Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump flew to North Carolina last week to deliver what were billed as major speeches on the economy. Neither laid out a comprehensive policy plan – not Harris in her half-hour focus on housing, groceries and prescription drugs, nor Trump in 80 minutes of sprinkling various proposals among musings about dangerous immigrants.

But in their own ways, both candidates sent voters clear and important messages about their economic visions. Each embraced a vision of a powerful federal government, using its muscle to intervene in markets in pursuit of a stronger and more prosperous economy.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have unveiled contrasting visions of how they will manage the economy. Credit: AP

They just disagreed, almost entirely, on when and how that power should be used.

In Raleigh on Friday, Harris began to put her own stamp on the brand of progressive economics that has come to dominate Democratic politics over the past decade. That economic thinking embraces the idea that the federal government must act aggressively to foster competition and correct distortions in private markets.

The approach seeks large tax increases on corporations and high earners, to fund assistance for low-income and middle-class workers who are struggling to build wealth for themselves and their children. At the same time, it provides big tax breaks to companies engaged in what Harris and other progressives see as delivering great economic benefit – like manufacturing technologies needed to fight global warming or building affordable housing.

That philosophy animated the policy agenda that Harris unveiled Friday. She pledged to send up to $US25,000 ($37,570) in down-payment assistance to every first-time homebuyer over four years while........

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