The President and Congress make decisions every day that generate national headlines, like the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, it is the decisions that receive little coverage that threaten the very foundation of our economy.

One recent example of this is President Biden’s nomination to serve as comptroller of the currency. Saule Omarova, a radical industry critic who was born and educated in the USSR (on a Lenin Scholarship), favors nationalizing the building and operation of housing in the U.S. through a “National Investment Authority.” She also proposes to end the American banking industry as we know it by nationalizing all deposits with the Federal Reserve.

Far from the “People’s Ledger” as Professor Omarova has tagged her proposal, this would create the “Government’s Purse,” where unelected bureaucrats dole out and control the citizenries’ money.

Another example is President Biden and Treasury Secretary Yellen’s plan to give the IRS authority to demand notice from banks, credit unions, and payment apps like Venmo to report any account with more than $600 in transactions in a given year.

Under this plan, every American with a job could be monitored.

Promoted as a way to close tax loopholes for the rich, this gross violation of personal privacy is yet another left-wing spending exercise. It would net nothing and create significant reductions in generational wealth transference, yet another tax hike on the middle class, and intimidation of gig workers, restaurant workers, and other lower income individuals who are often paid in cash.

Promoted as a way to close tax loopholes for the rich, this gross violation of personal privacy is yet another left-wing spending exercise.

Why? As community banks and credit unions are forced to pay vast sums for new software and the manpower to run it, there is less money available to provide loans to families and small businesses. And let’s not forget the thousands of auditors the IRS would need in order to police all of these transactions.

These ideas would radically alter the U.S. economy, essentially giving the federal government broad control and insight into some of our most basic financial activities, like our checking and savings accounts.

With one-party rule in Washington, the far left is taking steps to centralize our economy under the guise of stimulus and infrastructure bills and heightened oversight on any American with a job.  Far beyond what is broadly accepted as a necessary social safety net, these are the first slippery steps toward the government controlling how we spend and save our money.

Simply put, these ideas are extreme, un-American, and the opposite of how to reverse the uncertain trajectory of job growth we see quarter after quarter.

Rather than cook up ways to put neighborhood banks out of business and tax grandma’s Christmas stocking stuffers, we need a pro-growth economy that encourages innovation, brings the supply chain back into the US, and offers job and educational opportunities for everyone.

This includes passing legislation that ensures that our schools are properly funded and adequately teaching the subjects that will prepare our children for the careers of the 21st century; developing tax policies that incentivize people to follow their dreams and create small businesses that power our communities; and collaborating on thoughtful infrastructure policy that creates jobs and improves and expands our critical needs, instead of a socialist wish list.

Philadelphia’s collar counties, like Montgomery County, are uniquely positioned to reap the benefit of such a pro-growth agenda. Our population size and diversity, geographic location and local infrastructure and resources all lend themselves well to create the perfect environment for innovation and entrepreneurism. This environment could lift countless people into the middle class and beyond. All that is needed is for public policy to orient itself towards promoting economic and job growth, not government growth.

All that is needed is for public policy to orient itself towards promoting economic and job growth, not government growth.

It is time to replace the left’s grip on power in Washington with leaders who understand that capitalism, free markets, and Americans’ entrepreneurial spirit has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system on Earth. Capitalism begets innovation, creates opportunity, dramatically improves human lives, and allows people to create wealth regardless of social status.

The far left has seized on the social upheaval and Covid-created economic woes of recent years to force a breathtaking restructuring of the U.S. economy, quietly chipping away at every American’s freedom, privacy, and pocketbooks. Some of these policies you’ll read about. Some you won’t. All of them, eventually, will negatively affect your life.

Christian Nascimento is a candidate for the U S House of Representatives in Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district. He resides in Montgomery County with his wife and four children and is an executive with the Comcast Corporation.