Which College Degrees Have The Best Return On Investment?
Career prospects, and especially expected lifetime salaries, can be a strong motivator or deterrent in pursuing certain college degrees.
Not all degrees guarantee higher lifetime earnings compared to entering the workforce after high school without a degree – as some degrees may end up costing more than their financial benefits.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu, shows the average return on investment of a degree in the U.S., based on analysis from CollegeNPV of data from the U.S. Department of Education and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The return on investment of a degree is the expected lifetime value of the degree (net of debt) compared to entering the workforce after high school.
STEM Degrees Have The Best Bang For Their Buck
Below, we show the average return on investment of various degrees in the U.S.
Field of Study
Average return on investment
Engineering
$570,616
Computer and Information Sciences
$477,229
Mathematics
$340,875
Engineering Technicians
$311,141
Business
$205,191
Architecture
$196,711
Nursing and Health Professions
$194,756
Physics, Chemistry and Geology
$168,822
Social Sciences
$118,454
Interdisciplinary Studies
$69,656
Biology
$63,913
Agriculture
$59,556
Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender and Group Studies
$42,959
Legal Studies
$38,999
Natural Resources and Conservation
$28,985
Communication and Journalism
$28,654
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement and Firefighting
$27,284
Foreign Languages
$25,750
Public Administration and Social Services
$7,787
Philosophy and Religious Studies
$6,011
History
$4,938
Fitness, Parks and Recreation
-$1,078
Liberal Arts and General Studies
-$13,337
Psychology
-$15,644
Education
-$20,075
Family and Human Sciences
-$24,540
Communications Technologies
-$28,911
English Language
-$39,057
Theology
-$91,749
Visual and Performing Arts
-$104,015
Engineering, computer and information sciences, mathematics, and engineering technician degrees are the most valuable degrees in the U.S. when looking at expected lifetime income minus debt compared to working right after high school without a degree.
As for specific programs, Harvard University’s computer science degree ranks first for ROI, according to CollegeNPV.
Graduates of this program can expect an ROI of over $4 million in their lifetime, with $256,539 in median income and $14,000 in median debt.
On the other end, humanities degrees like visual and performing arts, theology, and English are among the least valuable degrees when looking at lifetime earnings.
With a negative ROI of about $39,000, English language programs have also experienced the greatest decrease in graduates, with 32% fewer students completing these programs compared to 10 years prior.
To learn more about some of the top universities in the U.S., check out this graphic that shows which universities produce the most startup founders.
The most powerful force shaping the future of education is the sharp decline in babies being born in the United States and worldwide. As Americans have fewer children, and fewer children immigrate from abroad, the school-age population will decline dramatically over the next few decades.
The United States has experienced a baby bust once before in the wake of the baby boom in the 1970s and 1980s, which gives us some idea of what to expect. But unlike the previous baby bust, which was a temporary artifact of the boomers ageing out of school, the upcoming decline in school-age population has no end in sight.
We are about to experience a baby bust on steroids. Public school enrollments reached a peak of 50.8 million in 2019 and are projected to drop below 47 million by 2030. But that’s just the start. This year U.S. fertility rates hit an all-time low. Since the smaller number of children born this year will barely be entering school by 2030, the steep decline in school enrollments will accelerate after 2030.
In 20 states, public school enrollments are projected to fall by more than 10 percent by 2031. Almost all of these states with larger enrollment declines are blue states, with Hawaii, California, New Mexico, and New York leading with drops between 19 and 21 percent.
During the previous baby bust, declining school populations forced districts to close schools and layoff teachers. Job insecurity among teachers caused them to flock to teachers’ unions for protection, transforming them from local organizations concentrated in a few big cities into national political powerhouses.
As the share of the population with children in school declined in the 1970s, property tax revolts arose across the country, most notably with Proposition 13 in California in 1978. With access to local property taxes becoming more constrained, school districts turned to the state and federal governments for funds. The teachers’ unions were able to use their increasing membership and political power to get President Carter to create the Department of Education in 1980, gaining an institutional ally in advocating for increased federal funding.
This shift from local property tax to state and federal sources of school funding was successful in reducing the extent of school closures and teacher layoffs, but it made schools more financially vulnerable to future reductions in enrollment. Unlike local property tax, state and federal money is typically allocated to districts on a per pupil basis. If the number of pupils drops, funding is cut by a commensurate amount.
