We have two very recent, polar-opposite visual aides on how government should approach policy – so as to elicit private sector growth.
We have Barack Obama’s government-centric, high-tax-and-regulations, government-money-“Stimulus,” Socialism model.
And we have Donald Trump’s private-sector-centric, low-tax-and-regulations, “Let the producers keep their coin and keep producing,” Capitalism model.
The numbers are in – and they ain’t great for Obama and the Demcorats’ Socialism. Shocker, I know.
We only had a preceding century’s worth of Socialism failure visual aides at which to look. It’s really surprising Obama’s redux – failed just as utterly.
Just about the first thing Obama did – was sign an $878 billion “Stimulus” bill. Passed to have the government massively spend – to allegedly stimulate private sector growth.
Meaning government took nearly a trillion dollars of additional money away from productive people. Thereby handing it to the world’s least productive people – government bureaucrats.
By the way: That additional trillion-dollar-per-annum in spending – was then built into the annual federal government budget. Because Congress for years stopped passing budgets – we operated on serial Continuing Resolutions (CRs). Which inherently built-in the new additional spending – in perpetuity.
So we really have now had almost TEN TRILLION DOLLARS in government “Stimulus” spending. Hooray.
Obama also signed massive-government-expanding Obamacare.
Obama also dramatically increased regulations of all sorts – on everything. When he left office, the cost for the private sector to comply with just federal regs – was TWO TRILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR.
Obama’s economic results – stunk on ice.
Obama never, ever had a year of at least 2% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth – the first president in our history to achieve such ignominy. A pathetic paltriness Obama said was “The new normal.”
And Obamacare, on average, doubled health insurance premiums and tripled deductibles for about one hundred million Americans – and threw our entire system into chaos.
Obama’s “Let’s have government do more” approach – was an epic failure.
Enter Trump.
Trump immediately began slashing regulations – at a tremendous pace. He hasn’t stopped yet.
Trump and Congressional Republicans cut taxes – the antithesis of the Obama-Democrat “Stimulus.” Rather than government spending more of the money our producers produced – the tax cut allowed the producers to keep more of their production. So they can continue to more productively produce.
And while Trump and the Republicans failed to fully repeal Obamacare – they have removed devastating components of its heinousness.
Trump’s economic results are in – and they have been extraordinary and fantastic.
Since Trump became president, America has added 7,000,000 new gigs. Consumer confidence is at decades-old-highs.
Wages are FINALLY increasing substantially – for the first time in nearly half a century. In part because of a dramatically better jobs market – in part because Trump is working seriously towards ending the open-borders-flood of Third World wage and job competitors into the country.
Trump’s strategic tariffs – are quickly netting MUCH better trade deals with nations the world over. One result: Jobs considered “gone forever” – are returning by the millions. Obama asked if Trump had a “magic wand” to bring back those jobs. No wand necessary – simply a move to get the government back into the America First business.
The stock market set hundreds of new record highs. Recently receding only because the Federal Reserve has (finally, properly) started raising interest rates. Low rates had caused money to pour into the market – because it couldn’t make more money anywhere else. Money is now leaving Wall Street – because it finds a MUCH more attractive Main Street in which to invest.
The last two GDP-growth quarters have been 4.2% and 3.5% – and we’re looking at a prospective 4.0% year. More than double Obama’s best “new normal” year.
Oh: And the tax cuts – aren’t responsible for the continued ridiculous deficits. Federal revenue is up 9% this year over last. The problem is – federal spending is up even more than that. We haven’t yet caught up to the built-in “Stimulus” – plus all the other additional spending we’ve piled on top.
Yet again: It ain’t a revenue problem – it’s a spending problem.
And this past year – we had the first drop in Obamacare premiums EVER.
Trump’s “Let’s have government do less” approach – has already proven to be a roaring success.
We need to apply this less government approach – to EVERYTHING.
To wit: The Internet.
The private sector has in the last quarter century invested more than one trillion dollars building out the infrastructure that makes the Internet possible.
Which is why it has grown faster – than anything ever in the history of humanity. And become a free speech-free market Xanadu. (That is, until Big Tech started its Leftist mass censoring.)
The private sector made the Internet happen – because the federal government wisely left the Internet virtually regulation-free.
Obama at the end of his awful administration – imposed a massive regulatory regime. Ridiculously misnamed Network Neutrality. Which Trump has already, thankfully dumped.
City and municipal governments have all along the way been a massive impediment to additional Internet growth. They view Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as cash registers. Charging them huge fees and extorting huge bribes – in exchange for granting permission to ISPs to provide We the Constituents Internet.
About half of the trillion dollars ISPs invested in the Internet – didn’t actually go to the Internet. It instead was skimmed by local governments.
Trump has now fixed that – capping the ISP shakedowns in which local governments can engage. Of course, the local governments are suing to undo that. Here’s hoping Trump’s less-government common-sense prevails in court.
Because: The World Wide Web – is the WORLD Wide Web. Thus, the federal government should be setting policy for the US – and then negotiating interaction terms with the nations of the world.
You can’t have fifty individual states – and thousands of municipalities – imposing thousands of different regulatory regimes. It’s a blatant violation of the Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause – and would royally screw up the Internet.
Also, government at all levels has for almost two decades been spending government “stimulus” money – trying to get the government into the ISP business.
Get that? Governments skim half a trillion dollars from ISP investment in bribes and fees. Governments tax the living daylight out of ISPs. And then use the ISPs’ money – to create government competitors to ISPs. Which is really, extraordinarily lame.
It’s also really stupid. Government Internet has failed everywhere it’s been tried – over, and over, and over, and over again.
Because government “stimulus” of all sorts has failed – over, and over, and over, and over again.
Because that’s the way the world works. Human nature – is human nature.
Heck, Obama’s $878 billion “Stimulus” – had $7.2 billion dedicated to government Internet. Guess what? It all stunk on ice too.
So we need the Trump less government approach – applied everywhere.
Including – especially – to the Internet.
No Net Neutrality. From any governments anywhere.
No new regs of any other kind. From any government anywhere.
No new taxes. And no more “stimuluses.”
Please.
This first appeared in Red State.