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It's safe to assume Biden's administration will vastly differ from Trump's

November 13, 2020

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Sandra Salathe

It's no secret President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are vastly different.

They're like night and day. Hot and cold. Sweet and sour.

I could go on. The analogies are endless.

Since the beginning of his campaign, President-elect Joe Biden proved to be a candidate for the American people, while Trump... ehhhh, not so much. If anything, our country is extremely divided thanks to the current president in office. So the likelihood of both administrations being similar are slim to none.

In fact, a Biden administration will vastly differ from Trump's in every way possible. Let's examine some of the ways Biden's administration will exceed Trump's, shall we?

Beating COVID-19

Unless you've been residing under a rock for the past eight months, you've witnessed a front row seat to the current president's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since day one, President Trump has not been the leader this country needs in order to tackle a global health crisis. In early February, Trump already knew how dangerous the Coronavirus pandemic was, but continued downplaying it.

He continued to host large rallies and events, belittled the significance of wearing masks, neglected social distance precautionary measures and urged states to reopen businesses despite an ongoing spike in cases.

Under a Biden administration, things would look extremely different. Throughout all his debates and town hall gatherings, Joe Biden continuously explained his plan to get the virus under control and restore our nation back to some semblance of normalcy. On the Biden and Harris campaign website, the administration lays out a seven plan proposal to tackle COVID-19.

Some key points in the proposal are:

Ensuring all Americans have access to regular, reliable, and free testing
Provide more PPE for medical workers
Evidence-based national guidance for how communities should navigate the pandemic, including reopening plans for schools and businesses
Effective, equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines
Implement mask mandates

Healthcare

Considering Biden was apart of the Obama administration and worked closely with former President Barack Obama to create the Affordable Care Act, it's no surprise the President-elect supports the ACA 100%. Thanks to Obama and Biden, more than 20 million Americans have affordable health insurance under the ACA.

Many Americans no longer have to worry about being denied coverage by an insurance company, or paying higher premiums simply because they have a pre-existing condition – such as cancer or diabetes or mental health problem. Also under the ACA, insurance companies can no longer set annual or lifetime limits on coverage.

However, the ACA has experienced multiple attacks over the past ten years, with Republicans relentlessly trying to chip away at it. And having Trump as president hasn't made the issue better. In fact, Trump continuously tried to sabotage the ACA ever since he arrogantly waltzed through the double doors of the White House.

Under a Biden administration, the President-elect will work hard to protect the ACA and the numerous Americans currently insured under it. In addition to protecting the ACA, Biden plans to expand it as well.

Once in office, Biden plans to provide Americans with an alternative public health insurance option similar to Medicare. Similar to Medicare, the Biden public option will reduce costs for patients by negotiating lower prices from hospitals and other health care providers, according to the Biden-Harris campaign website.

Biden also plans to provide coverage to low-income families, by offering premium-free access to the public option for the 4.9 million individuals who would be eligible for Medicaid. States that have already expanded Medicaid will have the choice of moving the expansion population to the premium-free public option as long as the states continue to pay their current share of the cost of covering those individuals.

According to the Biden-Harris campaign website, "states that have already expanded Medicaid will have the choice of moving the expansion population to the premium-free public option as long as the states continue to pay their current share of the cost of covering those individuals."

For individuals making 138% of the federal poverty level, Biden will ensure all those individuals get covered.

Rebuilding the economy

Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, the unemployment rate is higher than ever. However, our country's economy was already in trouble. It's no secret the Trump Administration prided itself on rewarding wealth over work and corporations over working families.

Although Trump alludes to providing Americans with more job opportunities than ever, the numbers speak for themselves. Under a Biden-Harris administration, the President and Vice President-elect plan to rebuild the economy stronger than ever. They plan to create millions of good-paying jobs and provide the necessary tools and resources to build America back better.

Biden also plans to implement these tactics on Day One, by providing further immediate relief to working families, small businesses, and communities.

Climate change

For four years, the Trump Administration has continuously referred to climate change as an "expensive hoax."

According to Trump: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive," " target="_blank">according to a tweet he sent out in 2012.

Well there you have it, folks. Once again, it's China's fault.

President-elect Joe Biden understands the severity of global warming and is dedicated to addressing it throughout his term in office. Unlike Trump, Biden supports the New Green Deal and understands it's importance for meeting the climate challenges we face. Under a Biden Administration, Biden's goal is to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050.

Biden will also recommit the United States to The Paris Agreement, to which the Trump Administration formally withdrew from early last week. In addition, "Biden will make smart infrastructure investments to rebuild the nation and to ensure that our buildings, water, transportation, and energy infrastructure can withstand the impacts of climate change," according to Biden and Harris' campaign website.

Immigration

What has become Trump's most controversial political stance will be the polar opposite for Biden. Since the beginning of his presidency, Trump has enacted inhumane family separation policies on migrant families who desperately seek safety and a better life. When children are snatched from the embrace of their parents and placed in detention centers resembling cages, that is not only immoral, but an embarrassment to the fabric of our nation.

First and foremost, it's important to understand that the majority of U.S detention centers are located in correctional facilities, which are either operated by the federal government, the state, or a third-party private company. Envision whatever a county jail or prison looks like, and that's essentially what an immigration detention center looks like.

Now imagine placing a helpless child there.

The detention centers are not synonymous to the fantastical "summer camp" environment the Trump Administration would have you believe they are. For the most part, the care an immigrant detainee receives in a U.S detention center is very similar to what a non-immigrant detainee in that same jail would receive. Then again, the standard of care depends on the standard of the detention center.

Under a Biden Administration, that all stops.

Beginning on Day One, Biden plans to reverse Trump's immigration policies by reasserting America's commitment to asylum-seekers and refugees, and modernize America's immigration system. He also plans to implement effective border screening as well as tackle the root causes of irregular migration.

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.