As school enrollments start to plummet, so will their funding. The various tricks that districts have employed in the past to compensate financially are less available to rescue them. Districts might hope that state governments could significantly increase per pupil funding levels to offset enrollment drops, but state budgets are already stretched thin.
This is especially true as the increasing share of the population over the age of 65 places more demands on states to fund healthcare. Given that the number of voters directly benefiting from government-funded healthcare far exceeds those benefiting from government-funded schools, districts should expect little financial relief from state budgets.
The same dynamics will play out at the federal level. School districts might hope that federal spending could bail them out and could point to the fact that, unlike state budgets, the feds need not balance their budgets. But the inflationary surge following the pandemic impressed upon policymakers that even the federal government has limits on what it can spend. And with healthcare, crumbling infrastructure, and a host of other issues all in line for federal bailouts ahead of education, districts should moderate their expectations for financial relief from the federal government.
With a larger and more sustained drop in enrollments coming and with less opportunity for financial rescue, the school closings and teacher layoffs are likely to be much larger than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Education colleges will lose even more enrollment than they already have, and many will have to close their doors. Teachers may turn once again to the unions for protection. But unions cannot expand their geographic scope and will experience a drop in membership as the number of teachers declines, resulting in diminished political power.
The birth dearth will also make adopting important reforms of the education system more challenging in some ways. As we clearly saw in Arizona, expanding school choice is made more politically palatable when state governments are flush with cash and when public schools are overcrowded with growing enrollments.
When schools are filled with students, and districts are at least partially held harmless from the loss of funds as enrollment shifts to private schools, the public school establishment doesn’t fight quite as hard to block new competition from private school choice. Going forward, passing new school choice programs will become more difficult as districts become more desperate to keep every student and every dollar those students generate.
Plummeting fertility rates, however, might provide a new argument for states to adopt choice programs. With fewer people being born, many states may experience shortages of labor, especially outside of the sunbelt where populations are already fleeing. Empowering parents to have more options and control over the education of their children may give states a competitive advantage in attracting or retaining those families and their labor.
This competitive pressure to adopt choice programs is becoming stronger as a critical mass of states have already enacted universal private school choice programs in which every child in the state is eligible to direct government funds or subsidies to their preferred educational setting. Once Texas adopts universal school choice, which appears likely to occur next year, almost 40 percent of all students in the country will be eligible for private school choice.
With many red states still gaining population aboard the choice bandwagon, it will be harder for other states to resist adopting similar universal choice programs. Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wyoming may find it difficult to explain to their voters why they won’t do what Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah have already done. And once almost 20 red states have embraced universal school choice, purple and blue states will feel enormous pressure to do the same or face even larger migrations of families and labor force from their states to others that do empower families with options for educating their children.
In addition, because private choice programs cost significantly less per pupil than do traditional public schools, state policymakers will find the financial savings very attractive. It will allow them to cover those rising healthcare costs and somewhat increase the per pupil funding for students who remain in public schools.
As the economic historian William Fischel observed in his book “Making the Grade,” the ability of American families to move shaped the initial development of the country’s education system. Educational opportunities were an attractive amenity that lured families to relocate to new communities and increase that area’s tax base.
That was why the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set aside a parcel of land in each block for development as an endowment for building a local school, enticing families to move West and settle the Northwest Territory. Similarly, local communities added secondary education to their school districts to complete more effectively in luring families to move to their area.
As Fischel explains it, Tiebout choice, or the competitive market of local governments, produced the education system we now have. But existing arrangements are not set in stone and will continue to be reshaped by competition among local governments. Tiebout choice will soon lead policymakers to offer universal private school choice to attract families and their labor to their state. As birth rates plummet, the competition for that labor will grow more intense, increasing the appeal of adopting policies that empower families with educational options.
Israel Already Requesting A Second THAAD Missile Defense Battery From US
It was only within the past few days that Israeli leaders confirmed a US-supplied THAAD anti-ballistic missile system has become operational on the ground in Israel. This marked a major development which has effectively put American troops directly in harm’s way at a moment Israel is still readying to retaliate against Iran for the Oct.1st ballistic missile attack.
