Bye-bye, "America First"! Hello, "Buy American"?
Seeking to evict Donald Trump from the White House at a time of sudden mass unemployment, former Vice President Joe Biden last week offered a vision that echoes some of Trump's own economic populism _ while addressing the incompetence exposed during the pandemic.
Biden promises to spend $400 billion on materials and services made in the U.S., plus another $300 billion on U.S.-based research and development involving electric cars, artificial intelligence, clean-energy initiatives and similar technologies. We second such a push; federal dollars will pay major economic dividends down the road.
Given the PPE shortage states have faced in the pandemic, Biden promises to launch a 100-day supply chain review requiring federal agencies to buy only U.S.-manufactured medical supplies and other goods, while lifting any regulations on the procurement side. Again, wise.
Pushing back against the progressive Green New Deal preferences, and with an eye to his childhood roots in electoral votes-rich Pennsylvania, Biden remains a supporter of fracking for natural gas. Good.
This week, the soon-to-be Democratic nominee will build on his vision with a blueprint to restore U.S. manufacturing, embarrassing the man who gained the White House with a reputation as a builder.
A cloud in the sky: With Biden abandoning much of the rhetoric of free-trade, neither major party candidate now has the stomach to make the case for opening new markets. Trump's complaint that the world rips America's off seems to have stuck.
But overall, Americans should buy what Biden's selling.
