U.S. News: Harris Sets Out Economic Vision --- Candidate's plan includes $100 billion tax credits to boost U.S. manufacturing

 

"PITTSBURGH -- Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to bring a pragmatic approach to the U.S. economy, with a focus on manufacturing and middle-class opportunities in a Wednesday address aimed at reassuring voters about her ability to harness economic growth.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, outlined plans for a set of tax incentives that would seek to spur next-generation industries crucial to the economy and national security. The new tax credits for investments in manufacturing and production would span key areas including biomanufacturing, aerospace, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

The tax credits, which the campaign hasn't described in detail, would cost $100 billion over 10 years and be paid for using revenue from raising taxes on U.S. companies' foreign earnings if Congress implements the global corporate minimum tax agreement, according to Harris's advisers.

The incentives, aimed at countering China, would focus on revitalizing factory towns and retooling existing factories and boosting wages and union partnerships, campaign officials said.

"The American people face a choice between two fundamentally very different paths for our economy. I intend to chart a new way forward and grow America's middle class," Harris told the Economic Club of Pittsburgh on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, where her campaign handed out a roughly 80-page economic policy agenda

Harris said she would emphasize pragmatism and work with the private sector to help improve the standing of middle-class families.

She cast her rival, former President Donald Trump, as interested in helping the wealthy and corporations instead of middle-class families. "For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers, not those who actually build them, not those who wire them, not those who mop the floors," she said.

Harris also pushed back on Trump's attempts to characterize her as a "Marxist." "I'm a capitalist," she said. "I believe in free and fair markets."

Wednesday's speech signaled that Harris, if elected, would embrace industrial policy in a bid to use the tools of government to boost key sectors of the U.S. economy. Both parties have increasingly embraced industrial policy, casting aside traditional free market views, as they seek to build U.S. manufacturing capacity to compete with Beijing.

Brian Deese, a longtime aide to President Biden who is advising Harris's campaign, is a vocal advocate of industrial policy.

The two presidential campaigns are detailing competing visions for the U.S. economy, aiming to gain an advantage on a central concern for voters. 

Trump, the Republican nominee, offered his economic prescriptions in a speech Tuesday in Savannah, Ga., vowing to implement large tariffs against China and slash the corporate tax rate. 

In a separate address Wednesday in North Carolina, he questioned Harris's commitment, given her time as Biden's No. 2.

Trump said his opponent was "supposedly announcing her so-called plans to support manufacturing and wealth creation -- to which I have a very simple reply: Why hasn't she done it?"

Harris has sought to blunt Trump's advantage with voters on the economy ahead of the start of early voting in battleground states -- and some polls have shown the former president's edge slipping. Her speech aimed to draw contrasts with Trump, who presided over a strong economy before the Covid-19 pandemic and has put forward populist initiatives such as eliminating federal taxes on tips and overtime wages, along with tax cuts.

Harris and Trump are vying for support against the backdrop of a generally strong economy, as stocks have soared to records amid a relatively low U.S. unemployment rate of 4.2% and the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates.

 But inflation remains a top concern for voters, creating anxiety among the electorate, and manufacturing job growth has been flat.

Harris said despite recent "positive steps" in the economy, "the cost of living in America is just too high."

At the same time, the two rivals have competed for support among working-class voters, with most labor unions backing Harris. But there has been a notable exception in the Teamsters, who announced last week they would remain neutral for the first time in decades and released polling data showing their rank-and-file members behind Trump.

As part of her trip to Pittsburgh, Harris sat for an interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that aired Wednesday night. The vice president criticized Trump's economic agenda, while dodging questions on her own views on tariffs and the cap on state and local tax deductions.

"You don't just throw around the idea of just tariffs across the board, and that's part of the problem with Donald Trump," she said.

Harris again discussed in her afternoon speech her hopes for creating an "opportunity economy" by lowering costs, investing in American innovation and leading the world in industries of the future.

Harris has proposed several policy initiatives since claiming the party's nomination, including a plan to provide first-time home buyers $25,000 to help with down payments and a $6,000 tax credit for families with newborns.

Ahead of her speech, Democrats described Trump's plans to increase tariffs on foreign countries as a tax on American workers that would create unintended consequences for the economy, citing his announcement this week that he would slap new tariffs on farm equipment maker Deere for moving some production to Mexico." [1]

Harris' team will give more pork to the people with no ability to perform the work needed.

 

1. U.S. News: Harris Sets Out Economic Vision --- Candidate's plan includes $100 billion tax credits to boost U.S. manufacturing. Thomas, Ken; Tarini Parti; Restuccia, Andrew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 Sep 2024: A.4.