But just after the arrival of the first THAAD (or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), the Israeli government is already requesting that a second one be deployed from the US, according to Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday.
Times of Israel notes that “Each battery consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, radio and radar equipment, and requires 95 soldiers to operate.”
Already some 100 American soldiers are on the ground manning the first THAAD, but a second battery would bring that total to around 200 US soldiers deployed in Israel. There’s as yet been no indication that the Pentagon plans to ship a second battery.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh on Tuesday described that “An advance team of military personnel and some of the initial components needed to operate the missile battery arrived in Israel yesterday [Monday], with additional personnel and components scheduled to arrive in the coming days with a goal of making the THAAD fully capable in the near future.”
“This decision was made as part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months to support the defense of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias,” she continued.
The White House says it has been briefed by the Netanyahu government on what targets in Iran are expected to be hit, as Israel’s retaliation remains imminent. But it seems Tel Aviv is already begging for more and more equipment and missiles from the Pentagon.
“Israel faces a looming shortage of interceptor missiles as it shores up air defenses to protect the country from attacks by Iran and its proxies, according to industry executives, former military officials and analysts,” FT wrote this week.
“The US is racing to help close gaps in Israel’s protective shield, announcing on Sunday the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) antimissile battery, ahead of an expected retaliatory strike from Israel on Iran that risks further regional escalation.”
Israel competing with Zelensky in the “gimme gimme gimme” category. Why can’t we use the missile defense weapons that WE paid for to protect OUR country? https://t.co/aHKdL1ocdY
One analyst and former US senior defense official, Dana Stroul, was cited in the same report as saying that “Israel’s munitions issue is serious.” Stroul, a pro-Israel and anti-Iran hawk, has described that “If Iran responds to an Israel attack [with a massive air strike campaign], and Hizbollah joins in too, Israel air defenses will be stretched.”
Israel is likely to keep asking for more, and despite billions of dollars already pledged – and based on prior patterns – Washington is likely to oblige… just as it’s been doing for the constant similar requests out of Ukraine.
And falling for this particular confidence scheme won’t just cost you, it’ll cost all of us.
I’m an affluent 30-something divorced, white, childless, American woman with multiple postgraduate degrees, and a busy career. I’ve lived abroad in several metropolitan cities and I own my home. According to every single statistic, I should be a J.D. Vance-loathing single cat lady.
I should also really hate Donald Trump. But I don’t.
Lest we forget, the presidency is not a popularity contest. There seems to be some confusion on that front. You aren’t casting a ballot for Prom Queen, you’re voting for the leader of the free world. It’s why that little thing called the Electoral College exists.
I’ve heard other women say they’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris because “she’s more iconic” than Trump. My response: what about inflation, foreign or domestic policy, war, immigration, education, human trafficking, or any other serious issue?
The truth is, if you actually voted for real pro-women policies, you’d vote for Trump.
And the Left knows this.
That’s why the Democratic Party has spent untold millions making Abortion the #1 issue for women. White women alone make up 40% of the electoral vote and 89 million American women total are registered to vote, making us the largest voting bloc in the nation. In 2020, swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania saw women vote at record rates, with Biden winning 57% of female voters.
We hold serious power. Hence why Democrats want to convince women that the unrestricted right to abortion is more important than the right to vote, freedom of speech, or any other right you can think of. Make abortion equalitarian with being female and tell them they are physically under attack by the GOP. Oh, and also by the Supreme Court. We can’t forget them. Democrats have done such a good job with this indoctrination that, in a recent viral video, young women said they would rather have the right to an abortion over the right to vote. What are they teaching girls in schools these days?
Yet even if you’re a passionately pro-choice voter, it’s silly to consider abortion as the critical issue at stake in this election. After all, Trump has already said he doesn’t favor a national abortion ban and that he would veto any such bill. According to KFF, only 14% of American women – or 7% of the American population – have had an abortion at some point in their life, 21% being Black, 19% Hispanic, and 11% White women.
In contrast, 100% of Americans – women included – have to buy food, pay medical bills, and want to know their tax dollars are going to help them in an emergency. Just ask the victims of Hurricane Helene as they were offered a measly $750 after FEMA gave billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars away to noncitizens and foreign countries under the Biden Harris Administration.
