My feelings on this are fairly mixed. There are some parts of the policy where she really knocks it out of the park, some of it is kind of meh, and some of it is just a let down.
First, housing. Here is where she REALLY does a good job. Like possibly better than me. She is encouraging the construction of millions of homes, giving tax breaks to first time home buyers, and going after firms that price fix the housing industry. She's REALLY doing a good job here, and I have to say, I REALLY like her agenda here. It's SOLID.
Next, she wants to bring back the child tax credit, which is like a mini UBI for kids. And she wants to have a $6000 bonus for newborns. I think that this is excessive, but this is one of the things she's doing to try to outdo the GOP. Vance came out with a $5000 bonus so harris tried to outdo it. She's doing this a lot as I'll get to.
I dont really like the idea of just giving money to children though. I hate how our safety nets tends to only give money to specific groups of people, I want a UBI. This is a UBI for kids, and it's cool, but at some point if we were gonna go further, I'd rather see a tax credit for adults too. Again, LIFT ACT. She knows better. Why not lean into her old policies?
She has a small EITC increase, but yeah, small compared to the CTC, and not universal.
Anti price gouging stuff....eh....I mean i get the intent and I guess in the current climate its better to look like youre doing something than do nothing, but eh, im not sure price controls work. I mean, economically, they tend to reduce supply. We want to increase supply, like harris wants to do with housing. We want to encourage overproduction, a surplus. Its better to throw food away than to have a shortage. I know trump is attacking her for this comparing her to maduro in venezuela too here. I doubt we'll ever be that bad, but here's the thing about price controls. Maybe they work short term, but overall, pricing is a way to regulate supply and demand. If demand is high relative to supply, high prices reduce demand in line with supply, while causing a profit incentive to produce more. Price controls messes with that profit incentive, and can lead to an overall reduction in supply, making the problem worse. It's a huge reason i aint for rent control. Sure, if were talking like obvious gouging, sure, maybe some sort of policy will help, but I'd need to know more about the specific policy proposed, not just a summary of it.
No taxes on tips, this is just a populist measure trump promoted. It's kinda dumb. Better to have a UBI or NIT or larger tax credits on all workers.
Healthcare, this is the biggest disappointment. NO PUBLIC OPTION MENTIONED. It's like she's abandoning it. Focusing on prices of medicines. Which is based, dont get me wrong, but keep in mind, the only long term solution is universal healthcare. This is just fixes around the edges.
Heck, most of what harris is promoting is just fixes around the edges. Housing you kinda NEED fixes around the edges. Not even I'll touch a government run housing market. That won't work. But with healthcare? yeah.
And of course, the tax credits are just more...biden. TO be fair i didnt expect much more but meh.
I'm underwhelmed. Dont get me wrong, I'll still vote for her. As much as I'd like to purity test on policy, I can't do that when trump is such an existential threat to democracy. And I guess she does SOME good things I like.
I guess this is the best we're gonna get in 2024 when inflation is the big concern. But yeah. Oh well, at least we're not losing in a landslide any more. I guess I should be grateful for just that.
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