Back in 2008, when I was 18 and registering to vote in my first presidential election, I remember asking my dad which party I should register for. I only vaguely remember the conversation but he said something about not ever being able to vote for a candidate who supported abortion, so I said ok and I registered as a Republican. I've pretty much just voted along party lines ever since then, never really taking the time to learn about politics or figure out what I really believe. This year, I decided it was finally time to figure it all out, especially since I feel like I have been leaning more Democrat as of late. I figured a good way to do it would be to actually READ the party platforms from each party. I know, who does that? Oddly, I'm actually enjoying it and learning tons. I decided to start with the Republican platform, since that is the party I have always thought I was a part of. Conveniently, the GOP decided not to update their 2016 platform, which has made it easy for me to look up whether or not various promises made in it have come to fruition. This first section was the economics part, which I admit is not the most interesting to me. I tried to write a basic outline and then include links to relevant articles discussing what has or hasn't been done by the current administration in those areas. Enjoy!
The Republican Party Platform (2016 – opted not to update for 2020)
1. Preamble
a. America is the best country in the world because we are the example of liberty for the world
b. The Constitution is not flexible and the system of government put in place by it should not change
c. Peace will come from making sure we are strong enough to force peace
d. Want to return decision making to the people
2. Restoring the American Dream
a. Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs
i. -Government can’t create prosperity, it comes from people being self-disciplined and working hard.
ii. Accuses Obama administration of not growing the economy fast enough
1. Pre-corona assessment of how Trump is doing with the economy – not as good as he said he would, and compared to Obama, nothing special. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2020/02/01/trumps-economic-growth-is-slower-than-obamas-last-3-years/#33186b814fed
iii. Slow and steady should not be what we are going for, we should hope for faster growth.
b. Fair and Simple Taxes for Growth
i. Getting taxes right is a big deal in how we can get the economy going well again.
ii. Tax code is too long and confusing
iii. Promise to lower rates that “penalize thrift or discourage investment” change anything that disincentivizes economic growth, eliminate loopholes.
c. Our Tax Principles
i. oppose retroactive taxation
ii. Don’t want to allow judges to order higher taxes
iii. Keep religious organizations, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies tax free
d. A Competitive America
i. High corporate tax rates make it hard to compete overseas and makes them want to take their companies abroad
ii. American companies should be headquartered in America
1. What Trump has done with taxes
a. Reduced corporate tax rates permanently and individual tax rates temporarily
b. removed indivudiaul mandate for health insurance
c. Overall lowered tax rates
d. raised standard deduction
e. expected that when these tax codes expire in 2025, lower income households will pay more in taxes, while the top earners will pay less.
f. https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/trumps-tax-reform-plan-explained/
e. A Winning Trade Policy
i. Reagan Economic Zone
ii. Trade agreements should put America first
iii. Can’t allow China to keep hurting us
iv. Broaden trade agreements with countries that share our values and commitment to fairness.
1. What did Trump Do with Trade Policies?
a. This site seems to go quite in depth, I didn’t spend lots of time on it because this issue isn’t one that matters a whole ton to me. But I have heard that people are overall pleased with the results. Something Trump did well. https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/trump-trade-war-china-date-guide
f. Freeing Financial Markets
i. Dodd-Frank is bad
ii. too much government control over nation’s financial markets
iii. Community banks are closing.
iv. Abolish Consumer Financial Protection bureau
1. What Trump did about Dodd-Frank https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dodd-frank-financial-regulatory-reform-bill.asp
g. Responsible Home Ownership and Rental Opportunities
i. Housing prices are too high and not enough people own their own homes
ii. Scale back federal role in the housing market
iii. promote responsibility on the part of borrowers and lenders
iv. avoid future taxpayer bailouts
v. Reform federal regulations that make it harder to rent buy or sell homes
vi. FHA should not support high income people
vii. End government mandates requiring banks to satisfy lending quotas to specific groups – no discrimination for mortgages
viii. Federal government should not take over zoning decisions in local areas, this destroys self-government of citizens
1. This was an interesting comparison of how Trump and Biden compare on housing plans https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/trump-vs-biden-housing-plans/
a. I’m not a fan of Trump ending the requirement for suburbs to diversify
h. America on the Move
i. Highway Trust fund – don’t give money to mass transit because that is a local problem.
ii. Federal Aviation Administraion reform
iii. Livability Initiative is meant to get people out of their cars
iv. Repeal davis-bacon law
1. What is it? https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/construction
3. Doesn’t look like any move has been made towards repealing it
v. oppose increase in federal gas tax
vi. TSA should not be able to unionize
vii. End federal support for expensive railroad systems
1. Trump administration and transportation https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-18/the-price-of-4-years-of-infrastructure-weeks
i. Building the Future: Technology
i. Want universal broadband coverage
ii. Keep up the space program in order to protect national security interests and foster innovation and competitiveness
j. Building the Future: America’s Electric Grid
i. Make sure everyone has access to electricity
1. Looks like he’s doing that https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2020/08/13/trump-administration-invests-371-million-improve-rural-electric
k. Start-up Century: Small Business and Entrepreneurship
i. Reduce occupational licensing laws that make it hard for people to start entrepreneurial careers
ii. overturn Dodd-Frank
1. Has Trump Been Good for Small Business? https://www.app.com/story/money/business/2019/05/06/small-businesses-under-trump-better-worse-off/3643818002/
l. The Federal Reserve
i. Should be transparent
ii. Annual audit of Federal Reserve’s activities
iii. Set a fixed value for the dollar
1. Seems like the pandemic did what Trump wanted with the reserve. Hard to find info https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/business/economy/fed-powell-trump-mnuchin-response-coronavirus.html
m. Workplace Freedom for a 21st Century Workforce
i. Don’t like most of the Project Labor Agreements
1. What is that? https://www.nrtw.org/what-is-a-project-labor-agreement-and-how-does-it-affect-workers/
ii. Workers should be able to accept raises and rewards without union officials vetoing
iii. unionized workers should know what is happening with union trust funds
iv. Support states in enacting Right-to-Work laws
1. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/04/federal-employees-white-house-memo-028954
2. Seems like he tried but it didn’t work out?
v. call for a national law to protect economic liberty of the modern workforce
vi. Clear nondiscrimination policies make sure employees succeed based only on merit
vii. Endorse employee stock ownership plans
viii. Minimum wage should be handled at state and local level
1. From what I found, it doesn’t look like Trump has done anything about minimum wage, but apparently made a statement last month that he was thinking about potentially increasing it on the federal level.
n. A Federal Workforce Serving the People
i. Federal compensation and benefits are too much
o. Reducing the Federal Debt
i. impose firm caps on future debt
ii. accelerate repayment of debt
iii. spending restraint is necessary
1. Trump has increased the national debt, even if you don’t take the problems with COVID into account
2. https://www.newsweek.com/under-trumps-watch-americas-national-debt-has-increased-66-trillion-1521418
3. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-poised-to-add-more-debt-than-obama-in-first-term
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