Trump's plan for fixing our disastrous economy | Eastern North Carolina Now

Randy Desoto, writing at The Western Journal, writes:  President Donald Trump laid out five steps Thursday that he would take to “rapidly defeat” the high level of inflation seen during the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration.

Meanwhile, Harris is proposing doubling down on the very policies that have brought the nation to an economic and fiscal precipice in the first place.

“We delivered an economic miracle, which Kamala and Joe turned into an economic disaster, just like they turned the border, and indeed the whole world, into a catastrophic surrender,” Trump said while speaking to the Economic Club of New York.

He noted there was “virtually no inflation” during his four years in office. When he left in January 2021 inflation was at an annual rate of 1.4 percent.

Prices are up an average of 20 percent since Biden took over and that does not include the increased borrowing costs Americans are experiencing when it comes to their homes, cars and credit card payments.

The Federal Reserve increased interest rates in recent years to combat the inflation brought about by the record federal deficit spending during the current administration.

“My plan will rapidly defeat inflation, quickly bring down prices and reignite explosive economic growth,” Trump asserted.

He listed five steps that he would take to bring down inflation and get the economy growing strongly again.

“First, I will end Kamala Harris’s anti-energy crusade and implement a policy of energy abundance, energy independence, and even energy dominance. We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country, including Russia and Saudi Arabia,” the former president said.

“My plan will cut energy prices in half or more than that within 12 months of taking office. It will be an economic revival of our country like no one has ever seen before. Energy was what caused our problem initially [with inflation]. Energy is going to bring us back,” Trump added.

The Biden-Harris administration greatly restricted oil exploration and drilling on federal lands and offshore immediately after taking office, which included closing down drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. It is believed to have one of the largest oil reserves in the world.

Oil production in the U.S. within the last several months finally reached the same level it was under Trump in 2019, because of these policies, though the need is greater now than in 2019, because the population is millions more.

Advertisement - story continues below

Trump argued if Biden had just kept his policies in place, the United States would be energy dominant and producing four times as much as it is now.

The second way Trump would bring down inflation is to terminate the Green New Deal initiatives enacted under Biden via the Inflation Reduction Act, which are running three times over cost estimates.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, working with the investment firm Goldman Sachs, updated their estimated cost of the IRA’s green initiatives from $385 billion over a 10-year period to in excess of $1 trillion in April 2023.

“Third, I will launch a historic campaign to liberate our economy from crippling regulation,” Trump said. “My first term, I pledged to cut two old regulations for every one new regulation, and we did much better than that, as I’ve said. Yet over the past four years, Kamala has added $6,300 a year in regulatory costs onto the backs of the typical American family.”

“To stop this onslaught at lower prices, I’m pledging today that in my second term, we will eliminate a minimum of 10 old regulations for every one new regulation. We’ll be able to do that quite easily, actually,” he added.

Fourth, Trump will establish a Government Efficiency Commission, which billionaire Elon Musk has agreed to chair.

It will be “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms. We need to do it. Can’t go on the way we are now.”

Musk explained the primary cause of inflation in a post on X last month in response to Harris’ plan to institute communist-style price controls.

“The rise in prices (inflation) is caused by government overspending, which increases the amount of money faster than the increase in goods & services output,” he wrote.

“This is further exacerbated by excess regulation, which prevents the market from solving an unmet need (eg housing in high-demand areas),” Musk added.

The fifth way Trump would tackle inflation is by making the provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, and adding some new reforms to incentivize the domestic manufacturing of goods. The greater the supply of goods, the lower the cost.

“To further support the revival of American manufacturing, my plan calls for expanded R&D tax credits, 100 percent bonus depreciation, expensing for new manufacturing investments, and a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent, solely for companies that make their product in America,” he said.

Meanwhile, Forbes reported that Harris wants to allow key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to expire and raise the corporate income tax rate from 21 to 28 percent, which, when combined with state corporate taxes would make the U.S. among the highest taxed countries in the world for businesses.

That would of course incentivize them to move their operations overseas to lower tax climates.

The best economic path forward to lower inflation is clear: Put Trump back in for a second term.