high”, the vice-president argued this was true “long before” the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the global economy, and she took office with the president, Joe Biden.

Harris pledged to put the middle class at the heart of the US economy – and claimed Donald Trump was only interested in helping “himself, and people like himself” if he regains the presidency.  [snip]

In her speech on Wednesday, Harris touted her proposals to enact a $6,000 tax credit for families during the first year of a child’s life; introduce a $3,600 tax credit per child for working families; and refrain from increasing taxes on households with less than $400,000 of annual income.

She also cited previously announced economic proposals from her campaign including a $25,000 tax credit and other incentives for first-time home buyers, expanding a small business creation tax break, taxing long term capital gains for wealthy individuals at 28%, universal childcare and paid family leave, and enacting a federal ban on corporate price gouging.

Harris tried to contrast such plans with Trump’s policy platform, which includes plans to cut corporate tax rates and impose tariffs to protect US companies from foreign competition.

“I intend to chart a new way forward and grow America’s middle class,” Harris said. “Donald Trump intends to take America backward to the failed policies of the past. He has no intention to grow our middle class. He’s only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself, the wealthiest of Americans. You can see it spelled out in his economic agenda.

“I call my vision the opportunity economy, and it’s about making sure everyone can find a job and more. Because, frankly, having a job should be baseline, and we should aspire and have the ambition and plan to do more. I want Americans and families to be able to not just get by, but be able to get ahead, to thrive.”

Harris cited a goal to achieve 25 million new small business applications in the US by the end of her first presidential term, and a goal to double the number of registered apprenticeships by the end of her first term. “At the same time that Donald Trump was giving a tax cut to big corporations and billionaires, he tried to slash programs for small businesses and raise borrowing costs for them,” she said. “Instead of making it easier, he actually made it more difficult for them to access capital.”

She also asserted support to ensure the US leads in future industries rather than China, arguing building infrastructure – from housing to factories – takes too long.“We will invest in bio-manufacturing and aerospace; remain dominant in AI and quantum computing, blockchain and other emerging technologies; expand our lead in clean energy innovation and manufacturing. No one who grows up in America’s greatest industrial or agricultural centers should be abandoned.”... (our emphasis)

A campaign fact sheet outlining the plan is here.  If you want the complete 82- page plan, "A New Way Forward For the Middle Class," it can be found here (pdf).  That should cover things as far as detail and transparency, though we await whining and nit-picking from some quarters in the media.

Here's her speech in case you missed it:

 

A key quote from the speech wasn't noted in The Guardian's piece:

“My opponent, Donald Trump, makes big promises on manufacturing,” she said. “On Trump’s watch, offshoring went up and manufacturing jobs went down across our country. ... He constantly got played by China.”

That should prompt a furious ALL CAPS, no truth screed on Trump's crashing social media platform!

Economic Outcomes Under Trump, Harris

 

We noted this a few days ago, but it bears repeating and sharing, so here it is again in simple chart form:

 

 

Voters who remain clueless following 4 years of Trump's economic mismanagement after inheriting a sound economy from President Obama (including Trump's bungling the response to Covid that led to catastrophic job losses, the trillion dollar tax giveaway to his billionaire buddies that ballooned the deficit, etc.) probably would be wise to have their personal finances controlled by a receiver (like, oh say, the Trump Organization's receivership that resulted from his business fraud conviction). 

 

Harris Unveils Populist Domestic Agenda

Later today in North Carolina, Vice President Harris will roll out her populist domestic policy agenda, one that should have broad appeal to working and middle class families. Included will be a $6,000 child tax credit for the first year after birth, and plans to lower costs for families. The Washington Post reports:

"The most striking proposals were for the elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans; the “first-ever” ban on price gouging for groceries and food; a cap on prescription drug costs; a $25,000 subsidy for first-time homebuyers; and a Child Tax Credit that would provide $6,000 per child to families for the first year of a baby’s life. [snip]

The flurry of policy positions — just days before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago — represented the clearest articulation yet of how Harris, who has only had a relatively brief time on the national stage, would handle economic policy if elected this fall. Harris has thus far surrounded herself with many former aides to President Biden, and her team had made some overtures to business leaders that they hoped reflected a more centrist approach. But the policy positions she embraced Friday suggest she will continue, if not deepen, the party’s transformation under Biden, who pushed for more aggressive government intervention in the economy on industrial, labor and antitrust policies." (our emphasis)

The most immediately-felt proposal is the ban on price gouging by large food chains on food prices, something that has driven coverage of inflation costs:

"While details were sparse, her campaign said the measure would include authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to impose large fines on grocery stores that impose 'excessive' price hikes on customers. Grocery prices remain a top concern for voters: Even though the rate of increase leveled off this year, grocery prices have jumped 26 percent since 2019, according to Elizabeth Pancotti, director of special initiatives at the Roosevelt Institute." (our emphasis)

Whether that last proposal is workable, it's clearly in line with consumers' anger at food prices that remain stubbornly high. It's smart politics and a contrast with yesterday's poo-fling by the Malignant Loser at his Bedminster club that went off the rails into petty personal attacks.