We’ve been inundated with the message that voting for an objectively unpopular and recognized failure of a Vice President because she loves abortion, possesses a female reproductive system, and is of minority ethnicity is more important than anything else that matters.
Ladies – don’t be so easily fooled.
Trump’s record speaks for itself and is deserving of closer attention by female voters. The former president approved the largest paid parental leave program in history, guaranteeing 12 weeks of paid leave. He directed more than $200 million per year to technology education grants for women and programs that encouraged STEM careers. He founded the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, the first-ever government program focused on advancing women’s “full and free participation” in the global economy. Trump also shone a spotlight on under-the-radar domestic women’s issues, establishing a task force for missing and murdered Native American women. Under the Trump administration, women’s unemployment reached the lowest level in 67 years and women received over 70% of new jobs.
Last I checked, those policies affect far more than 14% of the female population.
Even Trump recognizes this. He recently observed, “Women want to have safety. They want to have a strong military. They want to have a strong police force… They want to be in their house and they want to be safe. … I hope they like my personality… But to me, it wouldn’t be very important, the personality.”
He’s right. This is not a personality contest. It’s not about which candidate is more “iconic.” It is our duty as citizens to vote for the best policies, laws, and chances for us and our loved ones to thrive for years to come. Women voters are no exception to this rule.
So, from one would-be single cat lady to a nation of others, consider this: voting for the rich white man in this election doesn’t make you evil.
It makes you wise.
Tiffany Marie Brannon is a political strategist and the writer and host of the TMB Problems podcast.
Communism Failure: Cuba Paralyzed By Massive Power Blackout
In a post on X, Cuba’s Ministry of Mines and Energy announced that the nation’s largest power plant has been “completely disconnected,” sparking widespread blackouts across the island. While unsurprising for the Communist-run island nation in the northern Caribbean Sea, it’s a stark warning for all Americans about how Kamala Harris’ proposed Communist policies could rapidly push the US towards third-world conditions if elected next month. We’re halfway there with ten-plus million unvetted illegal aliens roaming America’s city streets.
“Following the unexpected departure of the Antonio Guiteras CTE, the National Electricity System was completely disconnected at 11 a.m. today. The Unión Eléctrica is working on its restoration,” the Ministry of Mines and Energy wrote on X around 1235 ET.
Bloomberg noted that hours before the unexpected failure at the 330-megawatt capacity CTE Antonio Guiteras power plant, the Communist government revealed that it would “paralyze” top industries and divert power for residential customers.
“But the frequency and duration of blackouts has been on the rise, as Cuba’s aging power generators break down and the cash-strapped government struggles to import enough fuel,” the media outlet noted.
Cybersecurity firm Cloudflare showed that internet activity on the island has also plunged due to power outages.
Cuba’s communist regime is undoubtedly at its weakest point in decades. Constant power blackouts and food shortages are merely signs that centrally planned economies don’t function efficiently.
Yet, while Cuba implodes, Kamala Harris has pitched American voters that her proposed Communist-style price control strategy will make them better off if she is elected.
Sorry Democrats. Americans don’t want Chinese-style Communism. Innovation and freedom are okay with them.
Welcome to middle age. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? People in their 40s are still quite young, in their prime working years, and possess the blush of youth that society cherishes.
Your 40s are often a time of peaks: Your career history may be established, your family may be maturing, and you are still full of energy and vitality. However, you aren’t officially “young” anymore. The advancement into your middle ages introduces you to a time when your muscles become harder to maintain without dedicated exercise and when sedentary behavior comes at a higher price.
But don’t let this make you feel old, whippersnapper, because you aren’t. Besides, you can continue to stay strong and energetic with just a little exercise, and I’ve provided some great ones for you to get started.
The key here is maintaining muscle mass and flexibility to counteract the beginning of muscle decline and decreasing joint mobility. At this stage in life, managing stress and finding time to maintain healthy habits amid career and family responsibilities is crucial. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how little time it can take.
I suggest establishing a workout routine with your family and friends to increase socialization and maximize exercise consistency. It may also be helpful to consult your physician to ensure that these exercises are right for you.
5 Key Exercises for Your 40s
1. Plank
The plank is an excellent, classic core strengthening exercise that can be performed nearly anywhere. It’s challenging at first, but progress comes quickly.
