Personal Thoughts!

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Some personal thoughts: I seldom write a memo devoted entirely to my own expressions but I wanted to present my thinking regarding Trump's economic and social plans and more broadly speaking, his agenda.  I will begin with a set of questions about what he has proposed doing and ask you to decide whether his ideas and the few actions he has already implemented make sense.

How Trump implements them and to what degree he introduces a more conservative approach than you either have been used to and/or gotten comfortable with and how they may vary from what Obama did or failed to do is another matter.

I will try to organize my presentation in a logical and connected manner but the interrelationships make it somewhat difficult but I will do my best.

I will begin with a series of questions and you decide whether you think they are radical, what Trump proposes makes sense, should be embraced and realistically address the problems we face etc.

a) Is it important for America to become energy independent? If not why?

b) Is it important for America to have protected borders? If not why?

c)  Should any president try and restrict known criminals from entering our nation? If not why?

d) What is our economic/social responsibility to illegal immigrants?

e) Should illegal immigrants be deported and if so would your answer be the same if they had no criminal record beyond illegally entering our country?

f) Does Obama's excessive spending impact Trump's ability to implement his programs? If not why?

g) Will a rise in interest rates cause unwanted inflation ?

h) Are Trump's efforts to impose his will and strong arm corporate decisions wise?

i) Should Trump lower the tax rate, reduce restrictions on repatriation of corporate earnings earned overseas and what kind of tax simplification is desired and most productive?

j) Does education play a part in our economic outlook and, if so, would America be better off if we re-introduced more vocational training courses ?

k) Should Trump encourage foreign companies to invest in America?

l) Do you believe Obamacare should be reformed? Is there any part of Obamacare that should be retained and, if so and it creates significant deficits, how should it be financed?

m) Does it matter if America continues to spend beyond its means? 

n) Do you believe Trump's economic goals  which are intended to expand domestic employment, level the playing field, in terms of world trade, are worthy? Why Not?

o) Is Trump's nationalistic desire to "Make America Great Again" dangerous?  If so why?  Is it realistic to believe Trump will even be allowed to try and make America Great Again?

p) Is law and order important?  Can we remain a united Republic if states and local entities are allowed to defy the federal government ? Is Civil War Two upon us?

q) Why is Trump so hated by the left and name what he has done to deserve the historic resistance to him?

r) Are the tactics of the left to cripple Trump from governing justified and within the bounds of acceptable behaviour

s) Is Trump anti-Semitic and a racist? If so, identify specific, actual examples.

t) Is it already time to impeach Trump and if so, for what? Enforcing current laws?

u) If Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize should not Trump?

v) Should we support civil servants who protect us or attack them because of  the misdeeds of a few?

w) Do Black lives Matter more than the lives of all? Do the thoughts and opinions of others allow to be expressed? Is intimidation preferable to freedom?

x)  Does history prove socialism produces more than capitalism/  If yes, explain.

y)  Has The Democrat Party lost it's moorings? Do political party's matter ? Have  political party's, as Madison said, pose a threat to our Republic's survival?

z) Explain why our nation is so divided and were the '60's the genesis?

Is legally achieving wealth anti-Democratic?  If so why? Is redistribution of wealth going to solve our economic problems or is it a stimulating way to politically appeal to the disgruntled?

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Dick
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Donald Trump firmly believes our nation has drifted, lost its "mojo" and been subjected to much bad energy and work place legislation, lopsided trade agreements and restrictive tax policies.

He is pressing the Republican Congress to reduce tax rates so that corporations will be encourage to repatriate profits earned from their overseas operations. Depending upon the new rate and terms of the tax changes American corporations should bring trillions back to America and begin to re-green our nation.

Tax relief and simplification should also be given concurrently to individuals.  Why?  Because though, personal tax cuts will produce even higher deficits, if they stimulate economic activity the level of tax receipts should rise and partly offset the deficits as well as provide increased consumption which would buttress the case for re-greening which would spread to higher employment and increased tax receipts. What goes around comes around, so to speak.

An economy growing at 3 plus% would more than justify a modest interest rate increase which would help The Fed and drive re-employment. 

There will be conservative Republicans who will be reluctant to vote for legislation which will add to our deficits, particularly in the face of rising interest rates which will result in higher funding costs and sap more capital away from a rising GDP.

Rising rates and a growing economy could also result in a stronger dollar which would cost consumers more and thus dilute benefits derived from tax reductions.  This is an unavoidable loop feed back problem which is virtually impossible to avoid.

Assuming corporations begin rehiring one of the problems corporate managers complain about is the lack of qualified employees.  We have graduated from a muscular labor force to an intellectual one. This circumstance begs the question of whether we need to increase vocational offering as part of America's educational mix. I, for one, believe we have watered down the educational experience and  are cheating our youth and the nation with the wrong type of base education needed by today's competitive demands. We place too much emphasis on higher and costly degrees that leave students with crunching debt and jobs that cannot expunge the cost and leave enough for a decent standard of living.

