SAN FRANCISCO—Should workers beware? Some 88 present and former corporate CEOs signed a letter endorsing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president. They say she’d bring stability and promote “a sound business environment,” and that’s good for…well, for them.
That’s not to say that such backing automatically disqualifies Harris from workers’ support. Far from it.
After all, these CEOs are out in the open—unlike the corporate cabal of fossil fuel company chieftains who met behind closed doors with Harris’s Republican foe, convicted felon and serial criminal Donald Trump.
And the CEOs backing Harris and backing Trump combined have less high-powered wattage with voters than pop and rock superstar Taylor Swift.
Less than a day after the Harris-Donald Trump debate, Swift backed Harris and added a voter registration link to her posting. It drew 340,000 visitors in its first 24 hours.
“I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” said Swift. The singer, who just—again—walked away with a carload of music awards, called Harris “a steady-handed, gifted leader.” Swift added: “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
But back to the moguls’ endorsements.
Trump offered the fossil fuel tycoons, including one CEO whom the federal government just threw out of the oil industry for worldwide price-rigging, complete deregulation, and even more tax breaks if they would dump a billion dollars into his campaign.
“Drill, baby, drill, if you give me the dough” was Trump’s message to the oilmen.
And now Trump’s enlisted notorious tycoon and labor law-breaker Elon Musk, who’s pledged to give Trump’s campaign $45 million a month, to head a planned Trump White House commission on “government efficiency.” One guess who the target of that panel would be.
Workers must be prepared
But disclosure of the letter does make the point that workers, while campaigning enthusiastically for the ticket of Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz against “weird” Trump and Sen. J.D. “Childless Cat Lady” Vance, R-Ohio, must be prepared to hold the two Democrats accountable, and strongly push workers’ causes, should Harris and Walz win in November.
“We endorse Kamala Harris’s election as president of the United States,” their letter opens. “Her election is the best way to support the continued strength, security, and reliability of our democracy and economy. With Kamala Harris in the White House, the business community can be confident it will have a president who wants American industries to thrive.
“As a partner to President Biden, Vice President Harris has a strong record of advancing actions to spur business investment in the United States and ensure American businesses can compete and win in the global market. She will continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment, and she will strive to give every American the opportunity to pursue the American dream.”
The list of corporate honchos backing Harris is heavy with Californians, which is no great surprise. The late Rep. Tony Coelho, a Silicon Valley Democrat, forged the link between the party and the corporate class, especially Hollywood studio chiefs, Silicon Valley heads, and even some Wall Streeters. There are at least a dozen investment bankers on the endorsement letter for Harris.
Before becoming Joe Biden’s vice president, Harris was San Francisco’s DA, the state’s Attorney General, and one of its two U.S. senators. She knows these folks. Even so, on the campaign trail, Harris touts her forays against them.
One is beating big banks who used the excuse of the coronavirus plague to foreclose on homeowners behind on mortgage payments, even those with repayment plans. Another is prosecuting for-profit colleges that took their students’ federal student loan money and then went broke, leaving students with incomplete courses, unrecognized diplomas, and mountains of debt. Trump’s name was on one such diploma mill that flopped. The students sued him and won.
But workers should be wary because signers of the letter endorsing Harris include at least two former CEOs—ex-Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Michael Blumenthal—who were top investment bankers before serving Democratic presidents. And a third former Treasury Secretary on the letter, Democrat Larry Summers, is a particular piece of work as far as workers are concerned.
At the height of inflation two years ago, Summers gave the London School of Economics “a back-of-the-envelope calculation” that “We need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation. In other words, we need two years of 7.5 percent unemployment or five years of 6 percent unemployment or one year of 10 percent unemployment.” So much for predictions. Joblessness and inflation are each around 4 percent.
Harris endorsers also include entrepreneur and former Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner Mark Cuban, who tweeted his own extra praise: “She is pro-business, going center 100 percent.”
The pro-Harris signers also include some progressives. One is former pro basketball superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson, now an entrepreneur who specializes in bringing new businesses and jobs to underserved areas.
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