SILER CITY, North Carolina – At the epicenter of President Joe Biden’s promised economic boom, a slow-moving tractor can still stop traffic.
Only 81,000 people live in rural Chatham County, North Carolina. There are 1,076 farms. The old mill now houses a dance studio, a grocery store and a steakhouse. For work, many people have no choice but to head to nearby Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh.
But after years of careful planning, Chatham County began to change.
Wolfspeed’s new factory — six football fields long — overlooks I-64 and will soon produce advanced wafers for computer chips. Automaker Vinfast is also scheduled to open a factory. Both projects largely result from incentives that Biden signed into law.
Developers, including Walt Disney Corp., plan to build several thousand new homes.
“When the right opportunity arose, we were there and ready,” said Greg Lewis, owner of the steakhouse. “It’s growth, growth, growth.”
That same economic story is being replicated in a number of other critical states, including Arizona and Georgia.
But while the kind of enthusiasm expressed by Lewis normally means a strong tailwind for a sitting president, so far this election year there is little evidence from polls that Americans are giving Biden credit for the gains, as voters still focus in inflation which is still rising at 3.4% per year.
Places like Chatham County show how this year’s presidential campaign offers two conflicting visions for America’s economic future.
Voters face a decades-defining choice about what can do more for growth: former President Donald Trump’s preference for targeted tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy or the targeted government investments supported by Biden, as well as possible tax increases. taxes to fund programs for the middle class.
The county supported Biden over Trump in 2020, but is in Rep. Richard Hudson’s solidly Republican congressional district. He voted against the Democratic president’s policies and his office refused to answer questions about whether investments in his district are positive.
How much the influx of money from the federal and private sector affects political dynamics in North Carolina and elsewhere will have a lot to say about who wins November’s presidential election.
Biden is campaigning on how his policies have helped pump hundreds of billions of dollars in private and federal investment into companies, helping to revive the fading computer chip sector and pioneer newer technologies like electric vehicles. , solar panels and artificial intelligence. But so far, the investments have not significantly influenced the public.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, claims that Biden’s ideas would destroy the economy and that EVs will fail against a proven fuel like gasoline. He says corporate tax cuts would do more to boost growth by allowing companies to choose their own path, and a threat of higher tariffs would make them keep their factory jobs inside the United States.
“Would everyone like to buy an electric car?” Trump asked at a recent rally, where he was met with a chorus of “No!”
When Biden spoke at Wolfspeed’s headquarters in Durham last year, he described its chips as not only powering the economy but also protecting it from supply chain disruptions and competition from China.
“It’s a game changer,” he said. “We’re changing things in a big way.”
Wolfspeed’s new factory has begun installing its industrial furnaces that heat up to half solar temperature. The factory is set to begin production by the end of the year, while many of the other government incentives announced across the country are still in the plant or in the construction phase.
Pending administration approval, the company may receive support through tax credits from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It also requested funding through the Department of Commerce as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said the potential for government support has been “very important” as the company has sought to produce more silicon carbide, a material that increases the efficiency of computer chips. He said the material “will lead to one of the most important transitions in the history of semiconductors,” allowing EVs, solar panels, data centers and other technologies such as energy storage to work better.
Even though the company is more focused on its business than electoral politics, the changes in Chatham County go beyond the factory and could be important in November.
People can see the new hotel, the new gas stations and the acres of land set aside for new housing. County Commissioner Karen Howard, a Democrat, said the debate is being forced as Democrats point to what they see as clear evidence that they are keeping their promises. Howard emphasized that the gains came as a result of years of groundwork by county officials for sustainable growth, which was then supplemented by federal policies.
“It seems like Republicans have turned a blind eye to what voters want,” she said. “The tax cuts for the biggest boys in the world never hit the people who are barely getting by.”
Howard said the expected total of 1,800 jobs at the Wolfspeed facility will transform families.
“When we say we are making a generational change for these families, we now have individuals who will earn more than their entire family in a year,” Howard said.
But Republicans in the North Carolina legislature say investments in the state have more to do with their own policies than Biden’s incentives. GOP lawmakers argue that the impact of inflation during Biden’s presidency is more important to voters.
“We lowered taxes, grew the state’s economy and built the best workforce in the country,” said Phil Berger, president pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate. going to the polls.”
Both Trump and Biden have committed to increasing industrial production in the US and making it less dependent on countries like China. So far, the numbers suggest that Biden’s policies have done more for the industry than Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
Census Bureau figures show that the annualized rate of spending on factory construction peaked at $82 billion annually under Trump. Last March, adjusting for inflation, it more than doubled under Biden, to a record $223 billion. The president also created more manufacturing jobs than Trump did before the disruptions caused by the 2020 pandemic.
But that doesn’t mean Biden’s industrial strategy is right.
Chatham County records indicate that Vinfast has reduced the footprint of its electric vehicle factory, with the company saying in a statement that it is “currently reviewing the construction of the factory.”
Government officials say success will require advances to reduce the costs of producing advanced computer chips relative to Asia. More drivers will also need to switch to EVs and reverse the recent slowdown in sales.
Some Republicans see room for both some of Biden’s policies and tax cuts, saying a mix would be the ideal path to success.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted in favor of the CHIPS and Science Act, which funds semiconductor factories. Tillis said after touring the new Wolfspeed factory that the combination of tax incentives and government financial support has been key to attracting new factories.
“Ultimately, it’s the balance that makes the difference,” he said in an interview outside the factory.
As Wolfspeed’s Lowe explained, the chips produced by the company’s factory will help the US compete with China in the electric vehicles, solar panels and artificial intelligence sectors. Turns out he drives an EV made by Lucid that contains chips from his own company, which helps provide an impressive 516 miles of range, enough for him to drive to his hometown in Ohio with a single stop to charge.
The CEO did not speculate on the outcome of the election, but said technologies like silicon carbide represent “a monumental shift in the history of semiconductors” that is helping to remake the economy.
In short, he sees no way back.
“I tell our people this all the time, you know, in 30 years you’re going to look back at this moment and it will be your mission control, Apollo 13 moment where you say, ‘I was there when this technology exchanged.’”