Step 1: Assume a prone position on the floor, lying with your chest and stomach downward. Rise onto your elbows while keeping your upper arms straight and at shoulder-width, palms on the floor, head up and facing forward, and your back straight (a straight back is critical).
Step 2: Hold this position for as long as you can, up to 1 minute.
Step 3: Try doing 3 sets for 1 minute each, taking 1 minute of rest between each set. Perform 3 rounds of plank , which counts as 3 sets.
Planks are an excellent exercise on their own but are even better paired with the other exercises.
Modification: You can make planks easier by bringing your forearms or knees to the floor.
Pushups are renowned for their ability to provide an excellent workout in a simple, controlled movement.
Step 1: Start on the floor with your feet together, palms flat on the floor, and arms fully extended. This is the classic starting position for pushups.
Step 2: Lower your body by bending your elbows until you’re almost touching the floor. Keep your back and legs straight as you lower yourself.
Step 3: Push yourself back up to the starting position. This counts as 1 repetition. Aim for 3 sets of 10 repetitions, making adjustments as needed.
Modification: To make this exercise easier, you can keep your knees on the floor and limit how far you bend your elbows and lower your body.
Weighted squats target the legs and gluteal muscles and take the standard bodyweight squat up a notch in both difficulty and benefit.
Step 1: Stand with your arms by your sides and your feet approximately body-width apart. Hold 1 to 2 pounds of weight in each hand. Canned goods work well in this role, but feel free to add weight.
Step 2: Start by slowly squatting down until your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle, then slowly return to standing. Take one to two seconds to move in both directions—don’t rush. As you squat, bring your arms from your sides straight out. This helps with balance and adds intensity. While squatting, push your hips back to prevent your knees from moving past your toes. This helps protect your knees from unnecessary strain and ensures proper alignment.
Step 3: Squatting and rising counts as 1 repetition. Try to perform 3 sets of 12 repetitions.
Modification: If squatting to 90 degrees or rising from it is too much, just do what you can at first.
Coal production in China rose by 4.4% in the year last month to a total 414.46 million tons, government data showed.
The production rate also rose on the month: the August total stood at 396.55 million tons.
The increase followed the end of safety inspections in coal-producing regions and the return of coal-to-chemicals capacity to normal operation after maintenance, Reuters reported.
“Following the end of maintenance on some coal-based methanol, urea, PVC and other chemical capacity, the capacity utilisation rate has gradually increased,” Reuters quoted analysts with Galaxy Futures, a China-based financial services firm, as saying.
Coal production over the first nine months of the year, however, only increased marginally, by 0.6%, to a total of 3.48 billion tons. The output was no doubt affected by safety probes that resulted in substantial reduction in accidents and deaths in coal mines.
Demand for coal was coming mostly from the power generation sector, where coal continues to be king, and heavy industry. Coal-power generation in China rose by 8.9% in September on an annual basis, reaching 545.1 billion kWh, the state statistics agency said.
China’s coal imports also rose in September, to a total of 47.59 million metric tons of coal, a 13% increase from September 2023. The increase in imports was largely driven by a favorable arbitrage between foreign and domestic supply.
The Asian benchmark of coal prices, at Newcastle in Australia, were falling for most of last month. The lowest level in September, at $136.46 per metric ton on September 23, was a 7% decline from the August high of $147.13 per ton, according to Reuters estimates.
Coal accounts for about 60% of China’s generation, despite a surge in hydropower earlier this year after abundant rainfall, which reduced the share of coal in the country’s energy mix. Natural gas, in contrast, accounts for less than 10% of generation.
On July 26, in the aftermath of the Democratic Party’s ruthless midsummer coup of their own democratically elected presidential nominee, this column predicted that the elevation of dimwitted cackler-in-chief Kamala Harris to the party’s presidential slot would “spectacularly backfire.” More specifically, I wrote: “Practically, the path to winning 270 Electoral College votes still runs through the Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is frankly bizarre for Democrats to swap out the man who talks ceaselessly about his hardscrabble Scranton upbringing for a Californian who boasts the most left-wing voting record of any presidential nominee in modern history.”
I’m feeling pretty good these days about that prognosis.
