Will Trumponomics Make America Great Again?

To Make America Great Again – that is the bold (vague) promise from someone who is generally a newbie in politics. Donald Trump has high hopes that his win will help the country overcome its many economic woes and reclaim its former glory. Now, the nation is not just plagued by threats from terrorists and a recovering economy but that of a declining quality of education and healthcare.

In response, Trump and his troop came up with Trumponomics – the Trump-brand of economics that wishes to impose tax breaks, trade deals reforms, and defense and infrastructure developments. While most of these policies only managed to raise the eyebrows of many, it seems as if they are also far from helping the ordinary Americans for they will soon be deprived of basic services. Even the arts and the culture and the environment are not exempted and will lose funding and support from the federal government.

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump outlined a three-part economic plan. First, he called for an increase in military spending—his budget would reportedly raise it by about 10 percent, or $54 billion, while cutting similar amounts from agencies including the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. Second, he called on Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Third, he reiterated his support for tax reform, which, if it follows his previous proposals, would cut taxes by almost $10 trillion, with the benefits largely accruing to corporations and the rich.

Together, these three proposals would represent a dramatic shift away from the policies of the Obama administration: from diplomacy to weaponry, from environmental protection to national-border protection, from public-health spending to private health spending, from eight years of favoring redistribution to a period of falling taxes on the rich, and from a term of falling deficits to the re-emergence of large deficits.

On paper, Trump’s economic policy looks like a profound re-imagination of the government’s role in American life. But in political terms, each leg of this three-legged stool is wobbly.

(Via: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/trumps-tax-plan/518283/)

By not getting enough support from the Congress to eventually repeal Obamacare, the Republicans decided to let go of it for now and pursue other more important issues such as tax reform – albeit with a heavy and disappointed heart.

In a stunning defeat for Republicans, House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday canceled a vote on the GOP bill to replace Obamacare because he did not have enough votes from his own members to pass the legislation.

“We came really close today, but we came up short,” Ryan said at a news conference after he pulled the bill from the House floor. “I will not sugarcoat this: This is a disappointing day for us. Doing big things is hard.”

Ryan and other Republican leaders said they will now move on from health care to tax reform, Southwest border control and other issues, essentially giving up on their No. 1 legislative priority for the foreseeable future.

“Obamacare is the law of the land,” Ryan said. “It’s going to remain the law of the land.”

The failure to pass the bill is a major blow to both Ryan and President Trump in their efforts to rack up Republican accomplishments now that they control both Congress and the White House. It was the first big legislative test for Republicans since they won back the White House and retained control of the House and Senate in last fall’s election.

It also underscored just how divided the Republican Party is, with factions of hardline conservatives and moderates rebelling against their own leadership.

Repealing and replacing Obamacare was a major campaign promise made by Trump and scores of GOP House members and candidates in last year’s election. But they were never able to agree on the best way to achieve their goal.

(Via: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/24/house-obamacare-repeal-vote/99573690/)

While many Americans (especially from the poorer and rural sector) believed in Trump’s promise of bringing back the nation’s former glory, many of them are now disappointed that the policies he is pushing for does not or won’t likely work for them at all. Almost all Trump policies have little regards to the overall population and may only benefit those who are wealthy, which is probably why even the Republicans can’t unite and pass the new health care law. So, let’s see what Trump has to say to the nation at large when he faces everyone for his first major address to the nation.