It’s no surprise that only 36 percent of Americans approve of President Biden’s handling of the U.S. economy. Inflation remains high, homeownership out of reach for many, more people are working multiple jobs to support their families, and household debt is climbing, while savings have dwindled.
It doesn’t take a political science degree to recognize that the simplest pathway for a Republican candidate in 2024 is reversing “Bidenomics.” Yet some of the GOP candidates are instead mimicking some of his biggest mistakes and doubling down with political attacks on the single-biggest driver of economic growth: America’s most successful tech companies.
Flashback to February 2020, just before the pandemic hit. The stock market was booming. American’s 401(k)s were flush with cash. Household incomes — particularly on the lower rungs of the economic ladder — had made meaningful gains.
Amid the boom, President Trump dutifully noted:
“For 144 days, we set a record stock market. It means 401(k)s, it means jobs. Four trillion dollar companies: Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft…You have MAGA. The trillion dollar club.”
My former colleague Phil Kerpen elaborated:
“These four companies account for about 16% of the total value of the S&P 500. Tack on $600 billion Facebook and the MAGA Five account for more than 18% of the index — nearly a fifth of the value of those popular funds in 401(k) accounts the president was referring to.
The two largest MAGA companies — Apple and Microsoft — are each at $1.4 trillion, larger than four entire sectors.
Since Trump was elected, the S&P 500 is up 58% — but the MAGA Five are up 141.9% while the other 495 companies are up only 44.5%, according to Strategas Research Partners”.
Any candidate seeking the GOP nomination should want America’s tech companies to be the biggest and best in the world. It shouldn’t need to be said. This critical industry — spanning from smartphones to artificial intelligence, to virtual reality, and so much more — will quite literally determine whether or not America’s economy remains the most competitive in the world.
The competition that America’s big tech companies face from China is only getting more intense by the day. Consider the rise of TikTok, and its nearly 100 million users here in the United States.
The Biden Administration made matters worse by appointing Lina Khan, undoubtedly the most radical of his unelected bureaucrats, to lead the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Khan, who has never seen a “big” business she didn’t like, has since waged war on each of our home grown success stories with an eye towards breaking them up, and handing America’s technological competitiveness over to China.
This isn’t at all to dismiss the concerns that conservatives have with Big Tech companies, particularly on issues such as censorship.
But let’s remember that companies such as X (formerly Twitter), which took significant flack for alleged suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, only did so after the FBI began (figuratively, at least) knocking on their door. Is Twitter really to be blamed for complying — or is the real problem that the government began meddling in its business in the first place? Either way, under Elon Musk, X has addressed many of the concerns about its practices.
Most GOP constituents understand this. A new poll of New Hampshire primary voters indicated that only 4 percent viewed breaking up Big Tech companies as their top concern — and 72 percent of voters disapproved of Biden’s attempts to break up these companies.
Conservatives aren’t giving Big Tech companies a pass on censorship — but they recognize that adding the government to their board room isn’t the solution either.
The candidates seeking the Republican nomination should take note. To reignite another stock market boom, don’t mimic Joe Biden’s failed policies.
Jon Decker is president of the Viante Foundation.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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