The Democratic nominee delivered another presentation of her economic agenda on Sept. 25. This time, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh for roughly 40 minutes to discuss how a strong middle class will be the defining achievement of her presidency and how her brand of economics is "fundamentally different" from former President Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris and Big Business
Kamala Harris accused her Republican challenger of being "only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself, the wealthiest of Americans." The vice president explained that she is "a capitalist" who champions "free and fair markets," describing her policies as pragmatic rather than ideological. The economy, Harris said, works best when it works for those who build, wire, and clean skyscrapers.
Comical remarks aside, what public policy proposals did Harris champion in her widely anticipated speech? More of what has been delivered over the last three-plus years. Most notably, Harris wants to extend tax credits to manufacturers to rebuild or retool existing factories and offer new government-funded investments in various industries, such as aerospace, artificial intelligence, bio-manufacturing, and green energy. This is presently happening as the current administration has extended hundreds of millions of dollars to some of the biggest brands in the world, such as Ford, General Motors, and Harley Davidson, to keep at-risk facilities open.
Harris pivoted to Trump's proposals, arguing that he "has no intention of lowering costs for the middle class" and his plans "would actually raise prices." She also slammed his economic record as president, telling the crowd that "offshoring went up" and "almost 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during his presidency, starting before the pandemic hit, making Trump one of the biggest losers ever on manufacturing."
The former is accurate, as offshoring increased under the 45th president based on the Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. However, the latter is incorrect, as domestic manufacturing jobs surged before the coronavirus pandemic. From January 2017 to February 2020, the US manufacturing sector added 414,000. It was not until May 2022 that these positions were recovered. Since then, US manufacturing payrolls have been flat, and the industry has even shed more than 44,000 jobs this year.
(Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
"I have pledged that building a strong middle class will be the defining goal of my presidency," Harris said.
In response to her speech, the Trump campaign agreed it was "time to turn the page." In a statement to the press, Karoline Leavitt, Trump's national press secretary, said: "She’s had three and a half years to prove herself, and she has failed. Personal savings are down, credit card debt is up, small business optimism is at a record-low, and people are struggling to afford homes, groceries, and gas.” Indeed, the personal savings rate is 2.9%, credit card debt is at an all-time high of $1.14 trillion, and cumulative inflation in various markets has impacted households. Small business optimism, however, is not at an all-time low. The National Federation of Independent Business Optimism Index clocked in at the lowest in three months in August.
A New Book
The Harris campaign attached a new 81-page economic policy book to her speech in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. It offers further details about Kamalanomics, diving deeper into everything from how she will lower food prices to how she will strengthen Social Security. The same talking point is littered throughout this book: Her plans will be paid for by making big corporations and the rich pay their fair share.
"Billionaires need to pay their fair share in taxes to help invest in the nation and reduce the deficit," the book states, omitting the fact that the top 1% of earners paid nearly half of all federal income taxes last year.
Like President Joe Biden, Harris wants to have her cake and eat it too. On the one hand, she aims to punish big businesses and the affluent with higher taxes. On the other hand, the vice president wants to dole out hefty government subsidies to these same entities. Meanwhile, as Liberty Nation News recently reported, she will be unsuccessful in reducing the budget deficit because her revenue-raising schemes will still fall short of plugging the gaping hole in the public ledger.
Build Back Better
Appearing on The View ahead of her speech, President Biden confirmed that he delegated "responsibility on everything from foreign policy to domestic policy" to Harris. This was quite the admission from the incumbent as it indicated Harris had a notable hand in the damage done since January 2021. Whether softball interviews (hello, CNN and MSNBC!) or speeches, it might be evident that the so-called new way forward is simply a repeat of Biden’s Build Back Better.
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