October 27th, 2020 by Zachary Shahan
There is a rather ironic thing about Donald Trump. From 1985 to 1994, it’s been argued that he lost more money than any other American — due to the fact that he inherited such a fortune but then did so poorly at business. Nonetheless, during that time, he wrote (er, Tony Schwartz wrote) The Art of the Deal, and Trump’s (false) image as a good businessman was cemented in the American psyche. There are many more examples of irony on this topic — including the whole premise of The Apprentice — but let’s just jump to the political matter at hand.
The political matter is that evergreen topic that “it’s the economy, stupid!” However, in this case, our economic situation and economic future concern the false image of Trump as a great businessman and the false image of the Republican Party as the party that is better for the economy. (In fact, routinely, the economy has crashed under Republican leadership and due to Republican policies — like extreme and long-term deregulation of the financial industry. Additionally, claims that trickle-down economics would boost or save the economy have been consistently proven false for decades, indicating that George H. W. Bush was right to call Reaganomics “voodoo economics.”)
Charts courtesy Princeton University
Chart © Steve Rattner
Related story: Six former commerce secretaries, including one who served under a Republican president, endorse Biden
I’m not sure if formerly conservative companies and economists are finally coming to see this, or if they just think that Donald Trump is such a great risk to the United States and such an incompetent head of government that they are bucking their usual instincts. Either way, the trend is clear: big names in economic and traditionally conservative circles are telling anyone who will listen that Joseph R. Biden (aka Joe) would be better for the US economy than Donald Trump.
Just as it was strong economic stimulus from Democrats that brought us out of the Great Recession, Goldman Sachs expects that a Biden presidency along with a big blue wave would mean good things for the economy. “[A]ll else equal, such a blue wave would likely prompt us to upgrade our forecasts,” Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius stated.
“It would likely result in substantially easier US fiscal policy, a reduced risk of renewed trade escalation, and a firmer global growth outlook,” the report noted.
Moody’s went even further. CNN: “Moody’s Analytics found that Biden’s economic proposals, if enacted, would create 7.4 million more jobs than would Trump’s. The economy would return to full employment in the second half of 2022, nearly two years earlier than under Trump’s plan, Moody’s said.”
“The economic outlook is strongest under the scenario in which Biden and the Democrats sweep Congress and fully adopt their economic agenda,” Mark Zandi, an economist who advised Republican Senator John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign, said.
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, one of the most prominent business schools in the world, further summarized Biden’s plan as follows:
“Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign has released a substantial list of policy proposals. PWBM finds that over the 10-year budget window 2021 – 2030, the Biden platform would raise $3.375 trillion in additional tax revenue and increase spending by $5.37 trillion. Including macroeconomic and health effects, by 2050 the Biden platform would decrease the federal debt by 6.1 percent and increase GDP by 0.8 percent relative to current law. Almost 80 percent of the increase in taxes under the Biden tax plan would fall on the top 1 percent of the income distribution.”
“It is productive spending that Mr. Biden is proposing,” stated Richard Prisinzano, the director of policy analysis at the Penn Wharton Budget Model, which is a nonpartisan group within the top business school.
While Biden put out a comprehensive and well regarded plan for the economy, Donald Trump didn’t put out a plan at all, his modus operandi. He apparently plans to keep running the US economy with blinders on and with an inflexibility to evolve in the face of challenge. He has shown us that he is not a good president for anyone who cares a lot about the economy. “The truth is, Trump has always been the stupid person’s idea of a successful businessman, complete with his gold toilet and his collection of trophy wives and girlfriends,” Richard Hine summarizes.
Wharton business school says the Biden plan is better than Trump’s.
Goldman Sachs says the Biden plan is better than Trump’s.
Moody’s says Biden’s plan will create 7 million more jobs than Trump’s.
Vote Biden. https://t.co/mDovnIVki3
— Richard Hine (@richardhine) October 12, 2020
More specifically for cleantech topics, Joe Biden recently explained very well how a focus on a cleantech economy could create millions of jobs and boost the economy while also protecting our climate, air, and water.
Additionally, Mike Barnard wrote up a thorough climate and energy report card on the Obama/Biden and Trump/Pence presidencies as well as a potential Biden/Harris presidency. That report card shows that a Biden/Harris White House would be strong on clean and renewable energy, electric vehicles and mass transit, infrastructure and land use, and industry.
All in all, it’s a false idea (fake news, you might say) that a Donald Trump second term would be a smart economic choice. Trump — and the GOP in general — has been a two-trick pony: cut taxes on the ultra-rich and let polluters and the financial industry run wild and do any harm to society that fits their business model. Neither of those approaches to governance have been shown to be smart economically. A Biden/Democratic approach that involves much greater investments in our society and smart regulation appear to offer much more upside in terms of job creation, economic growth, and a stronger middle class.
Don’t believe me? Well, I hope you will at least believe the combination of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Goldman Sachs, and Moody’s. These are not hippie dippy outfits and would not be hesitant to say that the Republican approach to the economy was likely to be more fruitful if that was actually the case.
At the end of the day, week, month, year, or decade, when looking at the evidence spanning decades, it should simply not be controversial to say that the Democratic Party is the party of the economy in the modern era. As usual, we are at the end of a Republican presidency in a worse economic situation than his presidency started in. It’s time to put the Democratic Party in power in order to invest in our country again and pull us out of the doldrums.
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About the Author
Zachary Shahan is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.
Zach has long-term investments in NIO [NIO], Tesla [TSLA], and Xpeng [XPEV]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.