Grading The 2024 DNC Platform

With the Democratic National Convention happening this week in Chicago, the party has released its platform of policy principles. All quotes in italics below are taken directly from the platform itself with an assessment of its potential impact on taxpayers and the economy as a whole. So, without further ado: the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2024 Democratic party platform.

The Good

“But a full 45 million of us still live in areas where there is no high-speed internet. Democrats are closing that divide.”

• Closing the digital divide is a worthy and necessary goal – and one of the most important lawmakers must tackle in the years ahead. However, policymakers must be careful to do so by unleashing investment and innovation, rather than creating more government-run municipal broadband networks, which routinely fail.

“Democrats will protect everyone earning less than $400,000 a year from any tax increase.”

• This is a stellar promise. However, Americans must keep a watchful eye if Vice President Harris should ascend to the presidency. President Biden routinely violated this promise through inflationary spending (inflation is a backdoor tax). The administration also imposed taxes on goods disproportionately used by lower-income families – like vaping products. In addition, increasing corporate taxes will fall disproportionately on working class families as companies pass on the costs through higher prices.

“Democrats are determined to strengthen data privacy.”

• This is the way forward in the complicated landscape of tech. There should be a sweeping standard for data privacy that will provide certainty. Continued cyber attacks against American companies and institutions are not sustainable. Policymakers need to come together to establish a data privacy framework that balances Americans’ vital information and the importance of data in conducting business in the US.

“Democrats will continue to advocate for the safe and secure development of AI.”

• AI could very well be at the forefront of a new industrial revolution. With certain limited, reasonable safeguards in place, AI should be allowed to thrive and grow under a light-touch regulatory framework.

“[A] reckless proposal to raise tariffs by 10 percent – not just on goods from China, but across the board on any imported goods from any country in the world – will cost American families an estimated $1,500 a year.”

• Tariffs, plain and simple, are taxes. Taxpayers across the nation ought to be thankful for any policymakers who recognize the destructive impact they have on everyday Americans.

The Bad

“We’re making the biggest investment in public transit in history, and at last building America’s first true high-speed rail lines.”

• First, the Biden-Harris supported infrastructure bill dedicated more money to subsidies for underperforming clean energy programs than it did for actual infrastructure. Further, high-speed rail proposals over the last four years have included infringement on the rights of freight rail along their existing lines. Foreign high speed rail systems are rarely profitable, with China’s new system in particular creating an unsustainable debt load on local governments.

“After the pandemic exposed our reliance on foreign-made semiconductors, we passed the CHIPS and Science Act, to restore America’s role producing the tiny computer chips needed to make everything from cell phones to dishwashers to cars.”

• Semiconductors are unbelievably important components in practically countless goods relied on every day, but that’s no excuse to ignore the fact that the domestic semiconductor industry is, per a 2020 report by the Semiconductor Industry Association, “on solid footing.” U.S.-based semiconductor firms hold nearly half of the global market share, and 44 percent of that production already occurs in the U.S. Moreover, these figures don’t even capture firms based in allied countries such as South Korea and Taiwan that were spending billions of dollars to open semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the U.S.—before passage of the CHIPS Act.

“We also recognize that the U.S. Postal Service is the world’s most efficient, and Democrats are wholly committed to supporting a public U.S.P.S. We will fight all efforts to privatize it.”

• Statements like these gloss over the myriad issues with the USPS. The agency is insulated from competition and routinely turns in awful financial reports. If the federal government continues to ignore these issues, taxpayers will continue footing its bill.

“Big Agriculture moved in, telling too many small farms that the surest path to success was to get big or get out.”

• This statement ignores the true issue entirely. Crop insurance, commodities subsidies, and other farm assistance programs create a market incentive to produce more. This creates the landscape where only “Big Agriculture” can thrive. Government central planning, through the Farm Bill, has made it near impossible for family farms to compete with Big Agriculture. The resistance of policymakers to any restrictions on subsidies has made it so that Big Agriculture reaps the same benefits as family farms, further elevating their competitive edge.

“We’ll fight for paid leave, better health care, and more investment in public schools and affordable housing.”

• This proposal, filed under the “Fighting Poverty” section of the platform, may as well say, “We just want to throw money at the problem.” This is entirely devoid of specifics and amounts to little more than trying to increase government control over swaths of new territory. Such pronouncements related to new employment benefits are hard to take seriously among discussions of raising corporate taxes. Further, the federal government should not have a role in inherently local issues such as schools and housing.

“Democrats won’t let [cuts to Social Security or Medicare] happen. The fact is that both Social Security and Medicare are in a stronger fiscal position today than when President Biden took office”

• Both programs are approaching insolvency. There will be an automatic reduction of benefits if serious reform is not considered. Statements like these reflect no desire to do such reform.

“The Administration has toughened efficiency standards on new appliances and cars as well, which will further reduce emissions and energy bills.”

• This will not reduce bills. In fact, studies have shown that Americans will simply run their appliances multiple times to compensate for the lack of efficiency of their dishwashers and washing machines because of these regulations. Further, electric vehicle (EV) subsidies and attacks on traditional gas-powered vehicles only serve to benefit the affluent handful of Americans who actually own EVs, rather than those who desperately need relief.

