Trump's Fix for the Economy

Trump / Vance website: donaldjtrump.com/issues/

HERE'S MY TAKE

The Trump-Vance website sites Trump's accomplishments in his first term as president such as a nationwide tax relief plan, doubled the child tax reduction, vastly reduced regulations on businesses. It also mentions 9000 "opportunity zones" for helping to rebuild infrastructure in poor communities. Critics panned it as a great idea but businesses used the tax breaks to build outside the poor areas. The critics say this resulted in tax breaks for the rich.

Drill Baby Drill

Trump has a plan to bring the U.S. back to economic vitality. The Trump-Vance website states in the section Unleash Energy Dominance, "Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, the United States became the number one producer of oil and natural gas on earth, achieving American energy independence and delivering historically low costs for oil, gas, diesel, and electricity to consumers and businesses." Trump promoted and signed the Keystone XL and Dakota Access, pipelines. Trump is in favor of fracking for clean natural gas.

During Joe Biden's first day in office, he canceled the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This resulted in the loss of thousands of (Trump estimated 28,000) high paying energy related jobs. A BBC site states, "A planned 1,179-mile (1,897km) pipeline running from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would join an existing pipe. It could carry 830,000 barrels of oil each day." While in office, Trump issued permits requiring that the steel for the pipeline come only from U.S. factories. This would have resulted in shoring up the U.S. steel industry, again providing enormous numbers of jobs. The Keystone XL pipeline would also reduce U.S. energy dependency on other countries such as Venezuela.

In the meantime, Biden-Harris approved the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany. This is despite bipartisan pushback. Politico reported, "President Joe Biden is facing bipartisan backlash to his administration’s agreement with Germany that allows a controversial Russian natural-gas pipeline to be completed, arguing that the deal is a boon to Moscow at the expense of Ukraine." There were significant geopolitical and environmental concerns with the pipeline. Still President Biden ignored congress and waived many of the sanctions congress wanted. So the Keystone XL pipeline with its tens of thousands of jobs was not OK with Biden but the Nord Stream 2 for Russia was approved despite bipartisan hatred of it from congress. As of September 26, 2022 the attack on Nord Stream 2 had put it in disabled condition, so it may never be used.

In an article on energy the author offers helpful graphs and a slightly left leaning view of the energy debate during Obama, Trump and Biden years. The article states, "Trump has been aggressively pro-fossil fuels in his rhetoric and actions..." Trump leased more land in the Artic, Alaska and Utah for oil drilling. He reduced regulations and sped up environmental reviews. The Biden-Harris administration increased regulations. Trump wants clean air, water, and a clean environment. He also sees that the democratic administrations burden organizations with excessive regulations. With Trump-Vance in office, they will reduced regulations, producing more energy. Fewer regulations with reduce the cost to drill for oil and gas. This will in turn result in lower fuel prices for cars and homes. In addition, it will allow the U.S. to export more energy which will help the U.S. economy, reduce it's debt, provide more good jobs and will economically strengthen the nation.

 

Harris's Fix for the Economy

Harris / Walz website: kamalaharris.com/issues/

HERE'S MY TAKE

Harris is proposing a child tax credit, earned income tax credit, $6000 to families with new born children. She proposes $25,000 to first-time home buyers. She also proposes a "startup expense tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $50,000." She does not explain how she will pay for these expenditures. If passed by congress, these plans will cost tax payers trillions more in borrowing which will get added to the national debt. This will create more chaos in the economy and raise inflation. You can not simply give money away and there not be a cost to someone. The cost is to the tax payers.

Fuzzy Math

I have taken special interest in Robert F. Kennedy Jr especially since he suspended his campaign and came out in support of Trump / Vance. He points out, along with Trump, the corruption at the top of various government agencies. Looking at this report from Fiscal Whistleblowers we see that the CRFB report is fuzzy math by people who want to protect the Biden administration. For irony, notice their title.

Keep in mind, Trump was financially keeping people afloat during COVID, while Biden was on spending sprees and still did not get all that he asked for. In any case, the national deficit is now increasing by a trillion dollars nearly every three months or more precisely every 100 days.

Harris needs to explain how she will pay for her proposals. More expenses without paying for them means more uncontrolled inflation. Trump will focus on reducing the debt by increasing energy production and reducing regulations on businesses. When all businesses do well, so will the economy. People will have more options for good jobs. Workers will be able to excel in an economy that lifts all boats, not just a few that are incentivized to vote for Harris-Walz.

Inflation

Here is what happened during the Biden-Harris administration and the Trump-Pence administration.  A picture is worth a 1000 words.