Harris’s Economic Plan Helps, But Doesn’t Get to the Root of Middle-Class Discontent.
By Bruce Buchanan and Hans Taparia
Like any candidate seeking re-election, President Joe Biden ran on his economic record—millions of new jobs created, steady GDP growth, inflation tamed, and new legislation allocating trillions of dollars for climate technology, semiconductors, and infrastructure. Kamala Harris aims to build on this record with child tax credits, down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, tax breaks for small businesses, modest tax increases for the wealthy, and a federal ban on price gouging for groceries. Her plan certainly helps—but none of these policy proposals address the root cause of discontent among the middle class: Wealth creation in America today defies gravity and always flows to the top.
Despite recent economic indicators, the quality of life for much of America has been diminishing for decades. Since 1970, the share of income held by the middle class has dropped by a third while the share of income held by the wealthy has nearly doubled. Over the same span, the minimum wage, unchanged since 2007, has lost roughly half its purchasing power. Over 39 million workers, or 23% of the working population, make less than $17 per hour. Over 50% of American households earn less than $75,000, which, based on one study, is what the average family of three in the U.S. needs to earn to cover the costs of its basic needs. Simply put, America is hurting.
At the core of the problem is that over the last half-century, American society has been reorganized, both legally and culturally, to put the interests of investors above all others—a state of affairs we call “the investor monoculture.”
Read the full Fortune article.
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Bruce Buchanan is C.W. Nichols Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern. Hans Taparia is Clinical Associate Professor of Business and Society at NYU Stern.