As the 2024 presidential race tightens with just 80 days left before the election, financial security and inflation remain top issues among voters. Amid this, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are presenting dueling visions for strengthening the U.S. economy.
Harris is set to unveil a broader economic plan on Aug. 16 that will touch on making prices affordable for consumers, including efforts to restrict price gouging.
She plans to propose the first-ever federal ban on “corporate price-gouging in the food and grocery industries” when elected, her campaign stated on Aug. 14.
The proposal was made after the Biden administration announced on Aug. 15 that it had reached an agreement with drug companies to lower prices for 10 of the most expensive prescription drugs covered under Medicare.
Trump has pinpointed prices and affordability in his bid to return to the White House.
Labor Department data released this week showed that annual inflation has slowed to below 3 percent for the first time since March 2021. This report comes at a crucial moment for Biden and Harris, as they aim to shift voter sentiment from negative to positive.
“Today’s report shows that we continue to make progress fighting inflation and lowering costs for American households,” Biden said in a statement on Aug. 14.
Despite cooling inflation pressures, consumers are still struggling with rising prices, higher borrowing rates, and a slowing labor market.
Overall, prices have surged more than 20 percent since Biden took office in January 2021. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, gasoline prices have increased by nearly 50 percent, while food and housing prices have surged by 22 percent each.
In addition, the U.S. job market experienced a significant slowdown last month, with the Labor Department reporting on Aug. 2 that only 114,000 jobs were added. The unemployment rate also increased to 4.3 percent, up from 4.1 percent, marking the highest level since October 2021.
The surprising news shook the markets, causing major stock indexes to drop sharply before eventually recovering their losses in the days following the report.
Like consumers, companies are also grappling with high costs, from labor to energy to materials. The producer price index (PPI), a metric that measures prices paid for goods and services by businesses, has risen 25 percent since January 2021.
The poll confirms prior studies, which have repeatedly shown that the economy is the most pressing concern for Americans heading into the November election.
Harris’ Economics
In a bid to bolster her economic message, Harris held a joint event with Biden on Aug. 15 in Maryland, where they discussed progress in reducing prescription drug costs.Both spoke at the Prince George’s County Community College gathering, the first such event since Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris on July 21.
They praised their administration’s achievement in securing an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 prescription drugs used in treating heart failures, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.
“We changed the whole way we look at the economy,” Biden told supporters in Maryland.
He suggested that both Trump and congressional Republicans would increase costs for middle-class families while reducing taxes for billionaires and large corporations.
He criticized the concept of trickle-down economics, noting that even some Democratic presidents accepted the idea that when the rich do well, the benefits would eventually reach the rest of the society.
“Well, I didn’t notice a single penny trickle down to my dad’s kitchen table,” he said, praising his own agenda that he said is focused on growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.
New drug prices, set to take effect in 2026, are expected to save seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program, according to the White House.
The event in Maryland offered a glimpse into the focus of the Harris campaign over the coming weeks: holding corporations accountable for price increases. Harris highlighted that for years, Big Pharma has inflated the cost of life-saving medications, often charging many times the production cost to boost profits. This message is expected to be a recurring theme in her campaign speeches.
“Two years ago, as vice president, I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote that gave Medicare the power to negotiate and let it get to the president’s desk,” she told supporters in Maryland, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law in August 2022.
Harris is expected to call on Congress on Aug. 16 during a speech in North Carolina to pass a federal ban on price gouging as part of her economic plan to lower costs, including grocery bills.
Trump’s Vision
The Trump campaign focused on high prices and energy production in two events on Aug. 15—Trump’s press conference at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and a rally in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, hosted by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).Standing next to a table with grocery products, including coffee, cereal, bagels, and bacon, Trump said everyday Americans face oppressively high prices on normal expenses.
“Grocery prices have skyrocketed,” Trump said, citing inflated costs for bread, butter, baby formula, eggs, and other groceries.
Trump criticized Harris’s plan to have the federal government restrict price gouging and suggested it would lead to food shortages and long-term price increases instead of reductions.
Beyond inflation, the campaign’s central line of attack on the affordability crisis is energy production. Trump and Vance targeted the topic in both speeches, with the former president arguing he would “immediately bring prices down” by increasing oil and natural gas drilling.
Vance agreed, highlighting the efforts of energy workers in western Pennsylvania.
“Let’s allow these guys to get it out of the ground,” Vance said, referring to oil and natural gas.
Vance said that increased energy production creates “economic opportunity for people” by lowering the cost of manufacturing and making it easier to heat homes during winter, leaving more money in consumers’ pockets for other expenses.
Both Trump and Vance criticized the Biden–Harris administration over energy production and suggested the two have prioritized an agenda that limits drilling and fracking.
