If You Care About the Economy, You Need to Vote for Harris

Billionaire Mark Cuban has argued this week that electing Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris would be better for the economy than another term under GOP nominee Donald Trump. Cuban was responding to Trump's ridiculous claims that he created a great economy during his administration while Harris somehow managed to ruin the economy while serving as vice president.

"You have to look at the root of inflation. I'll tell you exactly when the very first kernel of inflation was set. And that was in April of 2020,” Cuban said. “The gas prices were $1.87. The oil companies went to Donald Trump and said, ‘We are getting crushed with gas prices at $1.87. Please go to Saudi Arabia and your friend MBS [Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud], please go to Russia and your friend Vladimir Putin and ask them to reduce production.’”

“So he had a choice to make: Does he help his oil company cronies or does he help keep gas prices low?” Cuban continued. “You already know what he did. He went to support his oil company cronies, went to MBS and Putin and said, please reduce production. That was the day inflation started. And you can track—minute by minute, hour by hour, month by month, year by year, quarter by quarter,” Cuban explained, saying that the gas prices and inflation rates only began going down when that deal ended in 2022.  “So you can take all you want and blame it on the Biden administration. But it started with Donald Trump."

In April 2020, Trump, did in fact, publicly called on Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut back on their oil production because it was hurting the U.S. oil industry, which represents some of his biggest donors. Later that month, Reuters reported that Trump threatened to cut military support to Saudi Arabia if it didn't reduce production and help out his oil tycoon friends.  Since June 2022, gas prices have dropped from national averages of above $5 per gallon to just over $3. Naturally, this hasn’t stopped Trump from lying and complaining about the economy under President Joe Biden. 

The reality is that the Biden-Harris administration has been able to clean up a lot of the Trump administration’s swampy mess, and while Harris continues to offer up policy ideas to further ease the financial burdens Americans face, Trump has only offered up poorly conceived tariff plans that most economists—and even Trump’s richest backer—say would be ruinous for anyone not making millions of dollars.

This week, the editors of the Economist endorsed Kamala Harris, saying that a second Trump would come with unacceptable risks.  Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics, has said that he believes the U.S. economy will perform better and working Americans will fare better if Vice President Harris wins the presidency.

The fact is that the U.S. economy has grown the fastest among major industrial nations since the pandemic began. Our economy has grown twice as fast as Canada’s, three times as fast as France’s and Japan’s, and four times as fast as Britain’s. Under Biden, the average unemployment rate has been lower than under any president since Lyndon Johnson. 

Many economists have warned that Trump's plan to impose tariffs or taxes on all imported goods will send inflation soaring and ignite a dangerous trade war that could cause a recession and throw millions out of work. Economists also warn that Trump’s plans, including his plan to slash taxes on the wealthy and corporations, not only will increase the federal debt by a colossal $7.8tn, but could bankrupt the social security system and lead to a 33% across-the-board cut in social security benefits.