A Vote For Trump Is A Vote For Runaway Inflation
To the Editor:
In her letter of August 23, Tiffany Hawley argues that the slogan of the Harris/Walz campaign "We're Not Going Back" is both "angry" and a form of "gaslighting." For purposes of this response, we’ll leave aside the impeachments, the treason, the corruption, the lies, the conspiracy theories, the narcissism, the malevolence, the rape, the 34 felony convictions, the multiple indictments, the repeated assertions that the biggest threat to America comes from other Americans, and the calls for terminating the Constitution. We’ll also pass over the questions of whether it’s wise to entrust your democracy to a man who won’t accept the result of an election, or to entrust your freedom to someone that habitually denigrates our military personnel, our intelligence services and our allies.
Instead, let's focus on Ms Hawley's assertion that grocery prices, gas prices and inflation would be lower if Trump was again President. As a former Wall Street portfolio strategist and investment manager, there's little question that a second Trump administration would pose enormous risks to our economy that would lead to the worst inflationary spiral the nation has experienced since the 1970s.
Why?
First, Mr Trump's plan to increase tariffs by 10% across the board and by 60% on Chinese goods is precisely identical to imposing a huge new federal sales tax on everyday Americans that will cost the average family $1800/year.
Second, Mr Trump's plan to again reduce income taxes for the nation's wealthiest households will again be funded by adding to the federal debt. At the current unemployment rate of 4.1% (lower than the average of the Trump administration), economists almost universally agree that this plan would lead to further inflation.
Third, Mr Trump would also reduce legal immigration at a time when our economy needs additional workers at all skill levels. Labor shortages will result in higher prices for a wide range of goods and services.
Americans will be both safer and better off under a Harris Administration.
Arnie Berman
Sandy Hook
And what did Biden/Harris give us? Runaway inflation and massive spending. Look to your grocery bills and gas fill ups.
Arnie, you fail to mention that accumulated inflation during the Trump presidency was 9% and averaged under 2%, while Biden accumulated inflation was around 20% and averages roughly 4.5%. So Trump did much better on inflation even though he had put his China tariffs in place. Why? !.Drill, baby, drill! Trump understands the power of cheap energy at home and to help our allies. Estimates are that US output would have been 1-3 million barrels per day higher if Trump had remained in office. This alone would have had a massive effect on inflation since so much of our economy is energy dependent. Not deleting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or paying Venezuela for dirtier oil than ours would have been side benefits.
2. Regulation. Do you remember that Trump told his Cabinet members that for every one regulation that they wanted to pass they had to remove ten? Regulation under Biden has exploded and has cost American citizens 2.5 times what it did under Trump ($5,000 vs $2,000).
Democrats keep saying that Trump’s tax cuts only benefited the wealthy. That is a falsehood. 80% of those cuts went to the middleclass and Kamala won’t renew them. Massive tax increases for the middle class will result and the economy will tank!
As for your prediction that Trump would limit immigration, tightening the labor market. Trump would only block illegal immigration while adjusting legal immigration as it is needed by business.
A far more important influence on the job situation is tax policy. Businesses came back to the US when the corporate tax was lowered by Trump. Kamala wants to raise it above China’s and make it the highest in the world! Money goes where it is treated the kindest.
Kamala also wants to increase tax inflation by doubling the capital gains rate and taxing unrealized gains. Taxes on unrealized gains would force small business owners to liquidate part of their businesses every year. Do you support such folly?
If so, you are more Democrat campaign manager than investment manager!
Its pretty silly to me that we keep comparing 4 year terms with Trump and Biden. And then suggesting one would do better than the other. We can examine what these two men might do going forward and what the economic forecast project, but we don’t get a do over on past actions. The fact is the Senate and Congress have more influence than the President, and both bodies haven’t gotten much done over the last decade or two. Term limits might be a good idea.