As we move towards a Republican convention next week that promises to be like none other, two economic analysts say it's time to turn our attention to economic policy.
In today's Wall Street Journal, Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, and Stephen Moore, an economist with the Heritage Foundation, explain why they believe a Donald Trump's economy would beat the heck out of Hillary Clinton's.
While neither agrees with Trump on several important issues (such as immigration), both have signed on as Trump economic advisers. Clinton, they note, would double down on Obama policies (including the ultimate job killer: ObamaCare) that have given us the most anemic recovery in U.S. history.
"What does Mr. Trump offer as an alternative?" they ask and answer:
• The biggest pro-growth tax cut since Ronald Reagan’s 1981 reform. Mr. Trump would simplify the tax code and significantly reduce marginal rates, encouraging investment and economic expansion. His proposed corporate tax rate of 15% would make it easier for American firms to repatriate earnings, bringing capital home and making the U.S. a more hospitable place to invest. Mr. Trump’s tax plan would do more for working-class and middle-class families than any scheme to redistribute income.
Don’t believe the phony claim that it will cost $10 trillion over a decade. As Americans will see when he reveals the entire plan in the next few weeks, any revenue loss would be a fraction of that amount.
• The repeal of ObamaCare, the fastest-growing entitlement program of all. Mr. Trump promises to replace the law with a consumer-choice health plan. He also wants to immediately repeal dozens of President Obama’s antibusiness executive orders.
• A pro-growth energy policy. Mr. Trump wants to employ all of America’s abundant resources—oil, natural gas and coal. His plan could make America the world’s No. 1 energy producer within five years, producing millions of new jobs and trillions of dollars of extra output—along with new royalty payments to the government. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, brags that she would put “a lot of coal miners” out of work.
Both Puzder and Moore are, unlike Trump, ardent free traders, who oppose protectionist tariffs. Nevertheless they believe that having a president who was willing to be a tough negotiator, particularly with countries that manipulate currency and steal our intellectual property, might be beneficial. Recognizing that working class Americans bear the brunt of free trade agreements and toughening thenegotiating process might help restore faith in free trade, they argue.
The flamboyant and unpredictable Trump is also very much the opposite of President Obama, who has spent the last seven plus years stirring up class warfare:
Concern that Mr. Trump is a showman, temperamentally unsuited for the Oval Office, is misplaced. Running a successful business enterprise as CEO is an excellent qualification for the presidency. Mr. Trump has had prolonged success. He didn’t fake that.
We find it refreshing and uplifting that middle-class and working-class voters don’t envy Mr. Trump or view him as an evil rich guy. Rather, they admire his success and want to emulate it.
We don't espouse candidates here at IWF, but we are ierested in comparing their policies.
Thus I urge you to read the Puzder/Moore analysis.