Harris recently campaigned in Erie, Pennsylvania—a crucial regional hub in this election cycle’s most important battleground state. Conspicuously absent from that snoozefest was incumbent Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.). Harris tried to pass off the snub as a nothingburger, suggesting that Casey was doing the more important work of knocking on doors and getting out the vote. This doesn’t pass the laugh test. Facing a spirited challenge from Republican hopeful Dave McCormick, Casey has clearly concluded that Harris’ immense Bay Area lefty baggage—her history of endorsing the Green New Deal, a national fracking ban, and crippling electric vehicle mandates—is an electoral albatross around his neck.
It’s tough to blame Casey. Other vulnerable Senate Democratic incumbents, such as Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), reached the same conclusion a while ago. Such a conclusion makes a great deal of sense: A recent Marist national general election poll, for instance, shows Trump up a whopping 10 points on Harris with registered independents. If that margin ends up being anywhere near accurate, it is extraordinarily difficult to see a scenario in which Trump loses.
Harris has recently been engaging in what the psychology profession calls “projection,” ludicrously criticizing Donald Trump for avoiding the media when it was actually Harris who infamously avoided a single one-on-one sit-down interview for weeks on end following the Biden coup. In reality, Trump recently sat down for two interviews with Time magazine, whose owner is a vocal Harris donor. Harris declined a Time interview nonetheless. Prior to this week’s desperate, last-second change of course, which saw her sit down with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Harris had only deigned to sit down with the most obsequious media imaginable.
One can only wonder how bad the Harris-Walz internal polling must be to impel her to ditch the far-left “Call Her Daddy” podcast and the friendly ladies of “The View” for the considerably more mainstream Baier. Desperate times sure call for desperate measures. Democrats routinely blast Republicans as misogynistic, but their own chronic misandry is so bad that Kamala is apparently considering a sit-down with podcast king Joe Rogan, whose own brand of woke-skeptical irreverence sharply clashes with Harris’ identity politics obsessions and overt race-based pandering. The tables sure have turned. Will the last person hanging around Harris-Walz campaign headquarters please turn off the lights?
Snark aside, this race isn’t over yet. But the Harris-Walz camp cannot possibly be feeling too good right now, either.
Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for their predicament. Throughout this interminable campaign season, they have studiously avoided substantive discussion of the four issues that Americans consistently tell pollsters are most important to them this cycle: the economy, inflation, immigration, and crime. Instead, they have repeatedly attempted to shift the electoral terrain back to the few issues that poll in their favor: namely, abortion and the Jan. 6 jamboree at the Capitol. In this, they have completely failed. The American people still care above all about the same four basic quality-of-life issues that they have cared the most about for years now. It is Democrats’ fault that they are so woefully out of touch with the voters’ sentiments on those issues and that the Biden-Harris administration’s track record polls as poorly as it does.
Perhaps if the Harris-Walz ticket does go down in flames, Democrats will pause and take a long, hard look in the mirror. Perhaps they will recognize that promising late-term abortion is a peculiar way to pander to women, that pledging mass amnesty for illegal aliens is a counterproductive way to pander to Hispanics, and that dangling marijuana legalization is an outright offensive way to pander to Blacks. Perhaps. But if history is any indication, they probably won’t.
***
To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Kamala Harris wants to deprive Americans of the right to choose cars and household appliances. When she claims, as she did at a rally last week in Michigan, that “I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive” she is guilty of two of the Democrats’ most reviled offenses, malinformation (failure to contextualize a statement) and misinformation (lying).
Combating climate by changing infrastructure, consumer goods, and lifestyle is one of Harris’s core values. As recently as this year, the Biden-Harris administration continued to issue regulations and battle in court for the right to reduce consumer options for automobiles and home appliances. Harris favors consumers having choices, just so long as those choices are limited to those she pre-approves.
Then Senator Harris co-sponsored the Senate version of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ Green New Deal. Harris believed that mandating priorities and choices to limit emissions was so important that she advocated ending the filibuster to do so. Harris also co-sponsored the Zero Admissions Vehicles Act to require that all cars be EVs, or otherwise zero-emissions, by 2040. When she ran for president in 2019, she issued a plan to phase out new gas-powered cars even sooner – by 2035.
