Getting Down to Business

I thought that Kamala Harris gave an excellent economic speech yesterday at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh.  It had specific proposals, though wasn't burdened down by them, mostly giving her view of dealing with the economy, from the perspective of the middle class (what she called an "Opportunity Economy.")  Among her specifics were programs to help provide opportunities with more substantial small business loans than exist now and a streamlined process for receiving them.  Also, focusing on emerging technologies so that the United States could be in a leading position in them over the next decades.  One thing that stood out in her speech was noting how the Empire State Building was built in a year, and that the Pentagon was built in just 16 months.  The point she was making was that the country has a history of being able to make things fast, and there's no reason we can't keep doing that again.

Nicolle Wallace’s panel on MSNBC was enthusiastic about the speech, ncluding conservative (though a “Never Trumper”) head  of the Bulwark, Sarah Longwell.  And the panelists particularly like that she gave enough specifics to be satisfying, but didn't get bogged with with a laundry list of too many details.  As they noted, no one is listening for (or will remember) Bullet Point #7 of a 12-Point Plan.

However, as good and important as the speech was, I spent a lot of the afternoon writing to friends about the interview Nicolle Wallace did afterwards with Mark Cuban who was at the Economic Council event (perhaps, not just being a billionaire and interested in such things, but also because he's from Pittsburgh.  I also have a feeling that he was an invited guest by the Harris Team, because he's been an effective and outspoken advocate. 

Cuban was superb.  In fact, afterwards, Sarah Longwell was almost bouncing in her seat and said that Cuban got her so inspired she almost felt like running through a wall.

I was going to go into detail about how Mark Cuban presented his thoughts, along with his comparisons of how both Harris and Trump are campaigning, which he explains on a totally different level than most analysts, looking at it as a businessman, and his conversations with Trump in the past and what moved his from accepting certain things about Trump when he first became a candidate to changing his support.  But happily, I found the 10-minute conversation, and Cuban's enthusiasm is something I wouldn't have been able to capture. 

I hope you watch the interview, it's worth it.