UNITED STATES: President Biden delivered remarks on November 1, 2023, in Northfield, MN, where he spoke about his Bidenomics agenda and how it is ensuring that rural Americans do not have to leave their hometowns to find opportunities. He emphasized the need to invest in rural America to create new income streams and markets.
The President also addressed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and thanked the partners in the region, particularly Qatar, for their support in facilitating the departure of American citizens. He expressed his administration’s commitment to working nonstop to get Americans out of Gaza as soon and as safely as possible.
President Biden highlighted the economic practice of trickle-down economics, which he said hit rural America especially hard, hollowing out Main Street and telling farmers the only path to success was to get big or get out. He noted that tax cuts for big corporations encouraged companies to move jobs and production overseas for cheaper labor, undercutting local small businesses.
The President also pointed out that corporations that sell seed, fertilizer, and even farm equipment used their outsized market power to charge farmers and ranchers unfair prices. He said that over the past four decades, America has lost over 400,000 farms, and over 14+ million acres of farmland and that family farms have struggled to make the math work, with the promise of keeping the farm in the family slipping out of reach for so many across America.
President Biden said that his administration is growing an economy from the middle out and bottom up, instead of the top down. He emphasized that when the middle class does well, the poor have a way up, and the wealthy still do very well. He said that when rural America does well when Indian Country does well, we all do well.
The President also spoke about the historic legislation passed by his administration, which has created new and better markets and new income streams so that generations of rural Americans can begin to thrive again. He cited the clean energy initiatives contained in the Inflation Reduction Act, which is investing nearly $20 billion to help farmers and ranchers tackle the climate crisis through climate-smart agriculture and cover crops, nutrient management, prescribed grazing, and storing carbon in the soil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while improving the overall health of the soil and the water.
President Biden said that under his plan, farmers can diversify and earn additional income just by selling into the local markets. He noted that when a farmer sells locally, the farmers can get anything from 50 to 75 cents for their same product, in addition to what they have to do now, depending on one income stream and being at the mercy of the commodity markets and the big corporations.
President Biden said that his Bidenomics agenda is just another way of saying “the American Dream.” He said that his plan is rooted in investing in America and investing in Americans, no matter where they live in rural communities, Tribal communities, suburbs, or cities. He emphasized that a president is supposed to represent all American people, not just some Americans. He urged the country to unite and make sure that those who want to stay on the farm can stay as long as they want because they make a good, decent living.
