This piece explores how Kamala Harris’ Opportunity Economy counters neoliberal criticism and reveals its potential to reshape economic paradigms, offering a fresh, equitable vision for America’s future.
Kamala Harris’ Opportunity Economy
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Please watch the entire video after reading the article. It includes a very important commentary.
Economic uncertainty and corporate greed continue to widen the gap between the wealthy elite and the struggling working class. Vice President Kamala Harris has stepped forward with a bold vision for the “Opportunity Economy.” As outlined in her recent speech, this vision is a direct challenge to the status quo, which has long favored corporate profits over the well-being of everyday Americans. However, despite the urgent issues Harris seeks to address, her proposals have been criticized by the mainstream media and even some economists, who have dismissed them as “populist gimmicks.”
The Washington Post editorial board, in particular, was quick to undermine Harris’s proposals, accusing her of squandering an opportunity to present a “substantial plan” by instead focusing on what they derided as “populist gimmicks.” However, this characterization misses the point of Harris’s economic vision and reflects a broader reluctance among elite commentators to embrace policies that prioritize people over profits.
Harris’s economic plan addresses the high cost of living in the United States, a burden that has become increasingly unsustainable for millions of Americans. Her proposals include measures to target corporate price gouging, eliminate taxes on tips, and raise the child tax credit to $6,000. These policies, far from being gimmicks, are grounded in recognizing the real challenges facing working families today. As Governor JB Pritzker highlighted in his defense of Harris on CNN’s “State of the Union,” these initiatives are designed to provide tangible relief to everyday Americans—relief that is desperately needed in a country where economic inequality continues to rise.
Critics have argued that targeting corporate price gouging and eliminating taxes on tips are unlikely to bring down prices or significantly help low-income workers. But this critique ignores the reality of the current economic landscape, where corporations have been raising prices far beyond inflationary pressures, reaping record profits. At the same time, ordinary Americans struggle to make ends meet. The idea that the federal government should step in to curb such practices is not only reasonable but necessary, given the failure of the market to self-regulate in a way that benefits the broader population.
Self-regulation generally occurs after the near-total pillage of the working class. In other words, whatever the market will bear equates to taking all of the working-class disposable income (if they have any), savings, and, ultimately, maxed-out credit.
While most economists have criticized Trump’s promise to tax virtually all imports, they did not do so with the disdain and disrespect of rags like the Washington Post. The video includes an irony from Senator Lindsey Graham. “How do you get people to change your behavior when they’re cheating?” Graham said. “You put a tariff on their products.” The working class has to live through an even more grotesque economic reality with corporate-induced inflation, aka corporate greed. Isn’t the following parallel to the senator’s statement: “How do you change a corporation’s behavior by multiplying its profits and creating inflation on the products you must purchase? one must ask. “You put a corporate tariff on it. You TAX them.”
Harris’s focus on middle-class housing is crucial to her economic vision. With interest rates at historically high levels, the dream of homeownership has become increasingly out of reach for many Americans. Harris’s plan to build 3 million new homes over the next four years and provide $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers directly responds to the housing affordability crisis. Critics have claimed that this will only stimulate demand and drive up prices, but this argument fails to consider the broader context in which corporate entities have been buying homes and holding them off the market to drive up rents. Harris’s plan seeks to counteract this trend by increasing supply and providing opportunities for working families to achieve homeownership.
The Washington Post and other mainstream commentators’ dismissal of Harris’s proposals as “populist gimmicks” reflects a deep-seated bias in favor of neoliberal economic policies prioritizing corporate interests over the people’s needs. This bias is evident in how the media often treats policies that benefit the working class with skepticism while giving a pass to policies that favor the wealthy. The editorial board’s critique that Harris’s plan lacked seriousness reveals more about their ideological blind spots than the substance of her proposals.
Harris’s Opportunity Economy is not about populism for its own sake; it’s about addressing the systemic issues that have led to widespread economic hardship in the United States. Her policies empower working families, ensure fair wages, and hold corporations accountable for exacerbating inequality. These are not gimmicks—they are necessary interventions in an economy that has long been rigged in favor of the rich.
Moreover, the tendency to label any policy that challenges corporate power as “populist” serves to delegitimize the very real concerns of the American people. It suggests that policies aimed at leveling the playing field are somehow less valid or less serious than those that uphold the status quo. However, the status quo needs to be challenged to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
Figures like Governor Pritzker’s defense of Harris’s Opportunity Economy are crucial in pushing back against the narrative that her proposals are mere gimmicks. These policies represent a thoughtful and necessary response to the country’s economic challenges. They believe that government has a role to play in ensuring economic fairness and that corporate greed should not go unchecked.
In the face of ongoing criticism from neoliberal economists and the mainstream media, it is important to recognize the value of Harris’s vision for the Opportunity Economy. It prioritizes people over profits, fairness over exploitation, and opportunity over inequality. It is not a gimmick—it is a blueprint for a more just and equitable society. And it deserves to be taken seriously by all those who care about the future of this country.