Thursday, August 04, 2016

A fair person who will not hesitate to act is one of Donald Trump's greatest assets

As a political outsider and successful businessman, Donald J. Trump is the best choice for president amongst all the leading contenders. His energy and optimism for our future as well as his platform and policy measures not only will convince more voters to tally their vote for his candidacy, but will guide our nation back to a fuller recovery and greater prosperity for everyone without the need for false hope. He has personality and gravitas, and uses it in effective ways to attack his competitors in ways that sometimes has even them apologizing. Many in the press are appalled and enthralled by his personality at the same time, almost like a love-hate relationship. He uses this popularity to effectively garner more support without the need to spend a lot on his own for advertising, the media provides much air time in interviews far beyond the others.

In order to predict the future, sometimes it is necessary to look to the past, to learn effective lessons. When we look at all the recent examples of popular presidents, we see of course President Obama, who's sheer personality and magnetism, and message of hope and change propelled him to the presidency. He has steered a steady course of government programs like the ACA which provides health care for 8 million individuals in 2014 (*1)., Under Obama's administration the economy has avoided deep recessions, although some critics say the economic growth is anemic(*2). More importantly, many of the of his economic growth figures are artificial because his administration relies on the Federal Reserve (Quantitative Easing or QE) to print money which in turn it uses to buy stocks and bonds, which artificially pushes up the prices of Stocks even though many companies have not shown fundamentals that would usually be the gauge for stock increases(*3).  

All of these actions by the government to artificially keep interest rates low and inflate stocks adds to the bottom line of the rich and big corporations at the expense of the middle class and small business (*4). The numbers released by his Bureau of Labor Statistics on unemployment are accurate but misleading, because it does not show the number of people out of the labor force at a record 94 million Americans and the labor force participation rate stayed stuck at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low(*5). And a significant increase, 21.3 percent of the U.S. population participates in government assistance programs each month under Obama(*6). 

These economic factors are exactly the kind of thing that were tackled quite differently under another President from the past: President Reagan. His economic policy was different in that he spurred economic growth in a dynamic economy by reducing the rate of taxation, simplifying the tax code(*7). As a result, income tax revenue to the government grew by 58% under his two terms(*8), and continued to spur growth well beyond his presidency. Although Reagan helped the economy, he was stymied by congress and the bureaucracy in actually limiting the size and rapid growth of government (*9).

What happened afterward? Congress came back years later, re-complicated the tax code by making it complex again to the point that the average American can't even do their own tax return(*10)(*11). Burdens on small business increased to this day such that small business can't compete or find it too costly because of over-regulation(*12). Today there exists a culture many term Crony-Capitalism, where big corporations are in bed with the government(*13) and this form of soft tyranny in the form of high taxes and regulations that proliferates and benefits a small few at the top of the income spectrum(*14). 

The poor have been helped with government handouts, yet what they really need is a hand up, not a hand out(*15). The free market is where they should look so that they have more opportunities to provide for themselves. This is the American way of those who founded this nation, this is the way we need to fully recover into the future.  Many jobs were lost and never return because of the loss of many small businesses(*16). It is only the hand of government preventing a bigger recovery.(*7)

Donald Trump has tapped into two aspects of history in his quest for office.  First, just like President Obama, he is appealing to many across America for a kind of hope and change, yet not in terms of what government can do for you, but rather for what we all can do for ourselves, after the burdensome hand of government is taken from the the picture. In his own words: "Any system that penalizes success and accomplishment is wrong. Any system that discourages work, discourages productivity, discourages economic progress, is wrong. If, on the other hand, you reduce tax rates and allow people to spend or save more of what they earn, they'll be more industrious; they'll have more incentive to work hard, and money they earn will add fuel to the great economic machine that energizes our national progress. The result: more prosperity for all—and more revenue for government."(*17)

Much like Reagan before, Trump is promising to reduce regulation and taxation and bring back jobs(*18). He's promised to bring back jobs from other countries, and in some cases will employ tough negotiating tactics to convince other countries to do better trade deals and prevent big American corporations from moving manufacturing abroad(*19). How do we know he is good at this: He's done in in the free market. By reading a largely instructive book he has written years ago called "The Art of the Deal"(*20) we can glean a large degree of the tactics he will leverage this time to benefit the American people. He's done it and now promises to do so as the president and on our behalf. 

