Joe Biden unveiled a wide-ranging economic plan during a speech in Pennsylvania on Thursday that, while focused on a four-part “Build Back Better” platform, also reiterated his stance on helping Main Street working class families at the expense of Wall Street and the wealthy.
The Democratic presidential nominee delivered a speech outside his childhood hometown of Scranton, touting the new plan he said would pump federal dollars into purchasing and research and development “in a way not seen since the Great Depression and World War II.”
Biden’s plan calls for federal government spending of $700 billion on American products and research: $400 billion over four years on materials and services made in the United States, as well as $300 billion on U.S.-based research and development involving electric cars, artificial intelligence and similar technologies.
But financial advisors might be more interested in his pitch to working class families.
“Throughout this crisis, Donald Trump has been almost singularly focused on the stock market—the Dow and the Nasdaq. Not you and not your families,” Biden said. “If I am fortunate enough to be your president, I’ll be laser-focused on working families, middle-class families like I came from here in Scranton, not the wealthy investor class. They don’t need me; working families do.”
In his speech, Biden also vowed to “make sure” workers have “power and a voice,” adding, “It is way past time to put an end to the era of shareholder capitalism—the idea that the only responsibility that a corporation has is the shareholders,” calling it an “absolute farce.”
That echoes a 2019 revision statement on “The Purpose of a Corporation” by Business Roundtable, which represents many of America’s largest corporations including many prominent financial services companies, that broke with its long-held mantra that corporations exist principally to serve shareholders. The new version says companies must also invest in their employees, protect the environment and deal fairly and ethically with their suppliers.
Biden attacks Trump economic policies
The four-part “Build Back Better” economic plan focuses on clean energy, the caregiving workforce, racial equity, and trade and manufacturing. Trade and manufacturing took center stage during his Scranton speech Thursday, with campaign officials saying more detailed information on the other pillars will be released later.
But some priorities, such as supporting Main Street over Wall Street, are clearly apparent on the “Build Back Better” page on the Biden campaign website. It states:
“Even before COVID-19, the Trump Administration was pursuing economic policies that rewarded wealth over work and corporations over working families. Too many families were struggling to make ends meet and too many parents were worried about the economic future for their children. And, Black and Latino Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, and women have never been welcomed as full participants in the economy.”
It goes on to say:
“We’ve seen the second bailout in 12 years for big corporations and Wall Street. And we’ve seen the Trump Administration provide all the tools necessary to help big businesses and well-connected cronies, while small businesses had to jump through hoops and many couldn’t access the relief they needed. Biden will ensure that corporate America finally pays their fair share in taxes, puts their workers and communities first rather than their shareholders, and respects their workers’ power and voice in the workplace.”
Biden’s campaign says he will finance the ongoing costs of his “Build Back Better” economic agenda by reversing some of President Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and imposing “common-sense tax reforms that finally make sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.”
The Biden campaign did to provide a more detailed accounting of how it would pay for the $700 billion in spending it proposed Thursday.
Biden has repeatedly stated his desire to level the playing field for low- and middle-income retirement savers, who he says are hurt by poorly designed retirement plans where about two-thirds of the benefit goes to the wealthiest 20% of families.
His campaign website features a section titled, “The Biden Plan for Older Americans,” which outlines his proposals for strengthening Social Security, increasing access to affordable health care, protecting and strengthening Medicare and Medicaid, and how he would “ensure that middle-class families get a leg up as they grow their nest egg.” Details can be found in this link.
Trump reaction
Reacting to Biden’s speech, White House spokesman Judd Deere said President Trump remains the obvious person to reignite the economy as he has done before.
“President Trump’s policies of lower taxes, deregulation, reciprocal trade and energy independence built a booming economy once, and they will do so again under his leadership,” Deere said.
President Trump criticized Biden’s economic plan from the White House lawn July 10 and said Biden would not be able to implement the policies in the plan.
“He plagiarized from me. But he can never pull it off,” Trump said in a video posted by The Washington Post. “It’s a plan that is very radical left, but he said the right things because he’s copying what I’ve done. But the difference is he can’t do it… He’s raising taxes way too much. He’s raising everybody’s taxes. He’s also putting tremendous amounts of regulations back on. And those two things are two primary reasons I created the greatest economy we’ve ever had.”
SEE ALSO: