Atlanta will be a hot mess on Thursday as President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump roll into Atlanta to debate. CNN veterans Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are reportedly moderating the debate. I have little faith that journalists with seven figure compensation packages who likely have never set foot in Atlanta’s poorest neighborhoods nary two miles away from CNN’s digs on Marietta Street know anything about the working poor.
So far, neither candidate has provided a detailed, cogent discussion on how they plan to direct the executive power to provide an environment for accumulating assets. Assets, properly managed, generate the income and capital appreciation that creates wealth.
For the non-asset wage-earner class with likely no access to credit from banks or capital from non-banks, capital accumulation will depend on how much they are able to save, and the ability to save will be determined by the amount of taxes they have to pay and the price level for consumer expenditures. This is the point where the “I will put a chicken in every pot and car in every garage” argument may fall flat on the ears of the self-aware.
Mr. Trump, according to his website, plans a four-year “reshoring plan” aimed at China where he seeks to yank China’s supply chain control over medical and other essential goods. Going forward, he plans to continue his focus on bringing back manufacturing jobs. In addition, Mr. Trump has given the requisite lip service to reducing income taxes which he asserts will put more income into the wallets of American workers.
Mr. Biden’s website appears to offer one issue: stopping Donald Trump. No mention of his inflation reduction legislation. No mention of building back better. No mention of Bidenomics. Mr. Biden has discussed during public events bringing back manufacturing jobs to the United States, in a similar vein as Mr. Trump. That he has no specific references on his digital public platform to the economy or American labor is peculiar. A slogan that says, “Let’s Beat Trump Together” does not tell the American worker much.
The upside to Mr. Biden’s approach is that he promises the American worker nothing. At this stage of his political career, promising nothing would be in keeping of the energy he would have left to muster the job and would give his Democratic successor a clean slate upon which to draft the next steps for the political economy.
I would have advised Mr. Biden to take the same approach. Constitutionally, the President’s duties do not require active management of the political economy such that non-asset holders have a level playing field upon which to build wealth. His duties are more in line with making sure that people do not violate each other’s right to life and property while in individual pursuit of assets.
For those that look to the Executive power as the mechanism fighting for them or giving out goody bags, this quasi-libertarian approach looks scary, but given America’s resources combined with the choice to grind or sit on one’s behind, this accidental libertarian approach on the part of Mr. Biden appears appropriate.
Alton Drew
25 June 2024
For more on my view on the American political economy, buy my book at amazon.com/author/altondrew.com.
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