Based Underground is now a conservative news aggregator AND curated newsletter.
(DCNF)—Vice President Kamala Harris released an 82-page document explaining her vision for the economy on Wednesday, but the plan shares much in common with President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
The plan, titled “A New Way Forward For The Middle Class,” proposes to build upon Biden initiatives like student loan debt cancellation, industrial policy, huge subsidies for green energy and going after corporations for alleged price gouging. Prior to quitting the presidential race under immense political pressure, voters were largely dissatisfied with Biden’s economy, which had come to be defined by 40-year high inflation.
“Harris isn’t going to stray very far from current Biden policies,” Ryan Young, a senior economist for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “She is trying to steer a middle course between carving out her own identity, but without implying that Biden has pushed bad policies, which she has been promoting for the last four years.”
Kamala Harris Economic Plan by Nick Pope on Scribd
Harris aims to “[make] corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share in taxes,” something she plans to do by essentially replicating the $5 trillion tax hike that Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget request called for. Some of Harris’ “common sense” reforms that would fuel this tax hike include a 25% unrealized capital gains tax for high-earning Americans and a top capital gains tax rate of 33%, an aggressive-but-less-ambitious alternative to the 44.6% rate that Biden has proposed.
“Americans should be deeply concerned about any political program attempting to brand a massive increase in taxes – in this case, including a tax on unrealized capital gains – as ‘new,’” Peter Earle, a senior economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF. “Increasing the reach of the confiscatory claws of the government while simultaneously amping up spending is how the US has accumulated $35 trillion in debt, over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and debased the dollar by 90 or more percent in fifty years … And to the extent that few specifics are given, there’s no reason not to assume that Harris’ policy goals are not simply a continuation of Bidenomics.”
Those tax increases may be necessary to pay for the litany of entitlements Harris is proposing.
“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are fighting for a future with affordable, high-quality child care and pre-K, long-term care, and paid leave, while supporting care workers and family caregivers,” the economic plan reads, without attaching any price tag to the proposals. Biden either endorsed or pursued each of these policies during his term as president.
Harris’ plan also calls for a $25,000 subsidy for qualifying first-time homebuyers. This would actually end up raising home prices, in large part because “the best way to reduce housing prices is to build more housing, not to subsidize existing housing,” according to Young.
Biden has previously proposed a similar $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and those selling their first homes.
- Concerned about your life’s savings as the multiple challenges decimate retirement accounts? You’re not alone. Find out how Genesis Precious Metals can help you secure your wealth with a proper self-directed IRA backed by physical precious metals.
A Harris-Walz administration “will invest in building the energy industries of the future here in the United States, keeping the well-paid union jobs of the future here at home” while building on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Biden’s massive climate law. Beyond hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize the green energy industry, the IRA also features tax credits that Americans can claim to install things like heat pumps and rooftop solar in their homes.
Undecided voter in Georgia: “If you look at the statistics now, we’re far worse now than we were before. Everything is worse now with Biden and Harris.”pic.twitter.com/poBh0V6lN0
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 20, 2024
Harris touts these credits in her new plan, stating that they allowed “more than 3.4 million American families [to save] $8.4 billion in 2023.” Missing from the economic plan is the fact that more than half of those savings were claimed by people making more than $100,000, and that six-figure-plus earners were over three times more likely to claim the credits, according to Internal Revenue Service data.
Like Biden, Harris is also promising to be a strong ally of organized labor if elected.
“She will also prevent misclassification of employees, and override so-called ‘right-to-work’ laws that prevent workers from freely organizing,” Harris’ economic plan states. “She will also continue to fight for manufacturing and infrastructure projects that benefit from significant public support to be subject to strong prevailing wage requirements, as well as Project Labor Agreements for construction projects above appropriate minimal thresholds.”
Notably, “right-to-work” laws do not prevent workers from organizing; such laws simply give workers the choice as to whether or not they would like to join a union or pay union dues, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Many of the subsidies Biden unleashed on the American economy include labor requirements that advantage labor unions.
Throughout his first term, Biden repeatedly alleged that corporate greed and price gouging has led to price spikes for goods like gasoline and groceries, for example, while many economists and observers have actually blamed his tax-and-spend agenda for driving inflation. Nevertheless, Harris seems keen to continue blaming companies for higher prices, at least rhetorically.
A prospective Harris-Walz administration “will go after nefarious price gouging on essential goods during emergencies or times of crisis,” the plan states. Harris had previously trotted out a broader version of this policy in August, but she and her team subsequently specified that de facto price controls would only take effect in the wake of emergencies, like natural disasters or a pandemic.
“If one were to undertake an exhaustive research program to determine an economic policy which, throughout history, has not only failed repeatedly but caused tremendous damage on the way to inevitable failure, it would be price controls,” Earle told the DCNF. “For 4,000 years political authorities have been trying to freeze prices without causing shortages and extensive economic ruination and [have] been unsuccessful.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Owen Klinsky contributed to this report.
