Gov. Ron DeSantis Vows to End 'Our Economic Malaise'

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced his "Declaration of Economic Independence" during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, vowing to counter China's economic success and end "our economic malaise" if elected president in 2024.

DeSantis said, "The reality is … American families have been saddled with weak economic growth, high prices, the … quality of life has stagnated. Yet we've seen our national debt explode and the Chinese Communist Party continues to eat this country's lunch every single day."

He continued, "Economic policy needs to be focused on making the cost of living more affordable and the American dream more attainable for American working families. And if you don't get that right, you cannot be successful as a country and we cannot allow no longer the failed ruling class in this nation to dictate our nation's policies."

DeSantis said, "We have to defeat those individuals and institutions that have caused our economic malaise. We cannot have policy that kowtows to the largest corporations and Wall Street at the expense of small businesses and average Americans."

The governor's plan includes 10 key pillars, such as "taking back control of our economy from China and restoring our economic sovereignty," as well as "unleashing American energy independence" and "reining in the Federal Reserve."

Later DeSantis in his speech accused "Multinational corporations, particularly big tech companies" of having "seen a massive surge in wealth while selling our assets and outsourcing our industrial base to China."

He continued, "Since 2020, a handful of tech companies have increased their market capitalization by over $6 trillion. That's actually more than our entire nominal GDP has increased over that period of time. That is not a broad-based durable economy."

DeSantis said, "So the elites in this country have failed time and again, they've imposed policies that have proven shortsighted and have proven counterproductive."

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