The Ugly

“Democrats will keep fighting to prevent the kind of supply chain shocks and corporate greed that have done so much to raise prices.”

• Prices have indeed gone up during the Biden-Harris administration. Much of that is due to the unwillingness of the federal government to stop runaway spending. To make matters worse, the scapegoating of “corporate greed” will only ensure the problem persists. To say this would also be to assume that “corporate generosity” must be responsible for low prices. This mindset will lead to price controls (which have already been proposed by Vice President Harris), which will then lead to shortages in key industries, adding to the “supply chain shocks” the DNC bemoans.

“Democrats will keep fighting to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.”

• The PRO Act is a destructive piece of legislation that would infringe on the rights of workers nationwide who have no desire to join a labor union. Further, the PRO Act would make it difficult or impossible to run a franchise business or be an independent contractors, due to its harsh regulations on such practices for employers.

“We will keep pushing Congress to increase [the minimum wage] to at least $15 for all Americans.”

• This a recipe to ensure fewer Americans get placed in jobs. Companies will hire fewer workers and will take fewer chances on less-experienced employees because of the financial risk. This will lead to many missed opportunities, stifled job growth, and fewer resources available for investment and innovation in the economy.

“Democrats will also work to get farmers the right to repair their own equipment, without having to pay big equipment makers for diagnostic tools and repairs.”

• All so-called “right-to-repair” laws open up myriad security issues. Equipment manufacturers do not insist on in-house repairs merely out of greed. They do so to protect their IP and to ensure the reliability of their products – as well as their reputation. Such laws, whether applied to farming or smartphones, inhibits companies’ ability to do business as they see fit.

“The Administration has already cracked down on one of Big Pharma’s biggest scams, by finally giving Medicare, the single biggest buyer of drugs in America, the ability to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, as the VA and private insurers have done for years. The Administration is also requiring drugmakers to reimburse Medicare if they hike prices faster than inflation.”

• The “negotiation” described here is nothing of the sort. It is, in fact, a way for a government agency to impose price controls on American companies. This will lead to shortages and reduced investment in new treatments that will have disastrous consequences for those who rely on Medicare and all patients broadly.

“We’ll eliminate the ‘stepped-up basis’ loophole for the wealthiest Americans.”

• This supposed “loophole” actually ensures that Americans pay a capital gains tax based on the value of the asset when they acquired it, not the value of it when whoever passed it down to them acquired it. Eliminating the stepped-up basis rule would be an effective increase in the estate tax rate for many Americans, harming many generational family businesses along the way.

“Democrats will also make billion-dollar companies pay their fair share.”

• Continuing to make America a less attractive place for companies to do business will stifle investment in the American economy. America’s wealthiest companies should be incentivized to continue to innovate and create jobs. This “fair share” line is nothing more than a smoke screen for one of the most ambitious tax hikes in American history. And, again, taxes on companies are quickly passed on to their customers.

“Democrats will expand ‘no-surprise billing’ to include costly ground ambulances; and we’ll keep using antitrust laws to stop hospital, insurance, and Big Pharma mergers that undermine competition and increase health care prices for consumers.”

• Anti-surprise billing legislation is just another attempt at price controls. It has been rebuked by the court system and would jeopardize vulnerable communities, as insurance companies might be less likely to cover at all, given such restrictions. Further, a blanket assumption of mergers as anti-competitive or anti-consumer ignores important economic concepts such as economies of scale and network effects.

“The Administration is also cracking down on price gouging and promoting competition in Agriculture.”

• This is another attempt at price controls. The agricultural sector and grocery stores already operate with razor thin margins. Attributing high prices to price gouging is absurd. Such price controls would inevitably require more government intervention and will lead to shortages in already underserved areas.

“The Justice Department and the FTC have increased antitrust enforcement, releasing updated merger guidelines.”

• These merger guidelines threaten innovation in the American economy. Many small businesses desire to be bought out, as the combination of their ingenuity with the resources of a larger company multiplies their possibilities for growth. Acquisitions also entice new investment in startups. Antitrust enforcement should be guided by the consumer welfare standard, as opposed to a blind presumption that big companies are bad companies.

“To fight back, [the administration] has called for immediate passage of the DISCLOSE Act, which will require advocacy groups that run ads to influence elections to disclose donors who contribute more than $10,000.”

• This is a dangerous attack on free speech. Under the First Amendment, citizens are granted the right to free expression. There is no income requirement attached, nor is there a prohibition on anonymity. Such legislation would open private citizens to harassment and intimidation.

“Democrats will pass bipartisan legislation to protect kids’ privacy and to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban targeted advertising to children, and put stricter limits on the personal data these companies collect on all of us.”

• This would be entirely counter-productive. Tech firms often need to collect information on underage users in order to ensure that adult advertisements do not populate their online feeds. Targeting is a critical tool to ensure child-friendly content goes where it is supposed to. Such proposals would ensure kids online would be exposed to the same content as adults.

“[We must take] decisive action to counter unfair economic practices by the [People’s Republic of China] and level the playing field for American workers [by] strategically increasing tariffs on a variety of products such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.”

• This violates the DNC’s earlier recognition of tariffs’ impact on everyday Americans. The DNC can describe tariffs as “strategic,” however, they ultimately end up being taxes on the same Americans they promise to shield from tax hikes.