Featured Image: Screen Capture/CSPAN
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Don’t just survive — THRIVE! Prepper All-Naturals has launched offering freeze-dried beef for long-term storage. Don’t wait for food shortages to get worse. Stock up today. Use promo code “jdr” at checkout for 25% off!
October September Surprises
by American Greatness
An October surprise is usually defined as the well-known (and more often left-wing) tactic of manufacturing or unloading a news story right before voting to surprise a rival without allowing them time sufficiently to respond or recover. Think of the last-minute bombshell disclosure, five days before the 2000 election, that…
Spiciest One-Minute Take On Entire COVID Sham: It Was All About Hysterical Female Energy
by Revolver News
There’s an intriguing argument being made about the COVID pandemic response, and it’s coming from a rather unexpected source—a woman. She suggests, in about one minute, that the entire reaction to the virus was driven by a distinctly female worldview. Honestly, this is the spiciest and best take we’ve ever…
NATO Prepares Mass Evacuation and Rescue Plans as Senior General Warns of World War 3 With Russia
by The Gateway Pundit
NATO is mobilizing its resources and strategic plans in anticipation of a potential all-out war, as articulated by Lieutenant-General Alexander Sollfrank, head of NATO’s logistics command. This urgent preparation underscores a grim reality: the specter of World War III is looming. In these two and a half years of war…
With the threat of a port strike and other disruptions to the medical supply chain, it behooves Americans to consider stocking up on long-term storage chronic medications, antibiotics, and other meds.
Our friends at Jase Medical can help. Use promo code “Rucker10” and get $10 off your order.
Get Ready for Another Mail-in Ballot Fiasco
by Daily Signal
Many states are sending out mail-in ballots now for the Nov. 5 presidential election. Yet at the same time that so many more voters are depending on the mail to cast their ballots, the two leading national organizations of election officials wrote the U.S. Postal Service to demand immediate action…
Fact Check: Springfield, Ohio, Claims Haitian Migrants Are ‘Legal.’ Are They?
by Daily Signal
The Rust Belt community of Springfield, Ohio, now has a page on its website dedicated to answering common questions about the flood of illegal aliens, mostly Haitians, who have arrived there in recent years. “The City of Springfield has experienced a surge in our population over the last several years,…
United Nations JUST APPROVED the framework for a One World Government
by Glenn Beck
The United Nations kicked off its 2024 General Assembly by approving a group of game-changing proposals that are practically the framework for a One World Government. Glenn’s co-author for “The Great Reset,” “Dark Future,” and his upcoming book, “Propaganda Wars,” Justin Haskins, joins to break down what this “Pact for…
Reality Check: Has Telegram Bowed to Global Censorship Overlords After Founder’s Arrest in Paris?
by World Tribune
Less than a month after he was arrested by French authorities in Paris, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced the messaging app would bow to Western governments’ requests to provide Telegram users’ personal information. On Sept. 23, Durov said Telegram will provide users’ IP addresses and phone numbers “to relevant political…
‘Evidence Free’: Puberty Blocker Recommendation May Break Law, 21 Ags Warn Pediatrician Group
by Daily Wire
A group of nearly two dozen state attorneys general is warning the American Academy of Pediatrics that it may be breaking the law by continuing to recommend puberty blockers to children who are unhappy with their biological gender despite evidence the drugs cause harm. On Tuesday, the 21 attorneys general,…
FTC: Tech Giants Collecting Massive Amounts of Data From Kids and Teens
by Ava Grace, Natural News
(Natural News)—The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has disclosed in a report that tech giants are collecting massive amounts of data from their young users. The FTC report published Sept. 19 expounded on how social media and streaming companies endanger children and teens who use their platforms. It also showed how “the tech industry’s…
The Vast Pharmaceutical Conspiracy to Silence Dissent Online
by A Midwestern Doctor
Story at a Glance: There has been a coordinated campaign to attack and defame anyone who has spoken out against the COVID-19 response. This has primarily been restricted to social media (e.g., getting people deplatformed) but it has also been weaponized in real life (e.g., getting medical licenses revoked). This…
Busted: Will Media Ignore Coke Censoring ‘President Trump’ but Greenlighting ‘President Harris’?
by Newsbusters
Here’s a story the liberal media won’t cover: Leftist soda giant Coca-Cola seems to have made it clear where its political loyalties lie for the 2024 election, and it may have violated federal election law in the process. When MRC researchers attempted to customize a “Personalized 12 fl oz. Can…
Texas Warns Venezuelan Prison Gang “Activity Happening Across State”
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took to X on Tuesday. He wasn’t speaking about the need for racial equity in America’s highways or woke activism in the FAA, but he attempted to persuade the internet that “crime is down.” What a ‘weird’ topic for Buttigieg to discuss with X users,…
Stock up on long-term storage steak with 25-year shelf-life and take advantage of 35% off with promo code “freedom35” – this week only. Visit Prepper All-Naturals and secure your family’s future with freeze dried Ribeye, NY Strip, Tenderloin, and more.