Trumps is propelled to the top of the polls because many see him as a political outsider. Many are fed up with both parties in our two party system.(*21) The so-called "Inside the Beltway" politicians (meaning Washington D.C.) seem to many in the heartland as spending so long in Washington that they have lost touch with the average American(*22). They see these ruling class establishment politicians as more concerned with promoting their own careers and agendas than with helping their constituents.(*23) Many are in Washington for years and decades. Without term limits, they use the power of incumbency to easily get re-elected. It seems to have come to a boiling point where now the outsider seems to have the best chance, especially with fly-over country which often supports the Republican party, but now seems to be looking for outsiders like Trump and Ben Carson. 

However Donald Trump has the edge over Mr. Carson. He's good at making deals(*20). He claims, and many believe that this will help are economy,(*18) and the economy is first and foremost, for without that we won't be able to afford anything else. An advisor to President Clinton in his campaign once said: "It's the economy stupid."(*24) That rang true with the voters, and will do so again in the upcoming presidential year. The idea that we must and will concentrate of finding the best ways to promote the economy seems to be the theme that will carry any campaign in the current economic climate. What no politician inside the beltway will tell you is that actually getting government out of the way that will create the greatest growth. This is the theme that political outsider Donald Trump is running on.(*25)

Trump first propelled himself in popularity by discussing a subject that has been taboo to others in Washington: Illegal immigration. As Trump puts it, he is all for 'legal' immigration, but as we do have laws set in stone in this country, we should abide by them and prevent people from entering this country without a proper green card and permission to do so. As a consequence to this, much violent crime has accompanies the advent of these undocumented illegal immigrants, and the current administration and congress refuses to follow the law and deport those who are not here legally. This may seem a cruel position, to send people packing, but following the law blindly is a foundation with which this country was founded. Mr. Trump has also stated that he is willing to allow the best and the brightest and the most willing to do honest work the opportunity to return 'legally' to the U.S.A., but it must be done legally. (*26)

This platform is only his. He brought it up, and it has broad appeal. Some are turned off on the idea, but a plurality of Americans support this stance. A plurality of Americans support enforcing the laws of immigration that are on the books: "A 58 percent majority says the United States needs to enforce the current laws, while 34 percent think the country's immigration laws need to be completely overhauled."(*27).  Other countries, Mexico included, have much stricter immigration laws. If you enter Mexico illegally, they will enforce their laws without hesitation(*28). Being an adult means facing difficult issues. This is difficult because it seems cruel, but in reality being returned the country of origin is not at all cruel, and one has the right to apply for entry with a legal green-card.  The benefit of his stance is that we will effectively deal with much violent crime that has entered our country because of illegal immigration.

Having a broad appeal, and being a fair person who will not hesitate to act are Donald Trump's greatest assets. He's not a waffler, he doesn't stick his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing before he decides to act. He acts and will based on the greatest benefit to those he represents, whether in business, or on behalf of the American public. He will make a great president.














(14). http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/03/the-rich-get-richer-obama-style-crony-capitalism.html



(17). Donald J. Trump, "Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again" 2011


(19). From many of his campaign appearances.





(24). Bill Clinton adviser James Carville -- http://www.iop.harvard.edu/it's-economy-stupid-2





Note: This is the quote for citation 7, it IS a simplification of the tax code. Not only that, but it shows that after Reagan the tax code became higher and more complex again::

Some of the laws major achievements were:

  • The reduction of the top marginal individual income tax rate from 50 percent to 28 percent
  • A reduction of the corporate income tax rate from 46 percent to 34 percent
  • Reducing the total number of income brackets from 14 to 2

While Reagan achieved a significant victory with his reforms, they did not far outlive his presidency. Starting with President H.W. Bush, the top marginal tax rate was raised from 28 percent to 31 percent. President Clinton took it a step further raising the top rate to 39.6 percent. After a brief stint at 35 percent under President George W. Bush, President Obama returned the rate to 39.6 percent.


posted by Mr. Punky Kitten @ 12:46 PM   0 comments

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