Here we go again. Time for another national election to choose a new Congress and a new president. The feeling in the air is that this election is more urgent and consequential than our garden-variety matchups, particularly at the presidential level. If this election for president is seen as fundamentally determining the direction the country will take, as both Republicans and Democrats claim, then serious attention will be paid and hopefully significant turnout will be achieved, which together should lead to a noun and declarative result, like that or not.
Typically, “It’s the economy, stupid!” This time the meaning is: “It’s the culture, stupid!”. Without getting into development concerns related to our civilization’s maturation or lack thereof, economic claims, projections, and promises will likely continue to drive much of the partisan discussion. Are we Americans going to turn to the past in an attempt to retain the tried-and-true-driven economic successes previously performed by legacy-style business operations, or are we instead going to innovate and design for an economic future that changes? the paradigm and is characterized by greater competition, transformation and multiculturalism? The decision we make will have consequences for the vitality of the economy in the future and for the employment it will generate.
Conventional wisdom holds that if the economy is robust enough, then vigorous employment will take care of itself. Indeed, high levels of employment are intrinsic to a strong economy. Widespread employment issues. Therefore, it is worth examining the economic approaches offered by both sides to see who is best equipped to create a job-rich environment over the next four years. Here is my broad summary of the selection before us.
Donald Trump has shown us his economic priorities through his past performance, which included low unemployment rates. Given that the Republicans did not present a party platform this year, we must assume that they are thinking of ‘standing firm’. The Trump administration’s economic focus has been on individual and corporate tax cuts, deregulation targeting primarily the energy and financial sectors, trade protectionism, immigration restriction, and rejection of a federal role in health care delivery. universal. In recent months there have also been attempts to resuscitate the economy from the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic by promoting a reopening or ‘getting back to normal’ agenda.
Joe Biden, despite pressure from the left flank of the Democratic Party, is not proposing radical or revolutionary changes in the economy, but he is advancing ambitious federal interventions. Primarily, he focuses on reinvigorating America’s middle class by fostering greater inclusion across races and education levels with less income inequality and a revival of optimism born of opportunity. He wants to expand Obamacare, impose a more progressive tax code, eliminate middle-class student debt, raise the federal minimum wage, encourage low-carbon manufacturing, combat climate change, and much more. Biden/Harris also have a detailed 7 point plan to defeat Covid and plan for future such threats.
Both the incumbent and the challenger want full employment. What ideology is likely to produce this universally desired result? Excluding all other factors, which will influence who gets my vote, I see the following as highlights regarding employment.
The last 150 years have generated great economic advances that have resulted in profound improvements in the lives of many millions, both as consumers and producers. We have learned a lot about how to generate wealth and provide products and services that improve the quality of life. There are lessons from the past that are worth continuing, but the past is over. What we have to look to the future is the future with all its uncertainty and ambiguity. Meeting this challenge requires a mindset that sees more opportunities than threats in the future. I think it is this state of mind that impresses me more than the tactics and the positions. Lasting but resilient employment will best come from a perspective that sees the world for what it really is and enthusiastically leans into competition.