How Kamala Harris Helped Crush San Francisco’s Middle Class

Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris argued that her economic policies would benefit the middle class more than Donald Trump’s. But in San Francisco, where she has been a powerful player for decades as a district attorney, state attorney general and ultimately a senator, it is the middle class itself that is bearing the brunt of the city’s crippling decline at the hands of Democrats.

“There are a lot of budget options,” Dave, who moved here from the East three years ago and works in advertising, told me over lunch. “And of course there are Michelin-starred restaurants on the higher end, but there’s not much in between.”

KAMALA HARRIS’ SAN FRANCISCO IS A DYSTOPIAN NIGHTMARE. IS THIS WHAT SHE HAS PLANS FOR AMERICA?

It’s a dynamic you see all over the city: the most expensive stores, like Armani and Neiman Marcus, have menacing-looking security guards stationed outside their expensive shops, while the cheaper haberdashery stores are at greater risk of shoplifting.

“Just our presence outside keeps them outside,” one guard told me about thieves.

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about her policy platform, including improving the cost of living for all Americans and lowering costs for middle-class families, at the Hendrick Center For Automotive Excellence in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 16, 2024. This is the candidate’s first major policy speech since accepting the Democratic Party nomination. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Fast food restaurants also do not sell condiments, except behind the counter to prevent them from being stolen. Furthermore, a simple breakfast in a restaurant will easily cost you $30 after tax and tip.

At Sutter and Stockton, the dilapidated Starbucks has no chairs, only a few standing tables, presumably because the employees can’t stop the homeless, addicts, or mentally ill from taking them over. Sitting and drinking your coffee at Starbucks is a basic luxury for the middle class all over America, but not here.

At this Starbucks in San Francisco, you can’t even sit down to enjoy your coffee. That’s because homeless people camped out back when there was real furniture. (David Marcus/Fox News Digital)

Across the street, you can see the faint outline of a now-defunct Joseph A Banks store. It was a place where you could buy a nice tie for $60, instead of the $500 you could easily pay at Hermes nearby.

Above Starbucks, Joseph runs a salon. He is also a personal shopper and fashion writer.

“My husband and I pay 50 percent in taxes,” he said when I asked how tight the middle class is here, “and we have a child. It’s very hard.”

He told me that the worsening changes began around the turn of the century and have been accelerating ever since.

In San Francisco, the threshold for middle-class income is nearly $90,000 a year. In the average large U.S. city, it’s about $50,000. In fact, five of the 10 highest thresholds in the country are in Harris’ California.

HARRIS RAISES $12 MILLION AT SAN FRANCISCO FUNDRAISER AS PELOSI DEMANDS VICE PRESIDENT RETURNS

Another woman told me that the secret was working in the public sector.

“The government unions run the city. They get whatever they want, which makes it very difficult to work in the private sector,” she said.

At almost every level, it appears that political and social resources here, including Joseph’s taxes, either benefit the top echelons of the elite, especially the big tech billionaires, or the poor wretches for whom every day some new, foolish, expensive policy is devised that is doomed to fail.

A bright spot for middle-class workers is the tourism industry. There are a shocking number of European tourists here. You can spot them by their strange sneakers, before they start speaking their crazy moon-man languages.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONS

One hotel employee I spoke to, who didn’t want to use his name, told me, “You can make a good living, it’s not that hard.” But to be fair, he was an immigrant from a small, poor town in Mexico, so his definition of “good living” doesn’t exactly match that of the average American.

The sheer number of tourists speaks to the legendary nature of San Francisco, not only in America but throughout the world. There is a romance of the West here that can be mentioned in the same breath as Paris or Venice, but for those who live here, the hard grind is clear and obvious.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This week in Chicago, Harris will argue that she and Democrats can create an “opportunity economy” for the middle class. Well, her track record here in the City by the Bay suggests she could be good for venture capitalists and government workers, but at a crushing cost to most middle-class workers.

If the goal of Harris and her particular brand of California Democrat is to help the middle class, there is no evidence of that in her hometown. The opposite is true. Voters need to ask themselves in this regard how much they want their hometown to become more like San Francisco.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DAVID MARCUS