I thought Trump gave a pep talk last night by envisioning a better day. But steps to getting there are missing.
1) Suggest he actually asks Congress to vote on existing Immigration bills ( offered by a Democrat in 2013 or offered by a Republican in 2016). Allowing the majority of law abiding/working illegals to become legal (I would include voting rights as well) is something we all should agree on - it as well. Pushing the VOICE office (immigrants are on balance ) and re-useing the baiting “radical islamic terrorisim” label (that tone may have got him elected, but is making matters worse) has to end.
2) Suggest that he asks Congress to vote on an Infrastructure Program (about $200B/year for 5 years) and reduce our bloated DoD Budget (by an equal amount).
Why not ask DoD to “do more, with less” as well? Believe me, there is that much waste/profiteering in DoD and Trump has pointed out one such examples (e.g. F-35). Trump's calls for expansion of our nukes (ICBMs, bombers, submarine, and even satellite-based) to make us “top of the pack” is pure lunacy. Nuke reduction is in order.
3) Suggest that he stop calling ObamaCare a “disaster” (that does not help and ignores some good the ACA has accomplished since it’s 2010 enactment - 22 million more insured, rate of health cost increase has declined since 2010). The “disaster” years were 2001-2010.
We need to move to () which will involve a small increase in our payroll tax from 1.45% employee (1.45% employer contribution) to (or we could make it 3.45% for both employee/employer). A 2% personal payroll deduction increase to get complete coverage is a real deal. It hurts primarily the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceuticals and of course it would essentially end the health insurance industry. I know this is unlikely, but we are somewhat behind the rest of the world in quality and waaaay behind in cost efficiency of health care (under our market-based approaches). Radical change is necessary, imo. I for one like my Medicare. It has paid my bills with affordable premiums. One reason is that it has vs the . There are plenty of things government does better and cheaper than for-profit private industry. Health Care should not be a source for profiteering - I've looked at the campus of BCBS Alabama and it is plush to say the least.
4) Suggest that the tax code be simplified giving breaks bottom 2-3 quintiles and increasing taxes on the top quintile. Not what Trump has proposed on income tax.
I hope those middle class voters who thought Trump would be on their side would see the truth of what he is actually proposing. To boot, the economy will be better served by lower/middle class tax cuts than to the rich who tend to squirrel away more. I agree with “dropping" nominal business taxes to about 15% (from 35%) but only if they drop all the loopholes as well (which has kept overall ) .
As far as fact-checking, read . Better than normal for Trump but that bar is quite low.
What did ya’ll think?