Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Business Insider
Obama says Harris would make the economy fairer as president — while Trump would help his rich friends
By Theron Mohamed,
22 hours ago
Barack Obama hailed Kamala Harris as a champion for a fairer economy in his DNC speech.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Barack Obama championed Kamala Harris as a president who would create a fairer and stronger economy.
The ex-president said the Democratic nominee would widen access to good jobs, schools, and housing.
Donald Trump would cut taxes to enrich his already wealthy friends if reelected, Obama said.
Barack Obama hailed Vice President Kamala Harris as the right person to revitalize and equalize the US economy in his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In contrast, the former president warned that Donald Trump would seek to enrich his wealthy friends and oppose labor unions if he's put back in the White House.
"In this new economy, we need a president who actually cares about the millions of people all across this country who wake up every single day to do the essential, often thankless work to care for our sick, to clean our streets, to deliver our packages," Obama said. "We need a president to stand up for their right to bargain for better wages and working conditions."
A Harris administration would seek to broaden access to quality education, home ownership, middle-class jobs, and fair pay, the ex-president said.
Obama added that Harris and her pick for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, understood the power of expanding opportunity. Lifting others up improves everyone's well-being, ensuring women are paid fairly helps all families, and ensuring every child receives a good education means "the whole economy gets stronger," he said.
Barack Obama said Trump would cut taxes for his rich friends in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
During the rousing speech that stirred Democratic delegates, Obama also took aim at Trump: "He wants the middle class to pay the price for another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his rich friends."
Obama, who served two terms, drew a stark contrast between Democratic and Republican ideology. He said that Trump and his wealthy backers' idea of freedom was not paying taxes and firing workers if they tried to unionize , while Democrats see freedom as everyone having clean air and water, safe schools, and fair wages.
Annualized inflation soared to a 40-year high of more than 9% in the summer of 2022 and still remains above the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.
The central bank raised interest rates from almost zero to a two-decade high of 5.25% to curb surging prices, and has yet to make its first cut.
There's an affordability crisis in the housing market with 30-year mortgage rates at close to 7%, which hasn't been the norm in more than 20 years.
The dismal combination of heftier food, fuel, and rent costs, steeper monthly payments on credit cards, car loans, and mortgages, and home ownership becoming a fantasy has fueled significant discontent among many people.
That's despite inflation cooling significantly, high hopes of the first Fed rate cut in September, unemployment remaining at historic lows of around 4%, and solid wage, job, and output growth in recent years.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0