Dear Editor:
Newly elected President Donald Trump has reached the benchmark of his first 100 days, and it would be enlightening to see how different things might be if Kamala Harris had instead been elected President.
What Trump has delivered (so far) = (T) versus What Kamala offered as an alternative = (K) …
On the economy:
(T) After promising to eliminate inflation, instead Trump’s tariff confusion has not only raised prices on consumer goods so far, they will more than double the price of imported goods (most of what WalMart, etc. has on the shelves) in the future, and his chaotic and contradictory claims about tariffs have caused drastic Stock Market falls, losing over $7 TRILLION in value in just 3 months. By sticking with tariffs, there is no indication that these Stock Market losses or consumer prices will lessen, and this affects any American workers who have 401Ks, mutual funds, or IRAs (their retirement funds decimated). Even if Trump were to simply drop his tariff schemes, he has created INSTABILITY in markets which may never be reversed, since affected countries are forming new alliances with more sane trading partners, like China.
(K) Kamala would have stuck with most of the features of “Bidenomics,” which pulled us out of the Pandemic turndowns in the best shape of any country in the world. Inflation was coming down, and all other leading economic indicators of a good economy … employment, wages, GDP, etc. … were all very much UP.
While both Trump and Biden had high debt and deficits (around $8 trillion each in debt added, 4.5 to 6.5 % of GDP respectively in deficit), the way they got there was quite different. Trump tailored tax cuts to favor the very wealthiest, just as Bush did earlier, and together their tax policy redistributed $10 Trillion out of the economy and into the pockets of the elite (under the “trickle down” theory). Biden, on the other hand, arrived at debt by FIRST having Trump’s tax policies still in effect, and SECOND by having a large stimulus package (in Pandemic response) and by a large investment in infrastructure (which Trump promised but never delivered).
Under Kamala, without tariff nonsense, the Stock Market would have continued on its trend of record highs. On taxes, Kamala pledged to deliver on restoration of the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, expanded social security, adding mortgage assistance for first-time homebuyers, a tax credit for parents of newborns and bans on price gouging at the grocery. All focused on workers and middle-class Americans, not the wealthiest.
On Health Care:
(T) Wanted to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, and new legislation cuts hundreds of billions from Medicare and Medicaid. Trump appointed RFK Jr. as head of America’s health, who has overseen the wholesale gutting of medical research, and is famously anti-Vax and anti-science. Outlawing reproductive rights continues to produce horror stories of women not having access to proper care, of minor victims of rape being forced to carry to term, and being subjected to legal prosecution for things like having a miscarriage.
(K) While Kamala claimed she would not push for a single-payer system, she would support a form of Medicare-for-All that would cover the elderly, youth with disabilities, and the poor. The Biden administration reduced prescription drug costs, capped insulin prices at $35, allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices and capped out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare drug coverage. As AG for CA, Kamala
regularly used anti-trust laws to put pressure on insurers, hospitals and drug companies to address unfair pricing.
On Immigration: There is a fundamental disagreement concerning what immigration means to America.
(T) Immigrants are criminals who take American jobs and suck up tax dollars for their maintenance in programs not available to “real” Americans.
(K) America is a nation of immigrants, and our long history of welcoming immigrants to our shores has greatly contributed to America being the best and strongest nation on earth. While any group will have “bad apples,” the immigrant population on balance works hard, pays taxes, are good neighbors, and are LESS likely to be criminal than the general population. (These are FACTS, not hateful propaganda.)
Next week, let’s compare and contrast what Trump is doing, versus what we might expect Kamala Harris would have done on other issues, such as the Border, Foreign Policy, Law and Order, Public Safety, and the Environment.
Jeff Harrison
Buffalo, Texas
