Biden initially positioned himself as the most moderate of the Democratic candidates in 2020, but he decided he would run as a new FDR after he received the nomination. This was for three reasons: he needed to maintain unity with the left to accomplish the overriding objective of defeating Trump; the pandemic made huge public investments and social programs that would have been unthinkable under normal circumstances plausible, and even inevitable; and the left had learned from the Obama years that it was essential to go big early in order to avoid a sclerotic recovery and increased levels of inequality. In the end, Biden’s efforts to fundamentally reshape the economy failed, due to a lack of votes in the Senate and inflation. He made a difference, particularly with regard to green energy and infrastructure, but he was no FDR.
Harris has shown no inclination to take on the dollar store thus far. Her proposals to juice the economy have been small-bore and targeted at particularly significant voting blocks. Why? Because there is no scenario in which she would have enough votes in Congress to do more than that. This in turn is a reflection of the fact that the electorate, for all of its grumbling, is not violently opposed to the dollar store, which, for all of its shortcomings, does have benefits (low prices for imported consumer goods; high stock values) for the average American.