Vice President Kamala Harris‘s business plans are carefully unraveling, leading to intense debate over what they will imply for the common voter.
With a number of proposals released at the end of this year, Harris began to remove the veil of secrecy from her campaign, especially in regards to the market. What came out was a blatantly populist financial strategy.
Her first big implementation was for a national “price-gouging” boycott designed to combat lingering higher prices. Although more facts are not yet available, the plan may give the federal trade commission and state prosecutors public the authority to impose “harsh sanctions” on businesses that violate the rules.
” I know most companies are creating work, contributing to our business, and playing by the rules, but some are not”, Harris said at a Friday protest in battle North Carolina. ” As chairman, I will go after the poor stars, and I may work to pass the first-ever federal restrictions on price cutting on food”.
While Harris supporters claim the program would reduce organizational greed, critics compared it to failed price control initiatives that were tried by famous people like President Richard Nixon. Former President Donald Trump’s plan called it a displacement from Harris’s personal function fueling inflation.
” Her guidelines are what caused the prices issue, and the American citizens, I think, are just too smart to get this garbage”, Sen. J. D. Vance (R-OH) said. Trump held a press conference on Thursday evening in front of a group of supermarkets, reading out how much each had increased since Harris took business.
On Thursday night and Friday night, the Harris plan debuted a number of additional tips.
They include a plan to construct 3 million new houses, with tax incentives for homebuyers and engineers to create” basic homes,”$ 40 billion to assist local governments in finding solutions to housing shortage issues, and the elimination of corporate housing investor tax advantages. Joe Biden, president, had previously proposed 2 million new homes and$ 20 billion in incentives.
Harris wants to create a$ 25, 000 down payment support for first-time homeowners. She also proposed a$ 6, 000 child tax credit for the parents of newborns and reviving the pandemic-era$ 3, 600 tax credit for older children, echoing a similar plan from Vance.
Final ideas included a plan to end medical debt and a tax cut to lower the Affordable Care Act marketplace’s health insurance premiums. Progressive economists were pleased with what they saw, despite Harris ‘ campaign’s campaign having not disclosed the price tag for the policy proposals.
According to David Madland, a senior economist with the Center for American Progress,” This is a step in the right direction addressing concerns people have about high costs, especially on housing and health care.”
Madland said he’s still learned details of the proposals, but supported them in broad strokes, such as the idea to cap grocery prices.
” There’s big concern about really high prices for some groceries, and there’s at least some evidence that the rapid rise in those prices has happened due to market power”, Madland said. ” Where you can limit their ability to gouge consumers, I think that’s a step in the right direction”.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon concured.
I wish Joe Biden had reacted more forcefully to populist views long ago. I’m very happy”, he said. This is a very aggressive, populist proposal that talks about tax cuts for families struggling to make ends meet financially. I would have liked President Biden to have done something similar.
Budget hawks were less enthused. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Harris ‘ policies would add another$ 2 trillion to the national debt over the course of ten years, and her previously announced plans to cut taxes on tips and raise the minimum wage would add another$ 200 billion.
Harris’s campaign says it can create offsets by raising taxes on corporations and high-earning individuals, though it has not laid out specifics.
CRFB also observed the striking similarities between Harris ‘ ideas and those made public by the Biden-Harris administration in March.
Trump is attempting to connect Harris to Biden by announcing that her “day one” in office was in January 2021.
​ ​” Just remember, she goes to work every morning in the West Wing”, Trump told a crowd during a Wednesday rally in Asheville, North Carolina. ” Her desk is 10 steps from the Oval Office”.
Team Harris claims that Trump will harm the economy and cause inflation by launching himself through initiatives like a 20 % cross-the-board tariff on goods entering the country.
” Two days ago, Donald Trump was here in North Carolina“, Harris said. He stated that he would talk about the economy. I think you all watched, you know what I’m about to say, but he offered no serious plan to reduce costs for middle-class families, no plan to expand access to housing or healthcare, and that, actually for most of us, was not surprising because we already know his plans”.
In contrast, the Trump campaign uses a sort of scoreboard argument, arguing that inflation was on par with Biden-Harris during his four years in office and 6.5 % on average with inflation. Voters tell pollsters that this cycle’s top priority is for them to trust Trump to handle the economy.
Republicans claim that rising government spending, including Harris ‘ deciding vote in the Senate’s Senate vote, directly contributed to inflation, which reached a record high of 9.1 % in June 2022.
According to David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, there is no room for error between Kamala’s plan and the four years of economic failures our nation has endured. As President, Kamala Harris would continue to promote socialist spending schemes drive inflation even higher, especially in the housing market, and push the United States into a recession.”
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However, Democrats are pleased with the ideas, with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR ) saying they show that Harris” gets it.”
” Her economic agenda goes after the expenses that hit American families the hardest,” Wyden said”, housing, health care, and raising children.
