The purpose of economic policy is to provide price stability, economic growth and full employment with the outcome resulting in a higher standard of living for Americans. One policy is clearly much better than the other.

Price Stability

Kamala wants to reduce the inflation problem by simply saying it will be illegal to raise prices above what someone in government sets as a limit. The basis for this is that Kamala believes that the severe inflation problem is primarily due to corporate greed and price gouging. Unfortunately, when artificial limits are placed on prices, the results are always shortages of the products and often rationing.

In 1971, this is exactly what happened when President Nixon imposed price controls. Worse yet, after the price controls were lifted, prices soared.

She will also work to lower prices on much needed drugs, like insulin, by negotiating with drug producers. And she wants to give every family a $6,000 tax credit when they have a new child.

Trump recognizes that energy, when considered in total, accounts for about 30% of the Consumer Price Index. To reduce this cost and bring prices down, Trump will vastly increase the production of energy. The increased supply will result in much lower energy prices. Trump will also tackle the difficult but necessary job of trying to reduce government spending.

Trump too will negotiate with large drug companies to lower the price they charge, especially for Medicare recipients.

But instead of giving taxpayer funded tax credits, Trump wants to expand the economy which will grow real wages and allow families to purchase needed services without government assistance.

Growth and Full Employment

Kamala doesn’t specifically discuss how she plans to grow the economy, although she says that key industries like home building must be expanded. She recognizes that millions of Americans are unable to purchase a home.

Since owning a home is the key element in building personal wealth and stability, she wants the government (funded by taxpayers) to give every “eligible” first time home up to $25,000 in down payment assistance. By increasing demand, she says this will increase home production by up to 4 million houses over the next four years.

Because of the rippling effect of new home construction (homeowners buy related goods like new furniture) she apparently believes that will help the economy grow. More importantly she claims this will help to reduce income inequality.

Her plan has been characterized as “pro-consumer, anti-corporate abuse agenda.”

Trump wants to grow the economy by unleashing business. To do that he will greatly reduce the number of counter-productive regulations. Regarding the home building industry, Trump recognizes that prices are so high mostly because demand for houses far exceeds the supply.

Instead of giving taxpayer money to first time home buyers, which simply increases demand and puts further upward pressure on prices, he wants to increase supply. In most markets, land cost is the major component of the final selling price.

His plan is to make more federal land available to home-builders. This significant increase in the supply of land for home building will result in lower land prices which puts downward pressure on home prices.

Taxes

There is a huge difference between the candidates taxing policies.

Kamala wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. She also wants to raise the tax rate on the highest income earners, essentially the top 1%. She says this will reduce income inequality and fund many of the programs she has proposed. She continues the Biden-Harris policy that wants to have the very wealthy pay their “fair share.”

She also wants the Trump tax cuts passed in 2017 to expire, which will raise taxes for all tax paying households by about 10%.

Trump wants to keep taxes low for all Americans. That means he will make the 2017 tax cuts permanent. And he will keep the corporate tax rate at 21%. This will give corporations more funds for expansion and for wage increases when market conditions indicate.

It also means that more capital will be created because the wealthy will not be over-taxed. Currently the top 1% of income earners, who earn about 26% of total personal income, pay about 46% of the total income tax revenue collected by the federal government. Is that a “fair share?”

To reduce income inequality, he won’t pull the top income earners down, but rather provide opportunity for the lower income earners to rise.

Most economists and more importantly most voters will favor Trumponomics over Kamalanomics.

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Michael Busler is a public policy analyst and a professor of finance at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in finance and economics. He has written op-ed columns in major newspapers for more than 35 years.