United States | Kamalanomics

Kamala Harris carries the torch, and the burden, of Bidenomics

She aims to build on the president’s social-care agenda while escaping blame for inflation

Vice President Kamala Harris embraces President Joe Biden after a speech in Raleigh, N.C., March 26th 2024
Photograph: AP
|Washington, DC

Pinpointing differences in the economic views of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden is no easy task: the two have promoted the same ideas and touted the same accomplishments for the past three and a half years. But give this to Ms Harris: she seems capable of wrapping their wide set of policies, from semiconductor subsidies to student-debt cancellation, in more attractive packaging than her boss did. Mr Biden called it his “build back better” agenda, a mouthful that never caught on. In recent speeches on economics the backdrop behind Ms Harris has displayed a more elegant phrase: “freedom to thrive”.

Explore more

More from United States

A rubbish skip full of office chairs

Donald Trump goes to war with his employees

The president wants to shrink and remake the civil service

Kash Patel speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington.

Kash Patel is a crackpot

Is he also a menace?


The White House has been fluid on gender for a decade

Trump’s order “restoring biological truth” will not be the last word


A controversial idea to hand even more power to the president

Impoundment is about to come a step closer

Tom Homan, unleashed

America’s new border czar spent decades waiting for a president like Donald Trump