Biden’s Relationship with Big Business Is Complicated

New York Times: “The president has both courted and pilloried corporate America as he seeks re-election this fall. Corporate leaders have enjoyed record profits on his watch and an open channel with his administration, but they have bristled at some of his biggest policy decisions.”

“There is a certain symbiosis with corporate leaders in much of Mr. Biden’s economic agenda. His industrial policy initiatives depend heavily on corporate tax incentives, which he champions at ribbon-cuttings nationwide: The climate and advanced-manufacturing laws that Mr. Biden signed in 2022 feature large tax cuts for corporations that invest in the production of semiconductors, solar panels and other strategic goods. Republicans have derisively called those incentives ‘corporate welfare.’”

“As he seeks re-election, though, Mr. Biden has leaned heavily into populist attacks on the executives and companies he has engaged. He loves to talk about raising corporate taxes. He has also taken to blaming big companies, sometimes by name, for raising prices on some consumer staples. He blasts others for shrinking portions of snack foods, like candy bars, without cutting their prices.”