Obama allowed government loans for education to balloon knowing the tax payer would ultimately be stuck because most students are unable  to meet their loan obligations which now amounts to $1 1/2 trillion.

Trump has engaged in putting pressure on select companies to reduce what he claims are egregious costs incurred by government, ie Air Force One, the F 36 etc.  I understand Trump's desire to set the tone when it comes to government overspending, waste, inefficiency and lack of tough purchase negotiations. That said, Trump cannot possibly, nor should he, negotiate with every company doing business with the government for a variety of reasons. First, the number of negotiations required are impossible to achieve, the savings accomplished send an important message but they also can result in lowered profits that become counterproductive and finally such behaviour distorts th free market.

Trump talks about the fact that America's pharmaceutical discoveries make the entire world healthier. However, he also complains, perhaps justifiably, about drug price increases costing our government untold amounts. Yet, It takes over $2 billion and ten years to develop a new drug and the new drug's cost must recapture the cost of failed drug discoveries.

Yes, the world is partly relieved of developing drugs as long as we do it for them but then they place price restraints on the drugs they buy so they can sell them domestically at subsidized prices. Is this fair and should we do something about this?  

Encouraging foreign companies to locate and produce in America is a no brainer.

All of Trump's talk about raising tariffs may be a good pre-negotiation strategy but I doubt Trump will pursue this tactic aggressively because we know from the first major depression this is a dangerous strategy with ominous consequences.  Let the markets sort things out but re-litigating trade policies that are more balanced is an undertaking I would favor.

Spending on rebuilding our military has a double edge consequence.  Protecting our nation is the president's first responsibility and sends a signal to our allies we are moving away from the self-defeating policies of Obama. That said, it also provides jobs but increases the deficit.

Protecting our borders is another responsibility of any president and comes with a high cost but also has an off set effect because it reduces the monies government  spends on welfare for illegals. There are those who believe we have a moral, as well as a constitutional obligation, to support illegals as if they were legal citizens.  I find the logic of bleeding hearts who embrace this thought borders on economic insanity.  Furthermore, their thinking is anti-thetic to the rule of law which forms the basis of our Republic.

The same goes for those who support sanctuary cities. I would have thought the Civil War we fought resolved the matter of whether we wanted to have a union where the government had certain rights which were sacrosanct and could not be defied by lower state and local governments. The idea of protecting illegals is repugnant enough but doing so when an illegal criminal is protected defies common sense and all morality.

Health care reform is demanded if only because Obamacare has proven so flawed and costly it cannot be sustained.

If we have become a society that truly believes government entitlements come with no cost we are fools and our republic will ultimately go the way of all flesh. Nothing that is unsustainable becomes sustainable because it comes from government.  We The People are the government and we cannot demand of ourselves that which we cannot produce, cannot afford and thus, have no right to have simply because we mistakenly believe we can pass the bill to the next generation forever.  At some point passing the buck ends.

Obama and progressives apparently believe there is no cost America cannot endure and bear. That is fraudulent thinking.  One can argue over the details of Trump's policies but it is insane to embrace views that suggest protecting the nation is old fashion, keeping illegals out and our borders safe is unworthy of a compassionate people, providing health care at a cost that will end our ability to do so is wise and a persuadable option and taxing the fruits of labor to support insanity is a common sense approach.

I understand, as Trump and Congress implement his policies with respect to protecting our nation, changing immigration policies that recognize the consequential reality of having failed to protect our borders, instituting tax and trade policies designed with the nation's economic and employment needs in mind and redesigning a rational and affordable health care program is, not only, critical but also will be heatedly debated.

I defy anyone, however, that believes we can continue to spend our seed corn.

In terms of his social policies, Trump is trying to reunite our nation.  There are those who hate him , who suggest he is an anti-Semite and is racially insensitive. They cite administration appointments, comments taken out of  context and the implementation of policies, some of which were misguided or poorly designed,  to support their beliefs.  Trump entered office as the first president in our history who  had no prior political involvement and/or a prior record of being a public office holder.

Trump's support of the police and other public servants who protect our lives has been attacked as radical because of infractions by some professionals against a class of our society. Their anarchistic response has been  to break our laws and to antagonize in the hope further abuses will occur.  The American family has been broken by misguided policies.  We have entrapped the most deprived in bad education circumstances and allowed their living conditions to be overrun by gangs engaged in wanton murders and dope peddling.  Nothing in Trump's campaign suggest he favors these conditions and supports their continuance. Any argument to the contrary falesely impugns his motives and portrays his words falsely.

Trump wants to return government back to the people.  He wants to bring back the embrace of constitutional government and his first nominee to The Supreme Court is testimony of such.

You may not like Trump because of his personality, you may question his character, you might be turned off by his hair do and speechifying but the initial policies he seeks to implement, in order to redress our failures and decline, I submit,  are legitimate and overdue .

Time will tell whether he can accomplish some of his worthy goals but, I daresay, it will take more than 30 days to undo decades of corrupt and misguided governance.
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