So where’s all that Democrat joy we’re supposed to be experiencing with a new Harris-Walz ticket?
And if it exists following nearly four years of their party White House and Senate control, why did we have to wait so long for joy to come back? Do they now agree with former President Trump that it’s time to Make America Great Again following these disastrous Biden-Harris years?
After all, there is little evident joy in the general public, most particularly regarding the Democrats' handling of the U.S. economy and inflation, which according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll represent the top two issues that 85% or more voters care most about in the upcoming election.
Forty-six percent of the respondents trusted Trump more on the economy than Biden-Harris at 32%, whereas 44% trusted Trump most on handling inflation compared with 30% for Biden-Harris.
Nevertheless, speaking at the Democratic National Convention last week, Sen. Cory Booker said that the party’s Harris-Walz ticket “brings joy,” Doug Emhoff described his wife Kamala Harris as a “joyful warrior,” and Oprah Winfrey joined the chorus exhorting “Let us choose joy!”
Despite a central “Happy Days Are Here Again” Democratic National Convention theme, following those years of White House and Senate control, the party offered no apparent new reasons for joy renewal, unless, of course, it was in reference to their giddiness in forcing Joe Biden off the ballot and replacing him with Kamala, the most unpopular vice president in recent American history.
Now add Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to that joy fest as her running mate who relatively few outside his state know much of anything about.
So OK, let’s take a brief peek at each of their economic policy and performance bona fides.
V.P. Harris’ Spending Hurricane:
Even the uber-left Washington Post editorial board blasted Vice President Harris for shunning “serious economic ideas” in favor of “populist gimmicks” such as a federal law against price gouging, which never works.
Instead, government price controls typically drive-up inflation by forcing businesses facing higher input costs to charge higher prices to consumers in order to avoid losses and survive.
As noted by Wall Street Journal writer Casey Mulligan, much of America’s inflation since 2020 has resulted by V.P. Harris’ tie-breaking votes advancing two Senate bills, the American Rescue Plan of 2021, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Together, those tie-breakers reportedly increased federal spending by more than $3 trillion, translating to at least 6% higher U.S. consumer prices, causing “at least half of the excess inflation (beyond 2% annually) that occurred between 2020 and 2024.”
Kamala’s latest anti-economic plan is to raise the U.S. corporate tax rate up from 21% to 28%, which the Wall Street Journal editorial board warns will “ultimately be paid by workers.”
In 2017, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans had grown the American economy by lowering a previous Democrat-backed business-hostile corporate rate from 35%, which was among the highest in the world at that time.
Gov. Walz’s Welfare Washouts:
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has characterized socialism as “neighborly,” and moreover, has put this philosophy into practice at the expense of his state’s citizens and businesses.
Minnesota has the fifth-highest top income-tax rate among the states, 9.85% at $193,000 of earnings for a single filer, and is also a rare state in levying a death tax, up to 16%, on top of the federal 40% rate.
Consequentially, many households representing roughly $5 billion in adjusted gross income left the state between 2019 and 2022, ranking Minnesota eighth in 2022 income loss.
Under Gov. Walz, illegal migrants are eligible for taxpayer-funded healthcare through the MinnesotaCare public marketplace along with free college for illegal migrants along with all other families with annual incomes under $80,000 through the state’s North Star Promise Program.
Although Minnesota boasts a low unemployment rate (2.9%), nearly all of its job growth under Gov. Walz has been in industries that rely on government spending.
Manufacturing employment has declined by 7,500 over the past 12 months, heavily influenced by a 1% surcharge on investment income over $1 million and reduced standard deductions for businesses such as for net operating losses
Whereas job losses started before the pandemic, they accelerated during Gov. Walz's prolonged lockdowns and have increased during the last year.
A Dangerous Duo:
Whereas the Democratic National Convention was heavy on bromides about “empowering and educating a brighter future,” it was entirely lacking in educating anyone about what empowerments other than government handouts and regulations Kamala or Tim have in mind.
There can be no confusion, however, regarding one overriding common characteristic they share.
They both are far-left socialists.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was accurate in describing Walz as "philosophically and politically" aligned with Harris, "a sort of Bernie Sanders in hunting gear," essentially "the same product, just in different wrappers."
After all, that's saying a lot since as U.S. senator from 2017 to 2021, Kamala had a more leftist voting record than even socialist Sanders did.
Together, Kamala and Tim are a very dangerous duo who share ideological neighborly, but decidedly joyless, Marxist values that would even make Bernie jealous.
Think Venezuela.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.