I wanted to share publicly that I am backing Kamala Harris for President. While she has been relatively new to the “big debate”, I have been persuaded by the following:
Support for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The future of job creation and innovation isn’t going to come from most monolithic large enterprises, which are slaves to quarterly earnings and obsessed with profit – so many are focused on their shareholders a lot more than their people. It’s going to come from small businesses that want to grow, which can easily exploit new technologies to scale and can train people to be at the heart of their business models. Many small businesses also provide many more opportunities for ethnic minorities, where so many large enterprises have failed. She will expand the startup expense tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $50,000 and ensure more federal contracts are distributed to smaller firms and not the usual greedy enterprises on the gravy train.
While not perfect, the country is still in a great place economically. Let’s not risk that. We can argue all we like, but the fundamentals of inflation (now at 2%) are FAR lower than all the G7 countries, GDP growth is the highest in the G7 at 2.8%, median household income is growing at 4% (including inflation), while unemployment has been consistently at record lows while the stock markets have been hitting record highs.
Tax cuts and benefits must grow the economy and the middle-class, not just make the rich even richer. She is proposing restoring two tax cuts designed to help middle-class and working Americans: the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. They will also expand the Child Tax Credit to provide a $6,000 tax cut to families with newborn children. She has promised first-time homebuyers up to $25,000 to help with their down payments, which is a huge issue for GenZs desperate to get on the housing ladder. Noone earning less than $400K will be negatively impacted. As a business owner myself, I am fine paying a few extra dollars a year to support this country. I don’t know why these obscenely rich people need even more money to increase our national debt and lay on yet more burdens for our kids to pay off when we are retired happily on our boats and golf courses.
The USA desperately needs a woman president. America would sorely benefit from a smart, likeable woman to lead this country. There are too many gender diversity issues to even attempt to broach here, but having a woman leader would do so much to balance them in this country. It is pretty unthinkable that in 2024, the world’s superpower and most powerful economy has never had a female at the helm. This has to change.
The Bottom Line: Kamala Harris may not be the perfect answer, but she’s offering us opportunity and hope to fix a divided country
There are choppy waters ahead for the US, with a recession surely coming eventually, some awful military conflicts we need to help resolve, and some real divisive (and often unnecessary) issues threatening to tear this country apart. There also needs to be a deeper focus on healthcare and education in this country, and I am not yet convinced anyone has addressed this effectively.
However, I believe the US is still the land of opportunity. It was the country where I founded my first business in 2010, which has grown and prospered over the years. I have benefitted from great American talent and from great people from other countries over the last few years, and I still love doing business in a great country like this, which continues to have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and confidence in the future. I am backing Kamala because, in my view, she is our best bet to take us forward.
These are my personal views and do not represent those of HFS Research.
Posted in : Politics
