This week, I had the privilege of visiting Charles City County and Henrico County, Virginia, where I met with local leaders to discuss the impact of the Biden-Harris administration’s investments in rural America. 

Rural communities are the backbone of the American economy in ways ranging from food to culture to natural resources. Take agriculture for example: agriculture, food, and related industries make up over 5 percent of our whole economy, and farming itself accounts for 2.6 million jobs. The work of U.S. farmers helps Americans to expend a smaller share of their spending on food than any of G7 country. 

Despite our reliance on our rural communities, too often they are hit the hardest when economic crisis strikes. In previous recessions, rural communities rarely received the full support they needed. 

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Today, we are seeing a strong rural recovery from the pandemic because of President Biden’s focus on the issues these communities face. Before the pandemic, the unemployment rate was nearly 20 percent higher in rural areas than in metro areas. That gap is now eliminated. Not only have rural communities gotten back more jobs than those lost during the pandemic, but jobs are now paying more.

We made a number of investments that have powered the rural recovery. Funded by the American Rescue Plan, the Treasury Department’s $10 billion Homeowner Assistance Fund and $46 billion Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program are delivering assistance to rural residents. For example, in Alabama, the statewide ERA program provides short-term help with rent and utilities to lower-income renters experiencing financial hardship, particularly in the state’s more rural counties. 

Beyond housing, another $20 billion in funds went to rural health care providers, community health centers, and programs for mental health and substance abuse disorders across the country. Moreover, in order to keep the operations of farms going, we devoted $4 billion for purchases of personal protective equipment for farmers and food workers as well as $800 million in direct purchases for food aid programs. These targeted programs came on top of the stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, and expanded child tax credits we provided to all Americans.

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We know our efforts, though, cannot just be about returning to the pre-pandemic status quo. Historically, rural areas have had lower average incomes, higher poverty rates, and lower rates of health insurance coverage. To alleviate these long-term trends, as part of President Biden’s investing in America agenda, we are focused on improving economic opportunity in rural America.

Last August, President Biden signed into law the largest single investment in rural electrification in over eight decades — the Inflation Reduction Act. More than 900 rural electric co-ops that provide power to 32 million Americans can now benefit from direct payments for a dozen clean energy tax credits.

The law also allocates $13 billion in incentives to support rural opportunities in clean energy projects, which will create jobs, spur economic growth, and reach more than 41,500 small businesses and farms. 

In just one year, we have already seen over 200 announced clean energy projects concentrated in communities that have the most to gain. For example, rural Mingo County, West Virginia, where nearly one-third of residents are below the poverty line, is set to host a new clean ammonia production facility – a $3 billion project expected to support 2,000 construction jobs.

President Biden understands that many rural communities need technical assistance to access these historic resources. That is why last year the Biden-Harris administration launched the Rural Partners Network, an all-of-government program that helps rural communities find resources and funding to create jobs, build infrastructure, and support long-term economic stability on their own terms. 

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The Treasury Department is one of over 20 federal agencies and regional commissions supporting the Rural Partners Network and contributing to Rural.gov. The Biden-Harris administration also drew up a Rural Playbook for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help rural communities access infrastructure funding. 

Rural Americans disproportionately lack access to high-speed internet, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $65 billion to create universal access in rural communities. These funds come in addition to Treasury’s $10 billion Capital Projects Fund, which is already delivering high-speed internet to rural communities across the county, such as in Ohio where the state is using more than $75 million to fund last-mile high-speed internet projects serving an estimated 15,000 homes and businesses in rural areas.

While the context of rural America is unique, the challenges these communities face are common across underserved patches of our country. This is why the Treasury Department created a team focused on these challenges – the Equity Hub – led by my colleague Diane Lim. In addition to rural communities, the Equity Hub is helping the Department think about how we can unlock the unrealized potential of underrepresented communities throughout our country. 

For too long, these communities have borne the brunt of recessions and been deprioritized for investment. Moving from recovery to investment, our administration knows that centering equity is not just a moral imperative, but is a policy decision that will drive a stronger economic recovery for all of America.

Wally Adeyemo is Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

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Americans are becoming increasingly comfortable turning to generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help manage their personal finances, according to a new study.

The study by Qualtrics on behalf of Intuit Credit Karma asked Americans about the areas in which generative AI could help them the most, with 40% saying their personal finances, 27% food and nutrition, 27% health, and 21% workplace productivity. 

“Generative AI really helps democratize access to financial help that can be pretty costly otherwise and inaccessible,” Supriya Gupta, vice president of product at Credit Karma, told FOX Business. “A lot of Americans need help on how to manage their finances and to be able to address their unanswered questions on how to manage money, particularly those managing their money on a day-to-day basis where costly financial planners might be out of reach.”

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Gupta noted that the study found that about 38% of consumers surveyed said they have unanswered questions about managing their finances and that 43% would be willing to use generative AI to manage their finances if it would help them eliminate their money problems. That number jumps to 57% among consumers who’ve used generative AI previously.

“One of the things that was very interesting was that consumers who have used generative AI were more likely to use to manage their finances versus not,” Gupta said. “About a third of Americans who’ve used generative AI would actually trust it more than humans to manage their finances.”

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Gupta noted that may be because users familiar with AI tools have seen the power of the tech and can “contextualize why they would have a stronger appetite to use it for their finances since they’ve already interacted with it and see its potential.”

The study found that American consumers are looking for AI to help them meet a variety of financial goals.

“We saw that consumers really wanted help with things like paying down debt, budgeting, managing expenses – also things like saving for retirement and optimizing their savings,” Gupta noted.

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Of the consumers who responded to the survey, 27% said they would use AI to help them pay down debt, 26% to budget and manage expenses, while 25% would use it for retirement planning and savings optimization.

The round-the-clock availability of AI-informed financial advice was a strong draw for consumers surveyed, as 44% liked being able to get questions answered at any time. Another 30% said that they wanted to be able to instantly understand their overall financial position across multiple accounts and types of investments.

Consumers who’ve used AI did flag some issues in the survey, with 27% taking issue with a lack of personalization, 26% concerned about inconsistent quality and 23% bothered by redundancy.

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In terms of establishing trust with the provider of an AI platform, consumers indicated that they want institutions they already interact with such as banks (30%), tech companies (21%) and personal finance apps (20%) to provide an AI-powered financial management tool.

Consumers also said that security and privacy was essential to building that trust, with 37% wanting to ensure the tech is regulated and secure to protect the private personal information, 35% wanting to ensure the data is credible and accurate, and 26% seeking the personalization of advice based on their individual financial situation.

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