Few modern presidents have rear-ended the U.S. economy more badly than President Joe Biden and his “integral” number two in command, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Prices of everything from groceries to gas to mortgages are now at least 20 percent higher than when Biden entered office and the national debt has exploded by another $7 trillion. Two of three Americans have consistently told pollsters that the country is headed in the wrong direction and that the American Dream is now harder to achieve.
Now we have Kamala Harris endorsing price controls on groceries and drugs and a $5 trillion tax increase that could trigger a stock market crash and another financial crisis.
Where have all these questionable ideas come from?
LAWMAKER WHO OWNS GROCERY CHAIN ISSUES GRIM WARNING OVER HARRIS’ PRICE CONTROL PLAN: ‘RECKLESS’
Our new study at The Committee to Unleash Prosperity, which we have dubbed “Amateur Hour,” may offer some key answers.
It turns out that the vast majority of the top Biden economic and financial advisers have little or no real-life business experience. The vast majority have never started a business and learned how to meet a payroll and make a profit. And a shocking number of the key advisers never or rarely even WORKED for a business.
It starts at the very top. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Democratic Party vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have virtually never run a business or even earned a private sector paycheck.
This lack of experience streams right down the flow chart. We examined over 60 of the top Biden and Harris appointees with the highest level positions with oversight over business, finance and commerce in the White House, the cabinet and the key regulatory agencies.
Six out of ten of these top level appointees have almost no experience working for a foreign-profit business. Most are academics, career government officials, non-profit employees, community organizers or lawyers.
Only one-in-ten has extensive business experience (Defined as 10+ years.) The median years of business experience is zero and the average is 3.1 years.
This contrasts with the cabinet of the Trump administration where the average years of business experience was about four times higher. One might think that these results don’t matter any more given that President Biden will be out of office in January. But it is likely from past experience–and the large number of Obama appointees who transitioned into the Biden administration–that a President Kamala Harris would play a game of musical chairs with many of the same people running the government today. These appointees would become a de facto permanent ruling class.
We certainly don’t believe that every appointee should have to have private sector experience in the for-profit world. But certainly more than a few should. Biden and Harris believe in diversity in every area except knowledge of how the real world economy works.
This lack of diversity isn’t a mere oversight in hiring. The modern Democratic Party has become staunchly anti-business and views those who have served in corporate boardrooms or running small enterprises as “greedy” and “price gougers.”
For those who are concerned about the direction of our economy, this lack of financial and business knowledge of the people running a $7 trillion enterprise in Washington is deeply troubling.
Would you board a plane if neither of the pilots in the cockpit knew how to fly it?
Stephen Moore is a founder of Unleash Prosperity.
Jonathan Decker is a senior fellow at the Parkview Institute.
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