In April 2023, the Biden-Harris administration proposed rules that would ensure that EVs accounted for about 67 percent of all new car sales by 2032 (just eight years from now). After objections from nearly every sector and region of the country, the EPA issued final rules on March 20 of this year that require from 31 percent to 44 percent of new cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks manufactured in 2027 be EVs, with the final percentage to be based on emissions from other vehicles. The EPA rules require that by 2032, EVs account for at least 56 percent of new car sales, and at least another 13 percent be hybrids, leaving not more than 31% as gas powered.
In 2023, EVs accounted for only 7.6 percent of new car sales. That is because, despite subsidies and massive pressure from government and the Left, consumers dislike EVs. EVs have limited range, particularly in the cold. They take a long time to charge, and it is difficult for those who live in apartments to do so. They are costly. EVs may not even be particularly good for the environment once the electrical grid and generating capacity are expanded to support mandates, and disposal of lithium ion batteries is considered. It also is unlikely the U.S. could have sufficient generating capacity without brownouts, blackouts, and other conservation measures.
EV mandates imperil national security by replacing fossil fuels, in which the U.S. is the world leader, with minerals found in China. China also is the low cost manufacturer of EVs, meaning that EV mandates will send American jobs and profits to China.
Energy expert Mark P. Mills warns that “All the world’s mines, both currently operating and planned, can supply only a small fraction of the… increase in various minerals that will be needed to meet the wildly ambitious EV goals,” while the UN Trade Development Agency advises there will be considerable shortages in lithium, cobalt, and copper if EV requirements are not slowed.
The strong disfavor in which consumers hold EVs is seen in two numbers. As Fortune observed, “no one wants to buy used EVs,” destroying resale value, and second, EVs are the least likely cars to be stolen. Numerous major automobile manufacturers are cutting EV production targets, and earlier this year Hertz announced that it was disposing of a third of its almost new EV fleet. The 2024 Deloitte Global Automotive Consumer Study found that EVs were never very popular among consumers, and familiarity is breeding contempt, with a 9% increase in the popularity of gas powered cars. A Gallup survey in April found that among Democrats who don’t yet own an EV, the percent saying they would never purchase an EV rose 10 points, compared to a year ago.
Harris not only wants to deprive Americans of the opportunity to choose gas-powered cars and most hybrids, but she also supports the Green New Deal’s goal of prohibiting sales of home appliances that do not meet draconian emissions standards. To date, the Biden-Harris administration has sought to take off the market most home dishwashers, heaters, air conditioners, and gas stoves. A federal appeals court struck down the Department of Energy’s action targeting dishwashers.
In May, the House passed the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act on a bipartisan basis. That bill is intended to restrain the administration from banning home appliances that run on natural gas.
Next time Kamala Harris claims that she won’t tell you what to buy, just keep in mind that she intends to eliminate most options, leaving you with a Hobson’s choice of poorly performing alternatives.
Kenin M. Spivak is founder and chairman of SMI Group LLC, an international consulting firm and investment bank. He is the author of fiction and non-fiction books and a frequent speaker and contributor to media, including The American Mind, National Review, the National Association of Scholars, television, radio, and podcasts.
Pro-Crypto Orgs Dominate Megadonors To US Presidential Election
As the 2024 election approaches, organizations are pouring millions of dollars in to support their party of choice, or in some cases, bipartisan groups that bolster their industry.
Using data from the Federal Election Commission for the period January 1, 2023 to August 20, 2024, The Washington Post compiled the 50 top organization donors and where they spent their money. This chart, via Visual Capitalist’s Julie Peasley, maps the top 10.
Megadonors Supporting Bipartisan Groups
Crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple gave the majority of their donations to Fairshake, a super political action committee (PAC) that supports campaigns of crypto-friendly congressional candidates. Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm, also supported Fairshake.
Contributions from these three megadonors totaled $180.1 million.
Megadonors Supporting Partisan Groups
The majority of the donations went to partisan groups.
The largest contributors to Republican organizations include the Empower Parents PAC and Koch Industries. The notable donations made by these firms went to Never Back Down Inc. ($82.5 million from Empower Parents PAC), Americans for Prosperity Action, Congressional Leadership Fund, and Senate Leadership Fund.
Conversely, the remaining five of the top 10 megadonors supported Democratic groups. The most significant recipients were Democracy PAC, which received $60.0 million from Fund for Policy Reform, and Future Forward PAC, which received $55.9 million from Future Forward USA Action.
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