Amid Trump economic debacle, Biden's central message must be his plan for American recovery

President Donald Trump is desperate to make this campaign about anything other than the economic disaster his incompetence has largely caused. But Joe Biden can’t let him do it. Biden’s own robust economic recovery plans must become the Biden-Harris ticket's key election message.

Just in the last two weeks, Trump has desperately invoked law and order, or federal approval of a non-existent vaccine, or the latest QAnon conspiracy theory — in short, anything but the sick economic elephant in the room. 

And no wonder. More than 22 million Americans lost their jobs just in March and April as Donald Trump bungled the COVID crisis, but more than half of those jobs have yet to return. Job growth in July was less than half that of June. And the new August numbers out last Friday being touted by the administration in fact barely make a dent in this new structural unemployment. The actual unemployment rate may be closer to 9% due to misclassification, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, andover 29 million people were receiving unemployment benefits as of mid-August.

Economy is top issue for voters

Not surprisingly, for most Americans, the beleaguered economy is far and away their main concern. In a Pew Research poll last month, 79% cited the economy as very important to them. But, absurdly, and dangerously, Trump recently held a 10 point advantage (48% to 38%) on handling of the economy among registered voters, according to a NBC news poll conducted several weeks ago. Yet Trump still has no real plan to arrest the pandemic, or revive the U.S. economy, and get millions of Americans back to work.  

Biden does. His economic plans are been developed precisely for this difficult economic moment. First, Biden has a plan to get control of the COVID pandemic, a pre-condition to getting the economy back on track. He also recognizes that the unconscionable two-month delay by Republicans in the Senate has stopped the lifeline of unemployment benefits and funding to strapped small businesses, and must be corrected this week when Congress returns.

But it is Biden’s major economic plans that are most important. His goals are nothing less than bringing back the U.S. middle class, creating tens of millions of high-paying jobs, jump-starting dormant manufacturing, and investing $2 trillion in U.S. advanced infrastructure job creation. As Larry Summers and other economists have noted, with interest rates near zero, now is exactly the time for the United States to make these investments. 

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Taken together, this represents the biggest ever investment in American workers.  Biden’s new job creation goals by sector are worth listing. Several million direct infrastructure jobs building roads and bridges but also universal high-speed internet and advanced energy systems. Millions of jobs in innovative new manufacturing sectors. One million new jobs in the auto industry and manufacturing electric vehicles, including building hundreds of thousands of EV charging stations. One million new jobs upgrading U.S. commercial and residential buildings, constructing 1.5 million new homes and housing units. More than 250,000 in conservation and agriculture, and millions more jobs in other sectors.

Biden unabashedly pushes a “Made in America” agenda, which given concerns over supply chains in the wake of the pandemic is newly important to economic and national security. But the focus on domestic production also is politically potent, as it highlights the abject failure of Trump’s tariff policies, which have been disastrous for manufacturing, agriculture, and other parts of the economy that matter in swing states. 

Trump's broken promise to revitalize 

In 2016, Trump famously promised to revitalize American manufacturing, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. But Donald Trump has done neither one. U.S. manufacturing declined under Donald Trump deeply during each quarter of 2019, long before the coronavirus onset. The manufacturing collapse was especially severe in the Great Lakes industrial states with factory job losses rivaling the Great Recession. And analysis by two leading Federal Reserve economists finds that the Donald Trump tariffs are causing U.S. “reductions in manufacturing employment and relative increases in producer prices” while “tariffs have not boosted manufacturing employment or output.” 

“Everyone will be cut in on the deal this time, as we rebuild the middle class," Biden said recently. Biden invokes FDR’s "Arsenal of Democracy," calling good middle class jobs the new “Arsenal of American Prosperity.” He calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which would increase wages throughout the pay scale, and creating federal protections for organizing labor. And he emphasizes investments in struggling rural and urban areas that have been left behind.

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All this will be needed to jumpstart the U.S. economy in 2021, because the extraordinary measures undertaken by the Federal Reserve Board have almost been exhausted.  “Monetary policy is approaching its limits,” Paul Ashworth at Capital Economics wrote in an August 25 note. “While Fed officials would never admit that publicly, that explains why they have become so outspoken in encouraging Congress to put more fiscal stimulus in place.” This stimulus is precisely what Biden is proposing, not just in the short-term but as long-term investments in growth.

Yes, we are in a battle for America’s soul, as Biden often says. But America’s soul and our economy are deeply connected. Critiquing "Don’s Economic Debacle" is not enough. Biden must emphasize "Joe’s Jumpstart of America’s Economy." That’s the winning formula not just for November, but for American workers for years to come.

Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute, was a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate Finance Committee and Clinton White House. Follow him on Twitter: @paulbledsoe