Posted on December 10, 2020

One Good Thing Joe Biden Might Do

Chris Roberts, American Renaissance, December 10, 2020

The incoming president may do any number of bad things. But he has one policy worth cautious optimism: The Biden Plan to Ensure the Future Is “Made in All of America.”

The Democrat Party stopped taking its white supporters in the Rust Belt completely for granted after many of them helped elect Donald Trump in 2016. In 2020, Mr. Biden often talked about manufacturing and off-shoring, trying to win support from the largely white working-class in the Midwest. Read these sentences and guess if they are from Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign website or Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign website:

  • [W]hen we spend taxpayer money, we should buy American products and support American jobs.
  • Too often, Buy American operates like a suggestion, not a requirement.
  • [H]e will create millions of new manufacturing and innovation jobs throughout all of America.
  • [W]hen the government is investing in research and development, it should be supporting manufacturing and sourcing in America. No more “invent it here, make it there.”
  • Buy America provisions – which require that all of the steel, iron, and manufactured products used in transportation projects are melted, mined, and manufactured in the U.S. – are critical for the U.S. manufacturing industry.

All five are from Mr. Biden’s website. He also recently promised, “No government contract will be given to companies that don’t make their products in America.” Mr. Trump made similar promises, but rarely delivered. As Julius Krein whote at The American Conservative, “[T]he administration’s actual record on reshoring is little better than mixed. While Trump showed no lack of zeal in imposing tariffs, too often his administration failed to take the necessary steps beyond them to promote domestic investment.”

Let’s hope President Biden does better.

An abandoned facility of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. (Credit Image: stu_spivack via Wikimedia)

Bethlehem_Steel Abandoned

A view of the former Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania. This photo was taken shortly before demolition began to make way for the Sands BethWorks casino project. (Credit Image: Jschnalzer via Wikimedia)

Empty Cargill Superior Elevator

An abandoned Cargill Superior Elevator in Buffalo, New York. (Credit Image: Fortunate4now via Wikimedia)

Aerial view of an abandoned factory outside of Chicago

An abandoned factory outside of Chicago. (Credit Image: © Amazing Aerial via ZUMA Wire)